Can I take off an effect after I saved a project?

[smileyman]

Hello, hope someone can help me. I made a song right...I used an effect over the track I made...without thinking I accidentally saved the project file after I used the effect and not before. So now that I hear it I don't want the effect to be on my song cause it sounds bad but I can't find a way to get it off. I did not save the project file of the original before I had added the effect which happens to be (phaser) by the way. I want to take off the phaser effect without having to re-do the whole song if possible. Thank you.

[Edgar]

You may undo an effect after saving but ONLY if you have not closed the Project window and re-opened the project.

[smileyman]

You may undo an effect after saving but ONLY if you have not closed the Project window and re-opened the project.

Yeah unfortunately I had closed it then reopened it and now I can't get it back. Is there any way for me to amplify some parts of the track to try and remove the phaser effect? Or anything I can do to make it go away now that I cannot use the undo function?

[Edgar]

Probably no easy solution. Obviously you may play around with Amplify and/or other effects trying to get something close to what you had. If you recalled exactly what settings you set when you used Phaser and were a real hotshot programmer and really understood audio and audio programming you might be able to reverse the digital changes made.

I think you need to chock this up as a learning experience--never edit your raw data! All pro audio editors learn this lesson (usually the hard way--just have you have).

The rule is:
record
save raw data to external non-erasable media (CD, tape)
backup raw data on your computer in a different hard drive, partition or folder (most to least favorable)
import raw data to Audacity and IMMEDIATELY Save As a Project
back up this project on your computer (as for raw data)
edit for a while (the stability of your system and the number of actual changes will determine the amount of time-between for "a while") then do an "incremental Save As" that means if your Project is called song.aup you will Save As song1.aup, song2.aup etc.). From time to time (if disk space is limited you might be able to trash some of the interim song# projects (don't forget a project is an AUP file plus its _data folder).
when happy with the result do a final Project Save As songFinal.aup
Export to a lossless format (WAV etc.) and store the result on external non-erasable media for archival purposes
export in your target format (MP3 etc.)
distribute your work

[kozikowski]

What he said.

I still have original capture WAV files from voice performances six months ago. Producers have a nasty way of calling at 7PM, "Do you still have Julie's voice track for the Fortune Teller?"

Yes, I do.

Koz

[smileyman]

wow okay i will use it as a learning experience then. I wish there was some way to work with the amplify. cause the only thing that is messed up about the track is that since i put phaser some parts come out loud and some parts are way too low so i cant hear the words. yes next time i will save my song original and back it up before any of the changes or effects are made and thats for sure.

[bgravato]

You may try using dynamic compression (Effects -> Compressor...).

If you want to edit it by hand you may try to play around with the envelope tool (2nd icon in the tools toolbar or press F2).