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

[TriciaG]

Did you accidentally bump the gain slider on the left side of the wave form? That can raise/lower the volume without visually changing anything.

[zachh]

Yes, that is exactly what I did. Now I've put it back and everything is normal again. I had never used that, so I didn't think to check it. Thank you very much indeed for your help.

[JessicaHendra]

Are you choosing CONSTANT bit rate (a radio button)?

See here:

Thank you, Tricia, I am choosing those options but it still says the bit rate is wrong. I had to run the MP 3 file through the Gain App because my volume was too low- can that alter the bit rate?
THANK YOU

[TriciaG]

What "Gain App" are you referring to? It might do something to the bit rate, but I can't confirm.

Do you have Checker? I suggest running your file through Checker both before and after putting it through the Gain App. That should let you know.

https://cgjennings.ca/projects/checker/

[JessicaHendra]

Thank you, I will try that!

[ArtistWarrior]

Hello everyone.

I'm new to Librivox, just joined in January and I'm working on my first recording.

I'm ready to quit, and it's 100% because of Audacity.

I've recorded my four sections over and over and over and over and over and over again. At least 10 times. And every single time, it's some technical error I've made in Audacity that screws the recording--I make an error, go back, try to delete what was recorded, and voila.... it doesn't delete, and I don't discover it until I record the entire thing and am listening to it all the way through.

I don't understand the Audacity manual, I don't understand the YouTube videos about audacity, and I do not understand how to record so that I'll be able to discover and edit.

Can anyone give me advice about how to go back to the very basics and learn how to edit the recordings? I've used iMovie extensively and have zero trouble working with it. Audacity? I'm ready to quit, and I really want to read.

Help. And thank you to anyone who wants to share.

Kathy

[knotyouraveragejo]

Hi Kathy.

There are a number of videos made by LibriVox Volunteers that may be more helpful for you than the Audacity manual.

https://wiki.librivox.org/index.php?title=Instructional_Videos

However, nothing says you have to use Audacity to record for LibriVox. There are lots of choices out there. Audacity just happens to be free and is what most people here use. Any software that will allow you to record, edit and export to mp3 with the following settings is fine to use.

The sample rate when recording should be 44,100 Hz, 16 bit sample format
Exported file must be a 128 kbps constant rate mp3 file

[Winnifred]

Hello everyone.

I'm new to Librivox, just joined in January and I'm working on my first recording.

I'm ready to quit, and it's 100% because of Audacity.

I've recorded my four sections over and over and over and over and over and over again. At least 10 times. And every single time, it's some technical error I've made in Audacity that screws the recording--I make an error, go back, try to delete what was recorded, and voila.... it doesn't delete, and I don't discover it until I record the entire thing and am listening to it all the way through.

I don't understand the Audacity manual, I don't understand the YouTube videos about audacity, and I do not understand how to record so that I'll be able to discover and edit.

Can anyone give me advice about how to go back to the very basics and learn how to edit the recordings? I've used iMovie extensively and have zero trouble working with it. Audacity? I'm ready to quit, and I really want to read.

Help. And thank you to anyone who wants to share.

Kathy

Hi Kathy,

I'm sorry to hear you're struggling with Audacity. I know it's a bit overwhelming at first, and the manual isn't exactly intuitive. I stumbled a lot at first, trying to figure out how to do any of this, then decided I'd just tackle one thing at a time and settle for less than perfection. You're reading two chapters (in The First Sir Percy) that are medium length, and those are a bit harder to edit than a poem or children's story chapter that's under 5 minutes or so might be (you might consider tackling a couple of those first).

I had a look at iMovie (I'm on a Mac too), and I can't make heads or tails of how you'd edit in it. In Audacity, editing happens in the waveform (which looks too small in iMovie to work with).

I believe you're saying you've been re-recording the whole chapters after discovering a single error when you listen to the whole recording. But you can certainly continue to edit the same chapter even after listening to it multiple times (even after exporting it to mp3 in preparation for upload). You don't have to re-record the whole chapter because something didn't delete as you expected. Just go back again to the spot in the waveform and delete it (I know, not easy to do when you have to listen to the whole thing right through to find the error you want to delete).

Here's my process (in the hopes that it may help you).

Once I start, I generally keep my recording going even if I stumble over words. If I'm aware of a stumble (or an unexpected background noise, like a thump), I immediately re-read whatever sentence or phrase I just read (allowing a slight pause). I don't stop recording until I've finished the chapter. Then I listen to the whole chapter against the text, and click stop whenever I hear an error or a re-read bit, and delete the one(s) I like least. Sometimes I'll repeat a phrase or sentence three or more times just to make sure there'll be one I like in there. Then I'll listen to the whole chapter again without the text in front of me, to listen for anything I might have missed (odd clicks, over-long or short silences, etc.), and fix them.

To delete, I select the part of the waveform I want to remove and click Edit > Cut. (I added the Edit toolbar icons to the top of my screen for easy access, by clicking View > Toolbars > Edit Toolbar).

If I'm uncertain I have the right bit selected (or whether I have too much or too little of it), I play that bit (if it's selected, only the selected bit will play). If it's too much or too little of the text, I can just use my mouse to drag the edges of the selected area to where I think they should be, listen again to be sure, and keep tinkering until I get it right. Then I click Edit > Cut.

If I'm not happy with any of my tries on a phrase or sentence and feel I really need to re-record that bit, I click Mute on the main track (there's a button to the left of the screen/waveform), with my cursor positioned at the start of the bit to be re-recorded, then press Shift-Record, let go and start speaking. That'll put the new recording below my main track at the point where I want it. (If you click Record only, it'll put the new recording at the end of your main track.) I listen to the re-recorded bit, and if I'm happy with it, I'll copy and paste that bit over the original in the track above, delete the new recording, unmute the main track, put my cursor a bit earlier in the recording and listen to it again to see if it works now.

The videos that Jo has recommended above outline some of this process, from the perspective of a Librivox user. They may, however, be using a different version of Audacity than you have, so some buttons could be in different places (the latest updates have moved a few things in Audacity).

Let me know if any of this makes sense to you and helps in any way. Let me know also if you have questions about any of it. I'd be happy to provide you with more help if you need it.

Good luck!

Cheers,

[ArtistWarrior]

Winnifred, this is so very helpful and encouraging.

I've used the same techniques as you use, and I've re-recorded. I've tried so many different ways to get through, and Audacity just is tough for me.

I think I'm going to look for a shorter, easier first project. I don't want to quit, but the long reading is too much.

Thanks so much again,

Kathy

[Winnifred]

Winnifred, this is so very helpful and encouraging.

I've used the same techniques as you use, and I've re-recorded. I've tried so many different ways to get through, and Audacity just is tough for me.

I think I'm going to look for a shorter, easier first project. I don't want to quit, but the long reading is too much.

Thanks so much again,

Kathy

That's probably wise. If you get a few successful shorter ones under your belt, Audacity may start to feel a bit more familiar. I didn't do my first longer one until I'd done half a dozen or so short ones.

Good luck!

[LaurieJW]

Hello!

I wasn't sure where to post this question regarding Editing Issues within Audacity- so I'll ask here- the last few days I have had problems editing out breaths and copy/pasting silence. *I keep getting the spinny wheel of death*. I have turned off my (Mac) - unplugged everything, re-installed Audacity.. I have reported the problem every time it has given an error.. ugh! Anyone else or am I the only privileged one here?

~ Laurie

[Winnifred]

Hello!

I wasn't sure where to post this question regarding Editing Issues within Audacity- so I'll ask here- the last few days I have had problems editing out breaths and copy/pasting silence. *I keep getting the spinny wheel of death*. I have turned off my (Mac) - unplugged everything, re-installed Audacity.. I have reported the problem every time it has given an error.. ugh! Anyone else or am I the only privileged one here?

~ Laurie

I could have sworn I sent you a response to your question over in Suggestions, Comments, News and Discussion, but I don't see it now, so I guess the gremlins got it (or I neglected to hit "Send").

I haven't had this issue with the latest version of Audacity (3.4.2), but I did have it with 3.3.1. If you've reinstalled Audacity, I'm not sure what else you can do. What exactly are you doing when you edit? What is your process? Which operating system are you using? There might be a clue in there somewhere.

I know I had an issue a couple of weeks ago (can't remember what exactly it was, sorry), and the solution for it was to upgrade my operating system (Sonoma) from 14.3 to 14.3.1.

Not sure I'm a lot of help here.

Others with more Mac experience might have more suggestions to offer.

Cheers,

[LaurieJW]

Thank you for your help!

So I just installed Sonoma on my Mac (as in an hour ago!)- AFTER I recorded.. boo.

As per my Editing technique- I recently became comfortable with the Multiview button- After I record- I hit "multi view" so I can see my breaths better in the waveforms- I click a "silent" section, hit copy then paste over my breaths... and it works beautifully for the first 10(ish) minutes of finished recordings. Then it starts to sloooowwww down and then the spinny wheel of death appears... its only happened in the last few days though. So I am hoping it fixes itself??

[loon]

One habit I have is to save frequently as I edit. Some versions of Audacity I've used in the past would crash on me - I haven't had that problem for a while but frequent saving has become a habit.

Of course, if you don't get along with Audacity, you can use any audio editing software to record and prepare your submissions - provided the software can export an .mp3 with the correct specs.

[Kitty]

As per my Editing technique- I recently became comfortable with the Multiview button- After I record- I hit "multi view" so I can see my breaths better in the waveforms- I click a "silent" section, hit copy then paste over my breaths... and it works beautifully for the first 10(ish) minutes of finished recordings. Then it starts to sloooowwww down and then the spinny wheel of death appears... its only happened in the last few days though. So I am hoping it fixes itself??

I am not familiar with a mac, but I can tell you that audacity takes a lot of memory from a computer, so maybe overdoing this process is starting to confuse audacity and it needs more time to process it.

But something else I want to suggest here. Do not cut out or paste over your breaths ! Breathing is normal for humans and we don't want to sound like robots, right A good example I'm always giving: Imagine you are on the phone with someone and you notice that he is never breathing in your ear between sentences. Wouldn't you start to get an uncanny feeling soon, wondering who really is on the other side of that phone ?

I understand that some huge breath intakes may sound disagreeable to readers or listeners, but hearing none at all is creepy. My suggestion here, and the way I do it, is to highlight big breaths, which you can see in the audacity wave window if you know what to look out for, they are a big roundish part of the waves between sentences. So highlight one, go to Amplify and put in -10. That way you'll keep your natural breath everywhere but it will be subdued and agreeable to the ear. And I can guarantee that at least on my Audacity it never uses up many memory resources and I never had the spinning wheel like that.

Maybe it's something you want to try with a short text and see how you like it. You probably don't need to do it with every breath anyway. And the end result will indeed sound more natural than with silence between the sentences.

Sonia