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

[JayKitty76]

Thank you both, I have not used my microphone for a while, so now I have to find it! but I will try your suggestions out tomorrow hopefully, fingers crossed!

I always get that when I open Audacity and then plug my mic in. I have to either plug my mic in first, or close Audacity and reopen it.

I used to do that too, but there's an easier solution.

Go to the Transport menu and select "Rescan Audio Device"
Then you mic will appear in the microphone menu and you can select.
You can do the same thing if you unplug your mic and try to listen to a file in Audacity and get that error message.

Oh, really? I didn't know that. Thank you!

[ritalouise]

How do you record over a section of recording, or insert some new recording section into the middle of an already recorded piece. ?Thanks.

[lurcherlover]

How do you record over a section of recording, or insert some new recording section into the middle of an already recorded piece. ?Thanks.

You have to use an audio editor such as Audacity or Reaper, for example.

[ritalouise]

How do you record over a section of recording, or insert some new recording section into the middle of an already recorded piece. ?Thanks.

You have to use an audio editor such as Audacity or Reaper, for example.

No, there's a really fun youtube recording telling you how to do it.
You create a new mono trck, record what you want to insert or replace, then use the split function and the timeshift tool to move your pieces of already recorded material apart, then inset the new piece with cut and paste, and voila. Or almost voila.

https://www.google.com/search?q=insert+section+into+recorded+piece.+audacity&oq=insert+section+into+recorded+piece.+audacity&aqs=chrome..69i57.17206j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1

Thanks. Rita L.

[lymiewithpurpose]

How do you record over a section of recording, or insert some new recording section into the middle of an already recorded piece. ?Thanks.

You have to use an audio editor such as Audacity or Reaper, for example.

No, there's a really fun youtube recording telling you how to do it.
You create a new mono trck, record what you want to insert or replace, then use the split function and the timeshift tool to move your pieces of already recorded material apart, then inset the new piece with cut and paste, and voila. Or almost voila.

https://www.google.com/search?q=insert+section+into+recorded+piece.+audacity&oq=insert+section+into+recorded+piece.+audacity&aqs=chrome..69i57.17206j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1

Thanks. Rita L.

Interesting. I've always been able to do it with just copying and pasting, never splitting it. Glad you found a way that works for you, though Did this video help, or do you need any more instructions?

[ritalouise]

You have to use an audio editor such as Audacity or Reaper, for example.

No, there's a really fun youtube recording telling you how to do it.
You create a new mono trck, record what you want to insert or replace, then use the split function and the timeshift tool to move your pieces of already recorded material apart, then inset the new piece with cut and paste, and voila. Or almost voila.

https://www.google.com/search?q=insert+section+into+recorded+piece.+audacity&oq=insert+section+into+recorded+piece.+audacity&aqs=chrome..69i57.17206j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1

Thanks. Rita L.

Interesting. I've always been able to do it with just copying and pasting, never splitting it. Glad you found a way that works for you, though Did this video help, or do you need any more instructions?

Well I will try copying and pasting, then! But the way this video shows works, too.

[lymiewithpurpose]

Well I will try copying and pasting, then! But the way this video shows works, too.

Hey, if it works it works . As long as you get the desired outcome, that's what really matters! But if you can find ways that are easier, that's always nice

[TriciaG]

Funny how the guy on that video says "append record" with "record" pronounced like an LP album or criminal record, not like the action it's doing, append re-CORD. LOL!

His way works, but it is certainly inefficient, with all that splitting and sliding around.

[fiddlesticks]

Thank you both, I have not used my microphone for a while, so now I have to find it! but I will try your suggestions out tomorrow hopefully, fingers crossed!

I always get that when I open Audacity and then plug my mic in. I have to either plug my mic in first, or close Audacity and reopen it.

I used to do that too, but there's an easier solution.

Go to the Transport menu and select "Rescan Audio Device"
Then you mic will appear in the microphone menu and you can select.
You can do the same thing if you unplug your mic and try to listen to a file in Audacity and get that error message.

Thank you all for your help. I have tried all of your suggestions and nothing has worked. I ended up using the voice recorder app built into my laptop to record the clip I read incorrectly the first time and edited it in using audacity, not perfect but hopefully good enough I am starting to think about uninstalling and reinstalling audacity since I now know my microphone is not the issue and nothing I can find online or here is working so far.

[shelleturner]

Shift-Arrow increases in the direction of the arrow.

I just discovered by experimentation that Control-Shift-Arrow decreases in the direction of the arrow. Example: You have a highlighted section between time stamps 0:07 and 0:08. Ctrl-Shift-Right Arrow decreases from the side closest to the 0:07 mark.

Well that is very useful! thanks.

[ColleenMc]

Quick Audacity question -- I think this is the right place. I was recording yesterday and I hit -- something -- and now there is a lighter colored band in the center of the scrolling window audio track window. These are at .5 and -.5, outside that band and there is also a set of white marks (some kind of scale) at the ends of the window. It looks like I can widen and narrow the lighter colored band.

Two questions:

1) What does this do, and does having it activated affect my recordings?

2) If it's not needed and/or if it would mess with the recording in any way, how do I make it go away?

Thanks!

Colleen

[TriciaG]

Did you hit the Multi Tool button? It looks like an asterisk. Click the tall, capital I button.

[tovarisch]

Quick Audacity question -- I think this is the right place. I was recording yesterday and I hit -- something -- and now there is a lighter colored band in the center of the scrolling window audio track window. These are at .5 and -.5, outside that band and there is also a set of white marks (some kind of scale) at the ends of the window. It looks like I can widen and narrow the lighter colored band.

Two questions:

1) What does this do, and does having it activated affect my recordings?

2) If it's not needed and/or if it would mess with the recording in any way, how do I make it go away?

Thanks!

Colleen

1. What Tricia said. 2. You hit 'A', most likely. 'A' key scrolls through "tools". Press it several times and it will bring the view back.

[ColleenMc]

Thank you. I know just enough to get by with Audacity and random changes freak me out! Thanks a lot guys!

Colleen

[dg73]

That is a very odd sound! You have some very good suggestions but along with that I would check the USB cable from the interface to the computer. I use a V67G also and like it but sometimes condensers get flakey with humidity. Can you listen to the output of the interface with headphones and see if the pops are there or are being generated after the interface? Also if you are doing some sample rate conversion like having the interface at 48 khz and the computer software having to resample, that could happen. Make sure they (interface and audio software) are all set for the same rate like all 44.1K for example. Faster rates should be good but not needed for what we do.
Just a thought. Good luck.

Perhaps someone can recognize the type of "clicks" I'm experiencing and provide some advice.

I'm using Audacity with an MXL-V67G mic fed into an AudioBox USB and then via USB into a MacBook Pro.
I've had no problem with the previous recording I did.
In this new recording that I'm contributing to the recording started fine, but developed clicks as things went along. The whole recording is about 25 min long.
The knobs on the AudioBox USB and in Audacity were unchanged from the previous, successful recording.

I've tried the Audacity Click Removal tool with various setting, but to no avail.
I've uploaded a few seconds from the beginning and from the end to illustrate the problem. They're at:
https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/BeginEndSamples.mp3

Any advice?

Hopefully,
T. P. Zahm