Audacity Punch and Roll/Track Question [ SOLVED ]

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ostrichreads
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Joined: May 11th, 2022, 7:47 am
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Post by ostrichreads »

Hello! Hopefully this is a pretty small question. I've been using the "Punch and Roll" technique for my recordings in Audacity. Every time I do this, it creates a new Track with the new audio. Great! However:

1) It moves that track about 5 seconds down the line so that I have to manually move it to connect to the previous one. Is there a way to quickly do that instead of just clicking and dragging?

2) Is there a way to blend the connecting tracks together? So instead of Audio Track #1 and #2, they just combine into #1 with no gap?

Thanks in advance!
Last edited by ostrichreads on May 16th, 2022, 8:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

This is not how Punch and Roll is supposed to work, as far as I'm aware. How are you initiating the P&R feature? I believe the default keystroke for it is Shift+D. What should be happening is that you hear a few seconds of your audio, then the software begins recording on the same track, at the point where you placed your selection tool.

Here is a video I made a couple of years ago, demonstrating how I use P&R in Audacity. As far as I know, I didn't change any of the default settings except which keystroke I use (I think I talk about that in the video), so this should be what you're experiencing, unless you have inadvertently changed some settings. (Oh yeah, and sorry for the lousy resolution in this video. I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to video settings. :? ) I'll poke around in the Audacity settings menu to see if I can find something that might account for what you're describing.
ostrichreads
Posts: 47
Joined: May 11th, 2022, 7:47 am
Location: Florida

Post by ostrichreads »

mightyfelix wrote: May 13th, 2022, 11:02 am This is not how Punch and Roll is supposed to work, as far as I'm aware. How are you initiating the P&R feature? I believe the default keystroke for it is Shift+D. What should be happening is that you hear a few seconds of your audio, then the software begins recording on the same track, at the point where you placed your selection tool.

Here is a video I made a couple of years ago, demonstrating how I use P&R in Audacity. As far as I know, I didn't change any of the default settings except which keystroke I use (I think I talk about that in the video), so this should be what you're experiencing, unless you have inadvertently changed some settings. (Oh yeah, and sorry for the lousy resolution in this video. I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to video settings. :? ) I'll poke around in the Audacity settings menu to see if I can find something that might account for what you're describing.
Yes, I only know how to do this because of your video haha! I use the Shift+D and didn't change anything in Audacity beyond the settings for my mic. I'm using the 3.1.3 version of the software.

I think I actually found the solution for this. I went into my settings and checked 'enable dragging selection edges' and 'editting a clip can move other clips'. I believe the gaps I formed between things before came from me cutting up the audio and thus leaving gaps between tracks. Now the surrounding tracks move with that and I can combine the tracks by just touching the playhead to the barriers between them.
mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

Ah, so it ended up being a totally different setting unrelated to P&R! I wouldn't have thought of that. Glad you figured it out!
dronald
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Post by dronald »

mightyfelix wrote: May 16th, 2022, 9:47 am Ah, so it ended up being a totally different setting unrelated to P&R! I wouldn't have thought of that. Glad you figured it out!
Hi Devorah,

Do you know if it's possible to punch and roll without stopping the recording and then selecting with the cursor?

I think I can get the timing right on my mistakes and not even have to pause the recording if such a feature exists. I think this could speed up my readings and editing.
mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

Not that I am aware, no. I don't see how it would be possible, really. You have to tell the program where to cut off the old recording and begin the new one, after all.

But with keyboard shortcuts, you can do this in a mere second, so I don't see that stopping and starting really adds any appreciable amount of time. :hmm:
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