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

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ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

I have seen something like that happen as well. In my case it was while cutting and pasting: nothing happened on-screen so I re-did the cut, and then suddenly it made two cuts - what I wanted and another adjacent section. Fortunately UNDO worked so I did not lose the pieces.

Seems like Audacity goes out for a cuppa tea and then remembers what it is supposed to be doing.

Thanks, Todd
Kitty
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Post by Kitty »

ToddHW wrote: February 13th, 2019, 6:00 amI have seen something like that happen as well. In my case it was while cutting and pasting: nothing happened on-screen so I re-did the cut, and then suddenly it made two cuts - what I wanted and another adjacent section.
yes I remember I had that once in editing as well. I thought it was because I had some 10 windows open at the same time to copy all the bits out. :lol:

But this time I had only the recording running in one window. And no other programs open.

Well, this evening all was well again, managed to record a 10 minute section without incident. Maybe it was only a temporary glitch. Fingers crossed.

Sonia
I will be on vacation from Wednesday 27 March till Sunday 14 April
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tpzahm
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Post by tpzahm »

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
lymiewithpurpose
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Post by lymiewithpurpose »

I had the exact same thing! I tried different mics, some were better than others. I decided eventually that it was my headphone jack that there was something wrong with (my mics plugged into there). I got a new computer and all was fine. Never will know for sure though.
Campbell
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tovarisch
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Post by tovarisch »

Hello T.P.

I think I've heard it before, but I can't put my finger on it. Do the clicks only start happening at the end? Do they get louder with time? Do they get more frequent? If you don't say anything (room noise) do they happen? If the last question gets your "no", could it be that there is some kind of run-time filter (noise filter, low- or high-pass) active at the time of recording? If my guess is close, the cause if that your computer is running out of some kind of resource. Are there any other applications running in the background?

You said that the previous recording went OK. Can you try to list the differences between the two? Is the previous recording shorter (and by how much)? Have you installed any new software/updates between the previous recording and this one? Have you changed any sound setting?
tovarisch
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    to PLers: do correct my pronunciation please
tpzahm
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Post by tpzahm »

>>Hello T.P.
Hi. Thanks for the reply

>>I think I've heard it before, but I can't put my finger on it. Do the clicks only start happening at the end?
No, they start after 12 minutes in the version where I cut out the "outtakes".

>>Do they get louder with time? Do they get more frequent?
No and no.

>>If you don't say anything (room noise) do they happen?
No.

>>If the last question gets your "no", could it be that there is some kind of run-time filter (noise filter, low- or high-pass) active at the time of recording?
I don't know of any.

>>If my guess is close, the cause if that your computer is running out of some kind of resource. Are there any other applications running in the background?
No, and I rebooted just before recording.

>>You said that the previous recording went OK. Can you try to list the differences between the two? Is the previous recording shorter (and by how much)?
I don't know of any other than the fact that the new recording is about 50% longer that the first.

>>Have you installed any new software/updates between the previous recording and this one? Have you changed any sound setting?
No, not that I'm aware of.
lurcherlover
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Post by lurcherlover »

That clicking noise is electronic and starts and stops whilst you are speaking. That leads me to think it could be the mic. Have you another mic to try? Where is the mic plugged in? can you give a list of the path from the mic to the interface where it's plugged in, and where it goes from there. Is it straight into the computer and Audacity or another digital editor? Or are you using a stand alone recorder and then moving files into the computer to edit?

Maybe you have said already, but what mic are you using and what type of mic is it?

Looking back at earlier posts I see the signal chain "MXL-V67G mic fed into an AudioBox USB and then via USB into a MacBook Pro." I would suspect that it could be the AudioBox USB which could be the problem (but I may well be wrong). Is it possible to by-pass this and go straight into the computer, or will that not work? Why do you need two USB items in the chain?
tovarisch
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Post by tovarisch »

lurcherlover wrote: February 20th, 2019, 1:23 am That clicking noise is electronic and starts and stops whilst you are speaking. That leads me to think it could be the mic. Have you another mic to try? Where is the mic plugged in? can you give a list of the path from the mic to the interface where it's plugged in, and where it goes from there. Is it straight into the computer and Audacity or another digital editor? Or are you using a stand alone recorder and then moving files into the computer to edit?

Maybe you have said already, but what mic are you using and what type of mic is it?

Looking back at earlier posts I see the signal chain "MXL-V67G mic fed into an AudioBox USB and then via USB into a MacBook Pro." I would suspect that it could be the AudioBox USB which could be the problem (but I may well be wrong). Is it possible to by-pass this and go straight into the computer, or will that not work? Why do you need two USB items in the chain?
Trying another mic is a good suggestion, and trying another USB interface might also be needed (based on your suspicion, Peter). MXL-V67G is an XLR mic, there is no way to directly connect it to a Macbook. The mic needs phantom power, and the AudioBox supplies it.

All it boils down to is isolating the cause of the malfunction. The chain is XLR mic -> USB interface -> driver -> Macbook/Audacity. T.P., you could try reinstalling the driver by removing the AudioBox from your system (in Sound Preference, I think) and then going through the steps when you plug it back in. It's a strain to try to find another XLR mic or another XLR-USB interface, and if you can, you should do it (first separately, then together). If you need to finish your recording, you could simply use the internal mic, its quality is high enough for LibriVox.

Let us know your progress. Good luck!
tovarisch
  • reality prompts me to scale down my reading, sorry to say
    to PLers: do correct my pronunciation please
fiddlesticks
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Post by fiddlesticks »

So I have tried recording a few times lately and this window pops up when I press the record button
Error while opening sound device. Please check the recording device settings and the project sample rate

I have checked the sample rate, and the recording settings. I can't see anything unusual. Does anyone know what is wrong?
~Tiffany
lymiewithpurpose
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Post by lymiewithpurpose »

fiddlesticks wrote: March 4th, 2019, 5:30 pm So I have tried recording a few times lately and this window pops up when I press the record button
Error while opening sound device. Please check the recording device settings and the project sample rate

I have checked the sample rate, and the recording settings. I can't see anything unusual. Does anyone know what is wrong?
I believe I had that error before, and if I remember for me it was an issue with how it was recognizing my microphone. I think I either had to go reselect it or go to my computer's settings or something to make sure it accepts the microphone.
Campbell
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tovarisch
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Post by tovarisch »

fiddlesticks wrote: March 4th, 2019, 5:30 pm So I have tried recording a few times lately and this window pops up when I press the record button
Error while opening sound device. Please check the recording device settings and the project sample rate

I have checked the sample rate, and the recording settings. I can't see anything unusual. Does anyone know what is wrong?
If you have a USB mic, try a different USB port or a different USB cable. You can also remove that device from your OS (after unplugging, of course) and then re-install it when you plug it back in, this usually refreshes the driver (but is rarely needed).
tovarisch
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    to PLers: do correct my pronunciation please
fiddlesticks
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Post by 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!
~Tiffany
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Post by JayKitty76 »

fiddlesticks wrote: March 4th, 2019, 6:45 pm 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.
~ 𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜 ~
fiddlesticks
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Post by fiddlesticks »

JayKitty76 wrote: March 4th, 2019, 7:29 pm
fiddlesticks wrote: March 4th, 2019, 6:45 pm 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 have tried both of those, unfortunately it has not helped. It is not only my mic though, it wont record with the mic built into my laptop either.
~Tiffany
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Post by silverquill »

JayKitty76 wrote: March 4th, 2019, 7:29 pm
fiddlesticks wrote: March 4th, 2019, 6:45 pm 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.
~ Larry
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