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

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NeilJaybe
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Post by NeilJaybe »

Rapunzelina wrote: July 6th, 2021, 1:23 am Hi, Neil! One of many possible causes is shortness of memory. I would check to see how much available space there is on the hard disk and also close any other programs when using Audacity to save on RAM.
2.1.0 is a pretty old version (6 years ago I think), maybe the whole computer is old so a hiccup here and there is to be expected ? :mrgreen:
Hi and thanks for the reply. My computer's only two years old so the RAM should be fine. I'll shut down everything else and see what happens...
NeilJaybe
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Post by NeilJaybe »

lurcherlover wrote: July 6th, 2021, 1:47 am Is this at the start of the recording or further in?
Hi! Actually both. Sometimes it cuts of the first phoneme of the first word, sometimes it's in the middle of a sentence.
NeilJaybe
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Post by NeilJaybe »

Rapunzelina wrote: July 6th, 2021, 1:23 am Hi, Neil! One of many possible causes is shortness of memory. I would check to see how much available space there is on the hard disk and also close any other programs when using Audacity to save on RAM.
2.1.0 is a pretty old version (6 years ago I think), maybe the whole computer is old so a hiccup here and there is to be expected ? :mrgreen:
OK, I've now downloaded the latest version, and this time it seems ok but I get crackle on the replay in Audacity - but not, it seems, when I replay through e.g. Windows media player. Is that a known thing, that Audacity can reproduce the recording with a bit of snap, crackle and pop?
InTheDesert
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Post by InTheDesert »

NeilJaybe wrote: July 6th, 2021, 3:11 am
OK, I've now downloaded the latest version, and this time it seems ok but I get crackle on the replay in Audacity - but not, it seems, when I replay through e.g. Windows media player. Is that a known thing, that Audacity can reproduce the recording with a bit of snap, crackle and pop?
In Audacity, which sound driver are you using? Does it say MME, DirectSound or WASPI? And what's your microphone and/or sound card (particularly, how does it connect to the computer - USB or something else?)
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NeilJaybe
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Post by NeilJaybe »

InTheDesert wrote: July 6th, 2021, 3:26 am
NeilJaybe wrote: July 6th, 2021, 3:11 am
OK, I've now downloaded the latest version, and this time it seems ok but I get crackle on the replay in Audacity - but not, it seems, when I replay through e.g. Windows media player. Is that a known thing, that Audacity can reproduce the recording with a bit of snap, crackle and pop?
In Audacity, which sound driver are you using? Does it say MME, DirectSound or WASPI? And what's your microphone and/or sound card (particularly, how does it connect to the computer - USB or something else?)
Under Host it says Windows WASAPI, under playback it says ASUS VS247 (Imtel (R) Display Audio). I'm not technically inclined and don't really know what these are or which one is the sound driver. The mic is a Svive USB condensor mic.
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Post by GraceBuchanan »

NeilJaybe wrote: July 6th, 2021, 8:05 am
Under Host it says Windows WASAPI, under playback it says ASUS VS247 (Imtel (R) Display Audio). I'm not technically inclined and don't really know what these are or which one is the sound driver. The mic is a Svive USB condensor mic.
I got crackling sounds when I tried using WASAPI. I use MME and all's well.
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NeilJaybe
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Post by NeilJaybe »

GraceBuchanan wrote: July 6th, 2021, 2:22 pm
NeilJaybe wrote: July 6th, 2021, 8:05 am
Under Host it says Windows WASAPI, under playback it says ASUS VS247 (Imtel (R) Display Audio). I'm not technically inclined and don't really know what these are or which one is the sound driver. The mic is a Svive USB condensor mic.
I got crackling sounds when I tried using WASAPI. I use MME and all's well.
That's what I'm finding too, thanks!
InTheDesert
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Post by InTheDesert »

MME is the safe option, unless you have a reason to need one of the other ones.
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Post by philchenevert »

I have discovered the Effect > Loudness Normalization . It will adjust a track to close to 89 dB with one click, using the parameters Perceived Loudness and -20 LUFS. This seems such an easy fix for being sure your track meets our loudness level before uploading it. Don't know why I haven't heard about it before. I have tested tracks that were too soft and too loud and it did them just fine. All were put within half a dB of 89. One click and that's it. Every track passed Checker.

My question for people more knowledgeable than I, is whether there is a trap here; is it too simple or too powerful? Does it do more than appears to the eye? Is there something about it that can damage my tracks or mess them up? Before I to recommending it to others or make a video telling everyone it's great, I want to get more opinions. My mom taught me to be wary of things that look too good to be true.
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InTheDesert
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Post by InTheDesert »

philchenevert wrote: July 16th, 2021, 6:35 pm I have discovered the Effect > Loudness Normalization . It will adjust a track to close to 89 dB with one click, using the parameters Perceived Loudness and -20 LUFS. This seems such an easy fix for being sure your track meets our loudness level before uploading it. Don't know why I haven't heard about it before. I have tested tracks that were too soft and too loud and it did them just fine. All were put within half a dB of 89. One click and that's it. Every track passed Checker.

My question for people more knowledgeable than I, is whether there is a trap here; is it too simple or too powerful? Does it do more than appears to the eye? Is there something about it that can damage my tracks or mess them up? Before I to recommending it to others or make a video telling everyone it's great, I want to get more opinions. My mom taught me to be wary of things that look too good to be true.
It does what you think it does and was added recently to Audacity. The only potential problem (quite unlikely) you might run into is that it will clip without warning if your audio is extremely uneven (you can test it by setting it to something like -9 LUFS and seeing the clipping that results). But it almost certainly won't happen.
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Post by annise »

If the original recording had "clipping" would it just produce lower flattened peaks and distorted sound ? . I don't know - but I was under the impression that clipping did not go away in post-production. It would probably be possible coding-wise to recreate simple peaks but would the sound quality improve ?

Anne
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Post by loon »

annise wrote: July 16th, 2021, 7:31 pm If the original recording had "clipping" would it just produce lower flattened peaks and distorted sound ? . I don't know - but I was under the impression that clipping did not go away in post-production. It would probably be possible coding-wise to recreate simple peaks but would the sound quality improve ?

Anne
Adobe has algorithmic de-clipping that finds spots that are clipped and makes up possible waveforms that may (or may not) reflect what the original recording should have had. It can improve the sound quality. Adobe is not free.
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InTheDesert
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Post by InTheDesert »

annise wrote: July 16th, 2021, 7:31 pm If the original recording had "clipping" would it just produce lower flattened peaks and distorted sound ? . I don't know - but I was under the impression that clipping did not go away in post-production. It would probably be possible coding-wise to recreate simple peaks but would the sound quality improve ?

Anne
If that was sent in my direction then you are correct - it can't fix clipping. It's the equivalent of doing negative Amplify on clipping. What I meant was that Amplify has a tickbox to disallow you to amplify above a level that will clip. Loudness Normalization doesn't have that safety mechanism - it just does whatever you tell it.
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lurcherlover
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Post by lurcherlover »

You can use a limiter when recording to reduce the peaks and avoid clipping. You can also use compression post recording to do a similar thing. But the best way to contain peak levels and keep them at least -3dB below full scale is to train yourself to limit your own spoken volume so that your average voice levels are not suddenly jumping up. Any very occasional high peak which we all make sometimes can be reduced in editing. I record at -5dB for peaks and if one or two get through I just work on that peak and reduce it by a few dB. It usually means a reduction in 2 or 3 dB so nothing drastic.

If I use a limiter on my recording machine I can scream into the mike and it will not clip, but why introduce more things to the recording process when good voice training, which anyone can adopt, will do a better job?
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Post by annise »

The reason I wrote what I did was for Phil's thoughts - I just felt it was important for him to mention clipping if he made a video for this effect because we have had recordings from people who have fixed the volume by just lowering it after it was clipped - and it sounds terrible :shock:
And we are talking about newbies - there is no control over who watches the videos. We all learnt how not to clip quite quickly. That is why I prefer to tell newbies to look at their waveform first

Anne
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