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

rgardella132 · Post by **rgardella132** » August 18th, 2023, 1:20 pm

Can anyone help me lower the volume- decibel level- on my recording in Audacity 3.3.3. I am new at this and I have watched several tutorials but my screen on audacity seems to look different. I need to know a simple way to reduce the volume and although I have tried slider bars and normalization, I have not reduced the volume at all.

Thanks,

rgardella132

Post by **ToddHW** » August 18th, 2023, 4:54 pm

Go to the Effects tab and one of the choices will be Amplify - by putting in a negative number, it will deamplify.

Thanks, Todd

Post by **Rapunzelina** » August 18th, 2023, 5:01 pm

I'd like to add to that, that after you de-amplify, and you re-export your mp3 file, make sure you check where the new file is saved, because you may have been accidentally uploading the same old file.

silverquill · Post by **silverquill** » August 18th, 2023, 5:30 pm

ToddHW wrote: ↑August 18th, 2023, 4:54 pm Go to the Effects tab and one of the choices will be Amplify - by putting in a negative number, it will deamplify.

Thanks, Todd

In 3.3.3 Look for the Effect tab at the top, in the drop-down menu go to Volume and Compression, and in the next sub-menu the first selection is Amplify.

rgardella132 · Post by **rgardella132** » August 21st, 2023, 7:20 am

When I run my track through the checker, the verdict is "Passes with Warning." Is this to be submitted or should I continue to work on the issue????

loon · Post by **loon** » August 21st, 2023, 7:25 am

rgardella132 wrote: ↑August 21st, 2023, 7:20 am When I run my track through the checker, the verdict is "Passes with Warning." Is this to be submitted or should I continue to work on the issue????

That depends on the warning - see additional information about what the warning is about in the 'Validation' tab.
For example, you might get a warning that a section is under 10 minutes long but if your section doesn't have a lot of words the under-10-minute-length would be perfectly OK.

rgardella132 · Post by **rgardella132** » August 21st, 2023, 9:10 am

Thanks for that; the warnings are related to high volume so I have to be able to work on that now. Thanks for the reply; lowering the volume continues to confuse me.

Ron

Post by **redrun** » August 21st, 2023, 9:28 am

rgardella132 wrote: ↑August 21st, 2023, 9:10 am Thanks for the reply; lowering the volume continues to confuse me.

If it helps any, here's a walk-through that Phil did some time ago, with an effect called "Loudness Normalization":
https://youtu.be/aSKR55RDVpk
If you're on a newer version of Audacity, you'll find that it's been tucked into a sub-menu:
"Effect" -> "Volume and Compression" -> "Loudness Normalization".

Whether you use "Amplify" to adjust by a given amount, or this "Loudness Normalization" to adjust to a target volume, you'll probably have to select the whole track before using the effect - "Select" -> "All" works for most cases, as does the way Phil does it in the video.

GillH · Post by **GillH** » August 31st, 2023, 2:27 am

Good morning.
For a couple of days I have been trying to work around the error message when editing:
"There is not enough room to paste the selection."

The files themselves are not too long, and I have deleted files form my computer so that there is enough memory. Does anyone know where the problem might be? Thanks.

DariaAM · Post by **DariaAM** » August 31st, 2023, 3:04 am

GillH wrote: ↑August 31st, 2023, 2:27 am Good morning.
For a couple of days I have been trying to work around the error message when editing:
"There is not enough room to paste the selection."

The files themselves are not too long, and I have deleted files form my computer so that there is enough memory. Does anyone know where the problem might be? Thanks.

Hi Gill,

This link might be helpful: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/error_insufficient_space_in_track.html#paste

GillH · Post by **GillH** » August 31st, 2023, 5:02 am

Thanks. I saw that, but I don't need to "move other clips", do I? I just want to paste in an edit.
I was going to follow the instructions anyway, but I couldn't find a TRACKS BEHAVIOURS tab anywhere. I have Audacity 3.2.4 There is a TRACKS menu but nothing in that which resembles what they suggest.

Post by **Kitty** » August 31st, 2023, 5:07 am

GillH wrote: ↑August 31st, 2023, 5:02 amThanks. I saw that, but I don't need to "move other clips", do I? I just want to paste in an edit.

I think this is what is meant though. If you want to paste in an edit, you need to move the parts that follow automatically, otherwise there may be not enough space.

I was going to follow the instructions anyway, but I couldn't find a TRACKS BEHAVIOURS tab anywhere. I have Audacity 3.2.4 There is a TRACKS menu but nothing in that which resembles what they suggest.

> go to Edit (in the upper Menu)
> scroll down to: Preferences
> choose Tab: Tracks in the left column bar
> check whether the box "editing a clip can move other clips" is ticked

That should work.

Sonia

GillH · Post by **GillH** » August 31st, 2023, 8:00 am

Thanks, Sonia. That worked.

I don't know how my settings got changed, though. From yesterday, I've had files saving at a different bit rate, recording in stereo, and then this refusal to allow edits.

Post by **Kitty** » August 31st, 2023, 8:07 am

GillH wrote: ↑August 31st, 2023, 8:00 amI don't know how my settings got changed, though. From yesterday, I've had files saving at a different bit rate, recording in stereo, and then this refusal to allow edits.

have you maybe done an update recently ? This resets all your previous settings to default, which is not the correct LV settings. So with every update you have to set the parametres afresh.

Sonia

GillH · Post by **GillH** » August 31st, 2023, 11:07 am

No. My last update was some time ago. It's a mystery.