Audacity

eamon

Hello Folks

I'm using Audacity to transfer my collection of tapes unto my PC. Whilst its straightforward to use and I've no problem with studio recorded tapes. I'm just wondering if there is a good solution to my current problem. I have a number of "live" recordings and there are no breaks between tracks that are identifiable via Audacity . Aside from playing the tape normally via hi-fi etc and identifying the break points that way. Are there any other avenues that I could consider/try.

look forward to any replies

Eamon

superjaggybunnet

Can you turn the volume to zero for a second or two?

Domokun

You're looking for a tool that will automatically break up a large sound file into smaller ones by analyzing the recording and identifying when the songs stop and start? I don't think such a tool exists I'm afraid. You might find some luck with an audio editor, using a waveform to display the volume level should identify silences, I suppose. The rest of it (cutting out the song, setting record quality and saving) would have to be manual.

frogbottler

I had a similar problem but sorted it by using the zoom in/zoom out facility in Project.
I recorded the tape as normal using audacity and saved in Mydocs as a .wav file
Then closed Audacity (cos can't have two open at once)
Re-open Audacity.
Click File then click Open and select the recording you want to work on.
Click View and Zoom in (or Ctrl+1) and keep zooming until the breaks between songs are visible.
Use Edit (cut/copy/delete etc) as required
Then Zoom Normal and save as individual tracks.

Hope this works for you

eamon

Thanks for your replies. I'll try the zooming in method before I revert to my original thinking.

Eamon

esuhl

Are you trying to burn a CD with no audio breaks, but with track numbers so you can easily jump between the tracks? I can't remember exactly how to do it, but I think I created a new "label track", and listened to the track, manually inserting labels where I wanted a new CD track number. I vaguely remember exporting the label track and creating a .CUE text file from these labels... I think I had to manually edit it to convert minutes and seconds into CD frames... or something. And then I used Nero to convert the .WAV and .CUE files into a CD with continuous music, but track numbers.

I hope that helps - sorry I can't recall the specifics! Maybe these wiki pages will help:

http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Splitting_recordings_into_separate_tracks
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Label_Track

Backbiter

I've used Audacity to record dozens of old tapes to MP3. I'd have thought you'd want to chop any recordings into tracks that you can name and save, and you have to do that manually.
One tip when using the Edit menu to select sections of your recording: it has a useful 'Select Start to Cursor' and 'Select Cursor to end', which speeds things up.
And remember to go into File > Preferences to set recordings to Stereo!

eamon

Really sorry about having to resurrect this thread. Anyway I've been merrily coping my taped music to my new laptop (or so I thought) via Audacity and then converting to MP3. I've been using Windows Media Player to organise the music and I've been thinking that I'm such a clever clogs and I've been typing in the track titles and even inserting album art. Now I find that I've lost a chunk of the music. For example the last 11 tracks on The Cranberies "No Need To Argue" and weirdly tracks 2 - 7 inclusive of Thin Lizzy "Live & Dangerous".

I suspect that I may have commited a basic error somewhere but can't think where.

FYI

I'm using WMP 11 (I presume)
Vista Home Premium
And my machine is a Toshiba Equium P300-16T

I've searched using windows explorer (found nothing) via Google desktop and they are here somewhere. I had assumed the WMP would self populate as it did when I started this project. Could I be assuming incorrectly?

Look forward to your replies.

Eamon

Belnahua

Have you considered using Goldwave?

You can have multiple sessions open, and it allows you to save the selected portion, rather than copy and paste!

The only thing you have to watch is, the free version only allows you so many edits, before it complains. But I've very rarely come across it, as it allows you to do quite alot before that point. Then you just close it and re open it, and accept the free licence again, and carry on from where you left off.