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

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tovarisch
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Post by tovarisch »

Swaraelia wrote: March 1st, 2020, 5:39 pm ...
I feel confused.
https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/test_swaraelia_2.mp3
Does this work?
It works. All technical stuff is OK. The bitrate is fine, the sample rate is great, the volume is as expected, and it's mono. The audio is (how should I put it?) rather low quality. But, hey, I can make out the words, so it's not that bad, right? I hope you're not adding any reverb in post-processing, just for the heck of it. We had a member who did that, at least in the beginning... If you can find a room to record with less reverb, your tracks are going to sound much nicer... Nonetheless, your track passes the Checker, and that's the most important point.
tovarisch
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Kitty
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Post by Kitty »

Swaraelia wrote: March 1st, 2020, 5:39 pm That's odd? It was fine when checked by other people, and that the hertz was the issue? Also, it was already set as constant and 128 kbps?
I feel confused.
maybe the test I checked was a later uploaded version than the one you originally got the feedback to. Since you always named your tests the same way, each new file overwrites the last one. That's why I mentioned giving it another name, so we can be sure this is the last version.
as tovarisch already mentioned, yes, this test passes all the criteria. :thumbs: Now Audacity has saved your settings and you should be fine on that score at least.

As for sound, yes, excessive noise-cleaning, or maybe even noise-cancelling can give you a tinnier sound. If you have turned on automatic noise-cancellation, I would suggest turning this off and rather noise-clean with Audacity. It's less invasive and will not distort the sound as much.

But you are ready to roll, and I hope you have fun with your first recording. It will get easier from now on ;)

Sonia
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Swaraelia
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Post by Swaraelia »

Kitty wrote: March 2nd, 2020, 1:18 am
Swaraelia wrote: March 1st, 2020, 5:39 pm That's odd? It was fine when checked by other people, and that the hertz was the issue? Also, it was already set as constant and 128 kbps?
I feel confused.
maybe the test I checked was a later uploaded version than the one you originally got the feedback to. Since you always named your tests the same way, each new file overwrites the last one. That's why I mentioned giving it another name, so we can be sure this is the last version.
as tovarisch already mentioned, yes, this test passes all the criteria. :thumbs: Now Audacity has saved your settings and you should be fine on that score at least.

As for sound, yes, excessive noise-cleaning, or maybe even noise-cancelling can give you a tinnier sound. If you have turned on automatic noise-cancellation, I would suggest turning this off and rather noise-clean with Audacity. It's less invasive and will not distort the sound as much.

But you are ready to roll, and I hope you have fun with your first recording. It will get easier from now on ;)

Sonia
Cheers!
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northstar95
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Post by northstar95 »

Hello,
Didn't read entire thread but searched through it--
I have an Audacity project (non-LV related; just cleaning up some old cassettes)- and when I try to export to MP3, Audacity starts to save it but then just quits, shuts down entirely.
This doesn't happen with any other files, just this one. Renaming it didn't help. I have Windows 10 and the latest Audacity. Googling this problem hasn't helped.
I just need an MP3 of this one .aup.
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Post by TriciaG »

northstar95 wrote: March 20th, 2020, 10:43 am Hello,
Didn't read entire thread but searched through it--
I have an Audacity project (non-LV related; just cleaning up some old cassettes)- and when I try to export to MP3, Audacity starts to save it but then just quits, shuts down entirely.
This doesn't happen with any other files, just this one. Renaming it didn't help. I have Windows 10 and the latest Audacity. Googling this problem hasn't helped.
I just need an MP3 of this one .aup.
What happens if you try to export as, say, a FLAC? If it works, you could find an online conversion tool instead of using Audacity.
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tovarisch
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Post by tovarisch »

northstar95 wrote: March 20th, 2020, 10:43 am Hello,
Didn't read entire thread but searched through it--
I have an Audacity project (non-LV related; just cleaning up some old cassettes)- and when I try to export to MP3, Audacity starts to save it but then just quits, shuts down entirely.
This doesn't happen with any other files, just this one. Renaming it didn't help. I have Windows 10 and the latest Audacity. Googling this problem hasn't helped.
I just need an MP3 of this one .aup.
An .aup file is by itself insufficient. It's just a "project" where some information is kept about the actual data. Along with that .aup file there needs to be a subfolder with the data, and if you renamed (or removed) all or even some of it, you're out of luck.
tovarisch
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    to PLers: do correct my pronunciation please
Rapunzelina
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Post by Rapunzelina »

northstar95 wrote: March 20th, 2020, 10:43 am Hello,
Didn't read entire thread but searched through it--
I have an Audacity project (non-LV related; just cleaning up some old cassettes)- and when I try to export to MP3, Audacity starts to save it but then just quits, shuts down entirely.
This doesn't happen with any other files, just this one. Renaming it didn't help. I have Windows 10 and the latest Audacity. Googling this problem hasn't helped.
I just need an MP3 of this one .aup.
Is this a long recording, longer than others you've worked with? I am wondering if Audacity runs out of RAM and crashes.
northstar95
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Post by northstar95 »

Rapunzelina wrote: March 22nd, 2020, 11:44 am
northstar95 wrote: March 20th, 2020, 10:43 am Hello,
Didn't read entire thread but searched through it--
I have an Audacity project (non-LV related; just cleaning up some old cassettes)- and when I try to export to MP3, Audacity starts to save it but then just quits, shuts down entirely.
This doesn't happen with any other files, just this one. Renaming it didn't help. I have Windows 10 and the latest Audacity. Googling this problem hasn't helped.
I just need an MP3 of this one .aup.
Is this a long recording, longer than others you've worked with? I am wondering if Audacity runs out of RAM and crashes.
It's a 30-minute recording - I've done plenty of chapters on LV that are comparable length.
I tried saving as FLAC and that was the same of result of Audacity crashing.
I do have the proper folder of data for this project, and I (at least I don't think) have done anything to alter it.
So I may just be out of luck and have to do something crude like play it through my computer speaker and record it in real time some other way like voice memos on my phone.
Thanks all for taking the time to reply.
tovarisch
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Post by tovarisch »

I would still try other ways. Try saving it as something else (letting it making a copy), try exporting every format available to you (like WAV, for instance, that doesn't need compression).

If you make a copy of that AUP and the corresponding folder, zip it up, then we could try doing what you need to do in an older version of Audacity... Do you know with what version it was created?
tovarisch
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    to PLers: do correct my pronunciation please
KevinS
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Post by KevinS »

northstar95 wrote: March 20th, 2020, 10:43 am Hello,
Didn't read entire thread but searched through it--
I have an Audacity project (non-LV related; just cleaning up some old cassettes)- and when I try to export to MP3, Audacity starts to save it but then just quits, shuts down entirely.
This doesn't happen with any other files, just this one. Renaming it didn't help. I have Windows 10 and the latest Audacity. Googling this problem hasn't helped.
I just need an MP3 of this one .aup.
I wasn't clear on one important point. Can you play the whole recording? For that matter, if you can, can you modify it and then save it without difficulty?

EDIT: By the way, what do you mean by 'old cassettes'?
northstar95
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Post by northstar95 »

KevinS wrote: March 22nd, 2020, 2:44 pm
northstar95 wrote: March 20th, 2020, 10:43 am Hello,
Didn't read entire thread but searched through it--
I have an Audacity project (non-LV related; just cleaning up some old cassettes)- and when I try to export to MP3, Audacity starts to save it but then just quits, shuts down entirely.
This doesn't happen with any other files, just this one. Renaming it didn't help. I have Windows 10 and the latest Audacity. Googling this problem hasn't helped.
I just need an MP3 of this one .aup.
I wasn't clear on one important point. Can you play the whole recording? For that matter, if you can, can you modify it and then save it without difficulty?

EDIT: By the way, what do you mean by 'old cassettes'?
More specifically, this is a 60-min. tape of myself at a (much, much) younger age, just rambling into a tape recorder, that I wanted to make sure I had digitized. I had already completed side 1 without a hitch and this is side 2 that I ran into a snag.

Saving as WAV or anything else didn't help. And now today upon looking closer I see about a 20-second chunk of silence, about 2 minutes in, where the audio has just vanished. So clearly I have massively messed something up and will likely need to start again. Such is the way of computers ::shrug::
KevinS
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Post by KevinS »

I have digitized videotape before (Super8?) and found that the transfer did not go very well. I wasn't using sophisticated equipment and it could be that the computer I was using then just wasn't 'powerful' enough for the job. That doesn't explain your problem with Audacity, of course, but I wish you luck.

I wonder if your just recording the tape live---so to speak---to Audacity would be best. Audacity does a pretty good job of cleaning recordings up once you make access to them.
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Post by Rapunzelina »

KevinS wrote: March 23rd, 2020, 10:05 am
I wonder if your just recording the tape live---so to speak---to Audacity would be best. Audacity does a pretty good job of cleaning recordings up once you make access to them.
That's what I did with my old cassettes, but I had a special cable connecting the output of my cassette player (where the headphones go) to the input of my computer (where the microphone goes), so no outer sound interference.
Then audacity did the rest :mrgreen:
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Post by KevinS »

Rapunzelina wrote: March 23rd, 2020, 11:04 am
KevinS wrote: March 23rd, 2020, 10:05 am
I wonder if your just recording the tape live---so to speak---to Audacity would be best. Audacity does a pretty good job of cleaning recordings up once you make access to them.
That's what I did with my old cassettes, but I had a special cable connecting the output of my cassette player (where the headphones go) to the input of my computer (where the microphone goes), so no outer sound interference.
Then audacity did the rest :mrgreen:
That's the ticket! Excellent!
larryhayes7
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Post by larryhayes7 »

Is anyone using Audacity having an issue with Limiter effect? I've never had an issue with this and all of a sudden when I try to use it lit locks up Audacity

Larry
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