I just want one seamless file! Too much to ask for?

June 22, 2012 6:33 PM

Audacity-filter : How do I merge three tracks together in Audacity when audio overlaps at the beginning and end of each track? I just need a seamless track!

Hi there! Please save me from pulling my hair out!

I have three iPhone voice memos that at the time I had to email to myself from an iPod. Each track is 8 minutes long. Track 1 connects to Track 2 and share less than a second (so it hiccups if I just copy and paste T2 after T1 in Audacity) and then T3 overlaps T2 by a minute or so. (I did realize I had to convert these files into .mp3s so that step is done)

So I can't paste the tracks one after the other as audio is repeated. As a dolt I can't figure out how to delete less than a second so the audio flows seamlessly from one track to the next. Is Audacity sophisticated enough that if I copy a track after another it can recognize that the sections of the audio waves are exactly the same and just auto adjust?

If I have to do it manually, how do I slow the recording down so I can figure out the hundredth of the second I'm supposed to delete? I don't want the file itself to be slow motion just need it to let me read the proper time stamp!

It's my first time using an audio editing tool, please dumb it down for me! Videos, step by step tutorials, diagrams drawn on napkins are fully appreciated.

posted by xicana63 to Technology (3 answers total)

can you get them in separate tracks that overlap, even if imprecicely? then you fade out the first track as you fade in the second...it will minimize any pop. doesnt audacity have a 'visual editor' so you can see the wave form? zoom in a bit and try to line it up as best you can...
posted by sexyrobot at 7:07 PM on June 22, 2012

You want to line them up as three separate tracks, like this:

XXXXXXXX>
        <XXXXXXXXXXX>--
                  --<XXXXXXXX  

You can drag/nudge them individually left and right until you get the overlap the way you want, and then use a cross-fade to do the transitions (which I've represented as < and > above.) When you're satisfied with the sync and everything else, use the Export feature to flatten it down to one track. It's probably a good idea to also save a copy in multi-track format, in case you want to come back later and adjust something. Also, if Audacity can import directly whatever file format these are in, it's best to do that instead of converting to mp3 first. Sometimes this requires installing a shared library plugin from a third party hosted in a country that doesn't recognize software patents, but there should be an easy URL on the Audacity wiki. You want to do as little conversion as possible.
posted by Rhomboid at 7:33 PM on June 22, 2012

Thanks to sexyrobot and Rhomboid! What Rhomboid mentioned was exactly what I did using the zoom tool (or Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, Ctrl+3) and my own attentive hearing to pin point the locations to cut and fade properly track to track.

Thanks guys!
posted by xicana63 at 7:43 PM on June 22, 2012