The all-new "HELP! I have an Audacity problem" thread

Roselbex · Post by **Roselbex** » August 23rd, 2021, 1:19 pm

Hi, I am having a problem with Audacity. I can record but there is no or little sound coming from my recording. What sound there is sounds like a low rumbling. I also record using "Easy Books" for Learning Ally and the sound on that is fine. I recorded a chapter last week with no problems but today I have no luck. I looked at the help section in Audacity but it might as well be in Greek. I tried moving arrows but to no avail. I hope you can help. Thank you, Roselbex

loon · Post by **loon** » August 23rd, 2021, 2:25 pm

Roselbex wrote: ↑August 23rd, 2021, 1:19 pm Hi, I am having a problem with Audacity. I can record but there is no or little sound coming from my recording. What sound there is sounds like a low rumbling. I also record using "Easy Books" for Learning Ally and the sound on that is fine. I recorded a chapter last week with no problems but today I have no luck. I looked at the help section in Audacity but it might as well be in Greek. I tried moving arrows but to no avail. I hope you can help. Thank you, Roselbex

Check to make sure Audacity is recording the proper microphone - for instance, if you have an external camera and an input jack on your computer Audacity may be recording the wrong source. If it's recording an input with no mic connected you might be recording electronic noise - i.e. hummmm.

Roselbex · Post by **Roselbex** » August 24th, 2021, 3:53 pm

I am having a problem with audacity. I can record and get wavelengths but am unable to hear my voice. I actually hear my voice but it is very low in volume and sounds like slow motion. As you can tell I am very new here and do not have computer language usage. I just don't know if I have pushed the wrong button or arrow. Should I delete Audacity and reload it? My speakers are working fine in other sites including another site that I record for. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you Roselbex

Roselbex · Post by **Roselbex** » August 24th, 2021, 3:55 pm

I'm sorry I sent the message again as I couldn't find your answer.

Post by **ToddHW** » August 24th, 2021, 4:14 pm

If you open Audacity and go to the "View" (one of the tabs along the top left) toolbar, the select "Toolbars" and then "Device Toolbar" from the dropdown menu. That will show you what Audacity is using for input and output. So you can make sure that output is going to your speakers and not some other choice (mine shows an option to send sound to my microphone - who would want that?). Change the selections if necessary.

NOTE: you can't just change the input or output and have things work right away. After you change something, close and restart Audacity. Similarly, you can't plug or unplug anything - headphone, microphone - after Audacity is open, but have to do them before opening Audacity. (Audacity keeps changing and improving so sometimes these things change too.)

You can also open the ""Mixer" toolbar and you will be able to adjust the input and output levels in case they got moved somehow.

Also, make sure that in the box that starts the left end of the Audacity waveform file display you have not pressed "Mute" or adjusted the volume setting from the middle of its range.

Thanks, Todd

Papish · Post by **Papish** » September 4th, 2021, 3:09 am

Hi, everyone. First of all, sorry if this has been answered before, but I'm terrible with techs

I'm new here and just installed Audacity. It downloaded the last version 3.0.4 and I can't find the settings as the examples on the Audacity FAQ section in Librivox wiki. It's totally different and can't find where this is:

Go to "edit" > "preferences" > "file formats" Check "Make a copy of the file before editing"
Go to "Directories" check "auto save" Set to save every 5 mins.

I navigated the different tabs, but really... I'm lost. Sorry for the inconvenience

Post by **TriciaG** » September 4th, 2021, 4:13 am

They probably removed those options.

Would you please post a link to that Audacity wiki page? We will want to remove those suggestions.

Papish · Post by **Papish** » September 4th, 2021, 4:23 am

Hi, TriciaG. Here's the link: https://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Audacity_FAQ

Post by **TriciaG** » September 4th, 2021, 4:27 am

Thanks! Those two preferences aren't required (which might be obvious, since they've removed the option).

I don't even know if the LAME encoder information is accurate anymore, since I think LAME comes packaged with Audacity now.

Papish · Post by **Papish** » September 4th, 2021, 11:23 am

Ok. I'll try to go on and record the one minute file.
Thank you.

czandra · Post by **czandra** » November 4th, 2021, 7:19 am

Hi. I have a beautiful recording (if I say so myself) that I'm happy with except my s's are too sibilant, and whistle right over the 1.0 mark (whatever that measures). What effect can I use to clip or dull the peaks of these sibilants, please?

Czandra

Post by **TriciaG** » November 4th, 2021, 8:27 am

czandra wrote: ↑November 4th, 2021, 7:19 am Hi. I have a beautiful recording (if I say so myself) that I'm happy with except my s's are too sibilant, and whistle right over the 1.0 mark (whatever that measures). What effect can I use to clip or dull the peaks of these sibilants, please?

Czandra

Try the Low Pass Filter. Start it at about maybe 5000 Hz and experiment with the threshold and rolloff (the severity of the filter) to get best results.

Roselbex · Post by **Roselbex** » November 12th, 2021, 1:53 pm

I just recorded a file and when I went back to check it my audio section does not move. I just don't have the language to explain myself, all I know is that nothing moves in the file and I must have pushed some button. I checked an old file and that does not move either, so I really loused something up. Any help would be appreciated, thank you

Roselbex · Post by **Roselbex** » November 12th, 2021, 2:31 pm

Hi, I just uninstalled and reinstalled audacity if that could solve my problem but it did not. It is my waveform that does not move. It now doesn't even move when I am recording so I really have no idea what to do. Thank you for any help you can give me, Rosie

Post by **Rapunzelina** » November 12th, 2021, 2:42 pm

Hi Rosie!

Either tick "auto-scroll if head unpinned" in Audacity preferences:
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/tracks_preferences.html

or pin the playhead for scrolling:
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/timeline.html#pinned

I personally use the first option, but you may have been using the second (pinned playhead) and then accidentally unpinned it.

I hope this helps