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

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » October 5th, 2019, 11:13 am

lymiewithpurpose wrote: ↑October 5th, 2019, 10:57 am Ok guys, usually I am pretty tech savvy (though nowhere near an expert) and can figure things out, but I'm having a strange Audacity problem. So I start recording, and occasionally need to stop it to turn pages or other stuff (I do use punch and roll). Usually the first time I stop it it's fine, but by the second or third time I get a message that asks for my password for 'debugging to continue'. Audacity promptly then stops responding and I have to force quit it. When I re open it, it says I can recover my file but doesn't have much of the recording I had done, so I lose a lot. I am using the latest version of Audacity, so I don't know why this is happening. I have tried putting my mic in different ports (not sure why that would help) and googling the issue, but can't find much. Any ideas?

That is VERY weird. I guess the first step is always to re-download Audacity. I can't imagine what's wrong.

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » October 5th, 2019, 11:16 am

Here's something about an audio interface: https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?t=95726

lymiewithpurpose · Post by **lymiewithpurpose** » October 5th, 2019, 11:41 am

KevinS wrote: ↑October 5th, 2019, 11:16 am Here's something about an audio interface: https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?t=95726

GrayHouse wrote: ↑October 5th, 2019, 11:11 am I don't think it's an Audacity problem. This may provide some solutions...

Thanks for the suggestions. I really am unsure of what is happening. I've had this version for some time now and never had problems with it, now it just decided to act up. I haven't upgraded my operating system or changed anything recently, so it's kind of strange. I was hoping to avoid a reinstallation, but I may just have to.

Post by **TriciaG** » October 5th, 2019, 1:51 pm

I agree that it doesn't sound like an Audacity issue per se, such that you need to reinstall Audacity.

How are your resources (Hard drive space, RAM)? In the meantime, maybe do a lot of intermediate saving so as not to lose as much data.

lymiewithpurpose · Post by **lymiewithpurpose** » October 5th, 2019, 3:36 pm

TriciaG wrote: ↑October 5th, 2019, 1:51 pm I agree that it doesn't sound like an Audacity issue per se, such that you need to reinstall Audacity.

How are your resources (Hard drive space, RAM)? In the meantime, maybe do a lot of intermediate saving so as not to lose as much data.

I just looked at that stuff. I have about 75% of my hard drive space available. As for RAM, I don't know too much about how to interpret it but it said OK next to both of my RAM listings on my computer. I really don't save that many things.

neecheelok70 · Post by **neecheelok70** » October 8th, 2019, 12:49 pm

Hey, guys, my situation is that because my computer had to update and consequently nullified my earlier Audacity, I have downloaded a newer version, which is working essentially in every way, except that it does not respond when I click on the record section at the top, which usually flashes green, but I am able to launch the recording with the red button, only it does not record what I say. Thanks for your consideration. Jim

P.S. I am using and have always used the computer mic.

anneflebari · Post by **anneflebari** » October 8th, 2019, 1:32 pm

Hi, was this a windows 10 update? If so check online for possible solutions because these updates caused problems with mic recognition....check your default settings and permissions for mic and camera (don't know why but hey that's computers!) Took me a while but did sort eventually...good luck! Anne

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » October 8th, 2019, 1:35 pm

neecheelok70 wrote: ↑October 8th, 2019, 12:49 pm Hey, guys, my situation is that because my computer had to update and consequently nullified my earlier Audacity, I have downloaded a newer version, which is working essentially in every way, except that it does not respond when I click on the record section at the top, which usually flashes green, but I am able to launch the recording with the red button, only it does not record what I say. Thanks for your consideration. Jim
P.S. I am using and have always used the computer mic.

Sounds like you have to configure your devices, specifically your audio input. Is Audacity recording anything? A YouTube video, for instance? Have you tried that?

I have the reverse problem and now do not try to record anything but from my mic. I'm afraid of upsetting the current settings.

neecheelok70 · Post by **neecheelok70** » October 8th, 2019, 1:39 pm

Thanks, let me check into those things. I will let you know. Jim

GraceBuchanan · Post by **GraceBuchanan** » October 10th, 2019, 3:25 am

I had too much background noise for my liking on my 1-minute test, even after I used Audacity's Equalizer to filter out 100Hz Rumble. I tried the Low rolloff for speech option. I used the High Pass Filter to remove up to 70 and up to 250 Hz. I had put the computer and external hard drive outside my sound studio (closet). I had amplified, edited, and deamplified the room sound at the tail ends to make it cleaner before using each tool. "Kitty" suggested using Noise Reduction, and it worked wonders! But it changed the sound of my voice.

Can I see what Noise Reduction filtered out so I can recreate the results with some tweaks?

I'm wondering if the rumble is coming from my Samson GoMic.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks so much,
Grace
.

GillH · Post by **GillH** » October 10th, 2019, 4:32 am

Hi.
Running my latest recording through Checker, it seems I have recorded in stereo, but when I look at the Audacity file it is definitely set to Mono.

Do I need to record the whole thing again? Or is there a way to convert stereo to mono?
Thanks.

GillH · Post by **GillH** » October 10th, 2019, 4:40 am

In reply to myself(!) I found that when Exporting as MP3 I can then choose "Force Export to Mono" and it then passes Checker. I still don't know what went wrong, but I'll pay attention at the export point in future!

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » October 10th, 2019, 5:12 am

GillH wrote: ↑October 10th, 2019, 4:40 am In reply to myself(!) I found that when Exporting as MP3 I can then choose "Force Export to Mono" and it then passes Checker. I still don't know what went wrong, but I'll pay attention at the export point in future!

I talk to myself, too! (Wink.)

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » October 10th, 2019, 5:15 am

GraceBuchanan wrote: ↑October 10th, 2019, 3:25 am I had too much background noise for my liking on my 1-minute test, even after I used Audacity's Equalizer to filter out 100Hz Rumble. I tried the Low rolloff for speech option. I used the High Pass Filter to remove up to 70 and up to 250 Hz. I had put the computer and external hard drive outside my sound studio (closet). I had amplified, edited, and deamplified the room sound at the tail ends to make it cleaner before using each tool. "Kitty" suggested using Noise Reduction, and it worked wonders! But it changed the sound of my voice.

Can I see what Noise Reduction filtered out so I can recreate the results with some tweaks?

I'm wondering if the rumble is coming from my Samson GoMic.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks so much,
Grace
.

If you don't mind, re-record your one-minute test and post it without any filtering, etc. so that I can hear it. (Others might take an interest, too.) I think you may be pushing the clean-up a bit too hard.

lurcherlover · Post by **lurcherlover** » October 10th, 2019, 5:56 am

GraceBuchanan wrote: ↑October 10th, 2019, 3:25 am I had too much background noise for my liking on my 1-minute test, even after I used Audacity's Equalizer to filter out 100Hz Rumble. I tried the Low rolloff for speech option. I used the High Pass Filter to remove up to 70 and up to 250 Hz. I had put the computer and external hard drive outside my sound studio (closet). I had amplified, edited, and deamplified the room sound at the tail ends to make it cleaner before using each tool. "Kitty" suggested using Noise Reduction, and it worked wonders! But it changed the sound of my voice.

Can I see what Noise Reduction filtered out so I can recreate the results with some tweaks?

I'm wondering if the rumble is coming from my Samson GoMic.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks so much,
Grace
.

100 HZ rumble is strange. The UK mains frequency is 50 CPS and the US 60 CPS (Cycles per sec). Unplug the mic and listen on headphones to see if the rumble is still there. If it's still there it is not the mic, but some sort of electrical interference getting into the system, possible the computer if you are recording to that. Send us (upload) a sample of the noise (only, no other sounds) of about 20 seconds and we may be able to give more advice ...)