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

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KevinS
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Post by KevinS »

ColleenMc wrote: November 21st, 2019, 10:24 am Same here in terms of not messing with any settings! I'm not even sure how to explain how to "mix it down" to mono. I may have to refer the reader here.

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lymiewithpurpose
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Post by lymiewithpurpose »

KevinS wrote: November 21st, 2019, 10:44 am lymie's the expert
Wait what? I feel like I know so little :shock:. Anyways, all I meant is when you get to the export box, you should click the box that says 'force export to mono'. It has never served me wrong. I believe Kevin is discussing another way. If for some reason you can not record in mono (or you try and something goes wrong), if you go to Tracks>Mix>Mix Stereo Down to Mono that should work (although I have never tried it myself). Hope that helps!

EDIT: I like the export option because it is a one time thing that always ensures it is in mono, while the second option I believe you would have to do every time. So if it is a one time thing I don't think it matters. Again, someone else may come in and say that one or both of these totally ruins the quality.
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KevinS
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Post by KevinS »

lymiewithpurpose wrote: November 21st, 2019, 10:55 am
KevinS wrote: November 21st, 2019, 10:44 am lymie's the expert
Wait what? I feel like I know so little :shock:. Anyways, all I meant is when you get to the export box, you should click the box that says 'force export to mono'. It has never served me wrong. I believe Kevin is discussing another way. If for some reason you can not record in mono (or you try and something goes wrong), if you go to Tracks>Mix>Mix Stereo Down to Mono that should work (although I have never tried it myself). Hope that helps!

EDIT: I like the export option because it is a one time thing that always ensures it is in mono, while the second option I believe you would have to do every time. So if it is a one time thing I don't think it matters. Again, someone else may come in and say that one or both of these totally ruins the quality.
Yes. What I have done is use the Audacity pull down menu next to my specified mic directing that all recordings be in mono. As long as I don't mess with that, everything is mono---and there is peace on Earth.
lymiewithpurpose
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Post by lymiewithpurpose »

KevinS wrote: November 21st, 2019, 11:23 am Yes. What I have done is use the Audacity pull down menu next to my specified mic directing that all recordings be in mono. As long as I don't mess with that, everything is mono---and there is peace on Earth.
I think I've done that too. But that only works for recording, so one of the other options will have to do this time. Yay to peace on Earth!
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TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

Sometimes I accidentally nudge that little slider to the left of my track, the one that has a gain and L/R slider. Bumping the L/R one will make the file export to stereo, because it's being told to make one side louder than the other. Perhaps that's what happened to your reader. I don't know if the "Force to mono" thing in the Export fixes this or not.

I wish there were a way to remove those two sliders, since I often bump them by accident.
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KevinS
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Post by KevinS »

TriciaG wrote: November 21st, 2019, 2:31 pm Sometimes I accidentally nudge that little slider to the left of my track, the one that has a gain and L/R slider. Bumping the L/R one will make the file export to stereo, because it's being told to make one side louder than the other. Perhaps that's what happened to your reader. I don't know if the "Force to mono" thing in the Export fixes this or not.

I wish there were a way to remove those two sliders, since I often bump them by accident.
I bet that's it! Brava!
KevinS
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Post by KevinS »

KevinS wrote: November 21st, 2019, 4:07 pm
TriciaG wrote: November 21st, 2019, 2:31 pm Sometimes I accidentally nudge that little slider to the left of my track, the one that has a gain and L/R slider. Bumping the L/R one will make the file export to stereo, because it's being told to make one side louder than the other. Perhaps that's what happened to your reader. I don't know if the "Force to mono" thing in the Export fixes this or not.

I wish there were a way to remove those two sliders, since I often bump them by accident.
I bet that's it! Brava!
https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Proposal_Locking_and/or_Hiding_Pan_and_Gain_sliders
Tasniim
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Post by Tasniim »

this may sound a little silly but I'm a slightly lost. Is there any way to re-record a bit just from the middle? like when I go through my recording I find something wrong bang centre and I'm not always enthusiastic to re-record the whole thing all over again. How do I cut and replace?
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Post by philchenevert »

Not silly at all. All of us need to replace words and phrases in the middle of things. Here is a video I made showing how I do it in Audacity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLdJsoGQc9c

If this is confusing at all just keep asking questions, we will do our best to help. And here is a video on basic editing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9NuSuWYaWg&feature=youtu.be :thumbs: :thumbs:
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Post by silverquill »

Tasniim wrote: November 26th, 2019, 2:04 pm this may sound a little silly but I'm a slightly lost. Is there any way to re-record a bit just from the middle? like when I go through my recording I find something wrong bang centre and I'm not always enthusiastic to re-record the whole thing all over again. How do I cut and replace?
Oh, we all do this!
Phil's video will help.

The most important thing, I think, is to record a natural chunk, maybe a sentence, or phrase where there are natural breaks. This will make the patch a little less of a patch. Just inserting a new word, or a few, in the middle of a sentence or phrase seldom sounds good. You may need to amplify up or down so it fits better.

Try to record with the same environment ans set-up, sometimes at the same time of day, to get the best match. Even at that, there may be some difference. We don't expect perfection, so as long as it isn't too jarring, you will be fine.

~Larry
~ Larry
Tasniim
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Post by Tasniim »

philchenevert wrote: November 26th, 2019, 2:08 pm Not silly at all. All of us need to replace words and phrases in the middle of things. Here is a video I made showing how I do it in Audacity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLdJsoGQc9c

If this is confusing at all just keep asking questions, we will do our best to help. And here is a video on basic editing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9NuSuWYaWg&feature=youtu.be :thumbs: :thumbs:
Thank you so much! iv re-recorded almost thrice x_x It all makes sense now
Tasniim
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Post by Tasniim »

silverquill wrote: November 26th, 2019, 11:21 pm
Tasniim wrote: November 26th, 2019, 2:04 pm this may sound a little silly but I'm a slightly lost. Is there any way to re-record a bit just from the middle? like when I go through my recording I find something wrong bang centre and I'm not always enthusiastic to re-record the whole thing all over again. How do I cut and replace?
Oh, we all do this!
Phil's video will help.

The most important thing, I think, is to record a natural chunk, maybe a sentence, or phrase where there are natural breaks. This will make the patch a little less of a patch. Just inserting a new word, or a few, in the middle of a sentence or phrase seldom sounds good. You may need to amplify up or down so it fits better.

Try to record with the same environment ans set-up, sometimes at the same time of day, to get the best match. Even at that, there may be some difference. We don't expect perfection, so as long as it isn't too jarring, you will be fine.

~Larry
Okay, because more often than not I can hear the patchwork.
I will try playing with the amplification. Thank you :)
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Post by Jmbau13 »

Tasniim wrote: December 2nd, 2019, 6:42 am
Okay, because more often than not I can hear the patchwork.
I will try playing with the amplification. Thank you :)
Agree, that it's far better to record a chunk, be that a phrase or a sentence or even two than try to just cut and paste in a single word, which is almost always really tricky and sounds odd.
You never want to re-record the whole thing (unless it's a complete disaster that is from start to finish, which is rarely the case).
As soon as I realise I've made an error (almost immediately usually) I just say Blah! Blah! loudly and then re read. Later, when I edit, it's easy to edit out the mis-read chunks before the characteristic (and easily recognised) spikes that the repeated Blah! produces. If I don't hear it at the time, but when I'm editing, I'll record a chunk at the end, and then paste it in to replace the offending section. I prefer not to (unless unavoidable) because one's voice almost invariably varies a bit from day to day. But if that's the only alternative, well, there it is. You have a lovely voice, Tasniim, so it's good you're reading and sharing it.
regards
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Tasniim
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Post by Tasniim »

Jmbau13 wrote: December 2nd, 2019, 7:21 pm
Tasniim wrote: December 2nd, 2019, 6:42 am
Okay, because more often than not I can hear the patchwork.
I will try playing with the amplification. Thank you :)
Agree, that it's far better to record a chunk, be that a phrase or a sentence or even two than try to just cut and paste in a single word, which is almost always really tricky and sounds odd.
You never want to re-record the whole thing (unless it's a complete disaster that is from start to finish, which is rarely the case).
As soon as I realise I've made an error (almost immediately usually) I just say Blah! Blah! loudly and then re read. Later, when I edit, it's easy to edit out the mis-read chunks before the characteristic (and easily recognised) spikes that the repeated Blah! produces. If I don't hear it at the time, but when I'm editing, I'll record a chunk at the end, and then paste it in to replace the offending section. I prefer not to (unless unavoidable) because one's voice almost invariably varies a bit from day to day. But if that's the only alternative, well, there it is. You have a lovely voice, Tasniim, so it's good you're reading and sharing it.

Hahaha I like the blah blah idea! 😂
Thank you Jane☺
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Post by Jmbau13 »

Tasniim wrote: December 3rd, 2019, 12:36 am Hahaha I like the blah blah idea! 😂
Thank you Jane☺
Be my guest :lol:
I used to rap on the desk twice, but find. Blah! Blah! Is even easier. Any sharp sounds work.
One gets better at recording with experience and time. And help from others, which LibriVox is great for.
Last edited by Jmbau13 on December 4th, 2019, 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
regards
Jane Bennett
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