Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with audacity

Apparent static coming from microphone

Flamzeron — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:15:25 -0800

People I talk to on Skype claim to hear static coming from my end. I ran a test in Audacity and I could hear the static as well. The microphone I'm using is an MXL 990 and I'm using and Icicle Preamp (This thing) to connect the mic to my laptop through USB. I'm copying over any and all specs that would help. Here is the link. I've tried disabling my internal mic and that didn't work. Before I got this laptop, I was using a laptop that had XP on it and it worked fine. I did spray febreeze in the room and on the mic so that everything would smell nice (I was trying to clean up the room). I tried using both my internal mic and another USB one and they worked fine. I also tried using a different USB cord to hook up my mic to my laptop and I was told there was static. What should I do? I've been having this problem for a while now and it's starting to get on my nerves. Thanks in advanced.

Using a Mixer w/Audacity to do Interviews on a Landline.

CollectiveMind — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 17:55:07 -0800

Using a Mixer w/Audacity to do Interviews on a Landline.? I am using Audacity v2.02. I am also using Windows XP x32 but I may be upgrading to Windows 7 x64. I want to conduct interviews via a landline using an Alesis MultiMix4 w/USB connector. My PC is connected to the landline through an Intel (R) 536 EP modem v.4.76.70.
- In Audacity there was a phone line selection in the input dropdown menu which I selected. But I didn't hear a dial tone when I clicked record.
- In Control Panel > Audio Devices and Properties > Audio tab, there is a selection for modem #0 record and modem #0 playback. I selected these. The same selections are in Audacity in the input and output dropdown menus. I selected them too. But this configuration gave me an error that said I needed to check the input source and the sampling rate. The sampling rate for a landline is 8Khz. I changed the sampling rate but kept getting the error.
- The Audio tab in Audio Devices and Properties also has a USB Audio CODEC option which I selected thinking it would be a better connection to the mixer. And yes, it does let me record to Audacity through the mixer when the microphone input is selected, but there still seems to be no connection between Audacity and the landline. I thought that through the USB, I could not only talk to who is on the phone through a microphone which is connected to the mixer, but listen to them through the mixer too.
Can the hivemind give me any help? Thanks.

How can I record myself talking and listen to it later on my Android phone or Ipod Touch?

seasparrow — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 22:52:08 -0800

How can I record myself talking and then transfer that file to my Android phone or Ipod Touch so I can listen to it later with my other music and podcasts? I'm looking for advice on software, transfer procedures and best practices to make this an easy process. Background: I'm challenging myself to get in better shape, so for the last two weeks I've been walking about six miles a day-- mostly to and from school. At first I listened to music and podcasts, but recently realized I could put this time to even better use by recording audio notes while I study that I would then play back and listen to while I am walking. This would turn my commute into study and review time as well as exercise.

Equipment Available: I have a usable USB headset microphone-- nothing fancy, cost about $30, bought a few months ago. I have a Windows 7 Desktop computer, and an internet connection. I've heard that the free audio program Audacity is good but I've never used it. I have last year's MacBook Air, with MS Office and of course Garage Band, about which I know nothing.

Ideally I'd like to listen to these self-made recordings on my Android phone, but I also have an Ipod Touch if that would be easier. I'm looking for advice on the best way to make this idea come to life without too much extra work. To recap, I want to record myself talking, then have that file saved (as an MP3, I assume) and transferred to my phone or Ipod so I can listen to it while walking and exercising. Any steps of this process that can be automated would be even better.

1. What is the easiest way to record myself? Audacity? Garage Band? Something else?
2. Is there any easy way to transfer those files to the device? In a way, I'm kind of recording a podcast, but only just for me. No one else wants to hear my notes about chemistry and electronics.
3. Where should I put the files on an Android smartphone? (I have an 2-year-old Motorola Droid X if that matters.)
4. Would it be easier to treat these recording as "songs" and put them on an Ipod Touch instead? Any ideas how to do that?
5. Can any of this process be made easier or automated to some extent?

I'm hoping the Hive has some gurus who have done something similar. Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated, or even alternate suggestions to accomplish the same goal-- listening to audio study notes while exercising. Thank you for your assistance!

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

xicana63 — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 18:33:37 -0800

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.

How do I disable a pitch cancellation feature?

gray17 — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:00:47 -0800

When I record myself singing a single note in Audacity, it records fine for a while. Then after about two seconds it cancels out that pitch as if it were background noise. (It will then record other notes, although the quality is severely affected.) It does this with both the built-in mic and my headset mic. How do I disable this feature? Fairly new Gateway NV57H laptop running Windows 7.

Captain Planet! He's not being my hero...

emkelley — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:18:33 -0800

How to remove vocals? I'm working on a video--I'm trying to remove the vocals from the Captain Planet intro and use the music as a backing track. I tried following some tutorials on Youtube for Audacity, and it did nothing... Could be pilot error (I'm a total n00b) but does anyone have any advice for removing vocal tracks? Is it totally impossible to remove vocals? I'd settle for mostly removed, because I'm going to re-narrate anyway. Help!

How do I get music with a full stereo track?

grimace636 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:22:36 -0800

How can I find song files that are in full stereo? I want to mix two song files together on audacity, mixing the vocals of one onto the music of the other.

I know how to separate vocals from music by splitting the stereo track, but whenever I import a song file into audacity both parts of the stereo track are identical.

How do I find songs that actually have two different parts so that splitting the stereo track actually does something?

Thanks

Help me rewind Audacity when in the middle of recording (please)

LyzzyBee — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 02:11:00 -0800

I am recording a list of names on Audacity. Usually, when I go wrong, I know I've gone wrong. I'd like to be able to rewind to where I was about to go wrong and re-record over the wrong one, rather than adding a new version of the name after the wrong one then going back later to cut out the mistakes. So the ideal: "Peter, John, Rabbit" [rewinds to end of John] "Robert, Paul ... " and I end up with a tape saying "Peter, John, Robert, Paul ..." rather than "Peter, John, Rabbit, Robert, Paul ..." I am using a PC. Yes, the Audacity instructions probably do tell me somewhere, but I am not experienced with the terminology plus Mr LyzzyBee, who is more technical than me, couldn't find how to do this too. I know I've done this with other software when recording an audio book for a radio station ...

Is there a way to automagically improve the sound of downloaded bootlegs?

nowonmai — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 04:05:02 -0800

Does software exist to automatically improve the sound of music recordings, similar to the auto-adjustment features of photo-editing software? I have downloaded an awful lot of live music recordings, much of which sounds a bit 'thin' to my ears. I'd like to improve the sound, which means equalization to boost bass, compression, and probably other processes I don't know anything about. I'd like to do this for free, at the touch of a button, without having to invest a lot of time into learning audio software.

By analogy, programs like iPhoto and Picasa have magic adjustment buttons that usually improve a picture; maybe not as much as an experienced user with a good eye could do with the curves tool, but good enough and you can process dozens of files a minute. They usually stretch the histogram, adjust colour balance and saturation, and sharpen a bit.

I know little about audio editing, but I like to imagine that something that similarly analysed a waveform and made 'typical' adjustments might be possible to make.

Is there software to do this? Is there free software? A way to make Audacity do it perhaps? I'm on OS X but also interested in Linuxy or Windows suggestions

Failing that, is there a standard workflow for beefing up the sound of bootleg recordings; eg "compress then equalise then adjust gain in that order" or something?

Ideas for enhancing smartphone audio recording for live events

forkisbetter — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 12:14:58 -0800

RecordingFilter: I got the idea of using my new Android phone to make a live recording. I just used the Voice Recorder app that came on the phone. The resulting recording is obviously pretty low quality, but not completely terrible. How can I find ways to make future smartphone recordings sound better? Obviously the phone is never going to be equal to a real mic and recording set-up, but I'm interested in exploring what the phone is capable of. It sure is convenient.

I'd like to be able to use my Droid Incredible for recordings for some podcasting projects. The sound is pretty decent if you speak directly into the mic in a quiet space, but for times when I am recording out "in the field" (house concerts, busy outside street space, et cet) the sound quality obviously goes down quite a bit.

I have some experience editing sound with Audacity and Levelator, and the biggest problem I've had is cleaning up "muddy" sound from loud recordings with lots of background sound. Looking for suggestions for:

-Apps that somehow enhance recording or do a better job than the one that comes with the phone

-Techniques for using Audacity to clean up muddy sound (looking for something a little more sophisticated than just using the clean up plugin)

-Techniques for making spoken words "pop" with a lot of background noise.

-Anything else you think could be useful

Thanks!

-

How to show and voice a presentation on a PC?

parmanparman — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 06:04:49 -0800

I am having real trouble recording presentations on my Windows Vista laptop. I have this killer presentation on Open Office Impress and have CamStudio and Audacity. But, Audacity keeps crashing and I can't get CamStudio to record the entire screen. When I set "Full Screen" it just records a corner of it. I am wracking my brain trying to figure out a way to make this presentation work. I also have a Flip Mino and a slideshare account but I don't want to put the presentation online as its a course audition and very rough. Suggestions???

Un-distorting a "jewish" sound clip.

flibbertigibbet — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:05:56 -0800

I need help un-disorted a sound clip. There is a sound in Civilization 4 that plays whenever you discover Judaism. I could not place it--and I know my Jewish prayers--so I dug in the install folder and found the full file. It is heavily distorted in a way I cannot quite figure out. Could someone help me see if this was ever a prayer to begin with, or was just random vocalizations approved as being "Jewish enough" in order to avoid offending people with actual prayers? The file is http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZFFZ1Z3Y

It feels like they ripped out an entire channel of sound or something. I tried obvious stuff in audacity--reversing it, changing the tempo, reversing it then changing the tempo--and it didn't work.

For those who own Civ4: all of the full tracks have this weird modified feeling, although Judaism is the only one with "voices." They can be found in assets/sounds/buildings. The full versions are the names of the religions; the short versions have the work "dink" in them. So the version that plays in-game is a clip of the above mp3 (jewish.mp3) called jewishdink.wav. Because the dink clips are so short, the weirdness of the full versions cannot be appreciated in-game.

I'm out of the loop...

matkline — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:28:27 -0800

What audio editing software should I use if I want loops to be automatically detected? This seems like a fairly simple task - all the program would have to do is identify repeating waveforms. Currently, I have Audacity and Ableton Live, and neither seem to have this functionality. Any suggestions?

All-in-1 package for music editing that includes features like Auto-Tune and Melodyne?

audio — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:02:00 -0800

All-in-1 package for music editing that includes features like Auto-Tune and Melodyne? I'm setting up a musician studio for the first time. I have been useing Windows Audacity for awhile now and like it generally but find myself needing additional plugins like Auto-Tune, Melodyne and VocAlign.

Is there one program I can download out there that has all of this included so-as I don't have to hunt down all these programs?

How to get footage from camera and audio equipment to youtube quicker.

omnigut — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 06:45:29 -0800

Help me make my audio/video fcp life easier. I'm spending far too much time encoding and converting, and there are issues once I've done that; how do I speed the process up? I'm going to be doing this on the road for 12 months, so I really need a better method. (detailed description of tech specs/issues inside) I've tried to be as clear as I can in the following description, to avoid misunderstandings. I understand this is a long post (sorry!).

SECTION A: MY SPECS

Computer
Macbook
OS: Mac OS X 10.5.8
Processor: 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
Memory: 2 GB
HD capacity: 148GB (normally about 70GB free)
Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M (is this relevant?)

Camera
Make: Canon Rebel t2i
Video files: 1280 x 720, 59.94fps (the only 1280 x 720 format) - Audio is 48khz, bit rate 44,625
Encoding: .mov, H.264, Integer (little endian)

Audio Recorder
Make: Zoom H2
Output options
What I use: MP3, bit rate is 256kbps

Software I own/use
FCP Academic
MPEG Streamclip 1.9.2
Audacity 1.3.5d
Quicktime Pro 7.6.6

SECTION B: MY CURRENT EDITING PROCESS

I record video and audio files of street-performer concerts to upload to my youtube channel. Once I've made the recordings, and come home to my computer, I

1) Transfer Videos from camera to computer.
2) Export files with MPEG Streamclip Batch to: Video; 1280 x 720 (unscaled), Apple Intermediate Codec, little endian, Quality 50% (files are massive still, about 5GB per song), not interlaced. Sound; uncompressed, stereo, 48khz. This takes AGES, but is necessary so that my computer and fcp can handle the editing process.
3) Transfer audio files (mp3, 256kbps) from Zoom H2 to computer
4) Open FCP, import video and audio files.
5) Add videos and audio files to timeline. This requires rendering of the audio files.
6) Edit videos, which requires some rendering of videos, depending on type of edit (which takes a long time).
7) Export to quicktime - makes roughly 5GB files per song.
8) Convert this file using MPEG Streamclip to MP4, H.264, quality 50% (small file sizes for youtube upload), takes AGES
9) Upload end result to youtube.

As you can tell, this takes a long time, and there are other problems:
1) Rendering mp3 files to match audio from video files in fcp creates little "pop" sounds every so often, and the audio slowly slips out of sync (the auido from Zoom H2 has about 4 extra "frames" per 30 seconds)
2) Keeping the quality at 50% in all MPEG Streamclip exports reduces the quality a little (as does uploading it to youtube), but the videos are still better than most youtube videos out there (see example)

SECTION C: QUESTIONS ON HOW TO RESOLVE THIS

1. Audio
Okay. I've done some homework, and found that I should convert the audio to aiff before importing it to fcp (which has trouble with mp3 files).
Questions:
a) Should I record audio on Zoom H2 in .wav (instead of .mp3) format, 48khz? This would require I get a bigger SD card, as the files become much bigger. I think recording in mp3 is fine, but when converting to aiff will it slip out of sync in fcp as it does now? Would recording in .wav instead of .mp3 avoid that?
b) What audio settings should I choose to match those of the video settings when converting the audio files to .aiff?
c) Converting audio files to aiff before importing to fcp will get rid of the "pop" sounds. But MPEG Streamclip doesn't allow you to add audio files to their batch export, and Audacity doesn't allow you to export aiff in their batch either. Do I really have to sit there exporting each audio file, one by one? Does anyone know of other (Mac compatible) software that will allow for batch exporting of audio files to aiff?

2. Video
a) The converting to AIC of original files, editing movie in fcp (with a few renderings needed), then exporting edited movie to quicktime, then converting that quicktime movie to mp4 process takes AGES and creates massive files. Do I need to pimp my current computer (put in a faster processor or more memory?) or buy a new computer (and if so, what specs... I have enough cash to buy a better mac, but probably not the absolute best)? Each full performance, once exported to AIC, when reduced to 50% quality, is roughly 20-40GB! Or, is there a way of speeding up my above process?

SECTION D: APOLOGIES!

I'm sorry this is such a long question, and don't expect a huge number of responses. Does anyone know of a better forum to ask these questions? Does fcp offer support? Or should I contact a University professor? Does anyone know anyone I can contact, perhaps for a paid tutorial (London, UK)? I'm about to go on a 12 month trip around the world filming street performers. We're traveling on bus and train and boat (no planes), on which I plan on making edits to videos so I can upload them to youtube at internet cafés. In other words, I REALLY need to speed this process up.

[final question: does anyone know anyone who has traveled the world uploading videos to youtube at internet cafes?]

Thanks a lot for your time, and again, I'm sorry for making it such a long one!

I NEED MATHS! How do I slow this track down to -800%?

tunestunes — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 20:07:51 -0800

How do I reduce something by -800% when I'm working with a scale between -99% and 99%? I saw this and i wanted to see if I'd get roughly the same result with similar songs. I tried slowing down John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change" in Audacity but it will only allow me to slow something down by 99 or -99% at a time. If only I had taken math class more seriously could I figure this out! So I how do I get this John Mayer track down to the -800% it deserves to be heard at? Thanks!

Calling all guitar pedal geeks!

YamwotIam — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:10:19 -0800

I play the recorder, using a basic recorder -- mic -- pedals -- amp setup. Pedal 1 provides delay; pedal 2 is the tricky part. There's a specific processing effect I'm looking for, which is this: 1) Clip the input signal above a defined decibel limit (not frequency limit); 2) Feed to output ONLY the signal above this limit. I can use Audacity to do this in post-processing (via the Hard Limiter filter), but I'd like to be able to lay this effect on in real time, via an effects pedal. Does such a pedal exist? I know about real-time processors such as Max/MSP, but I would rather perform without a laptop on stage.

Note: I've experimented with various compression/gain effects, but they don't quite give me the sound I'm looking for.

Merci beaucoup.

How do I make this thing? (video-editing mystery)

SebastianKnight — Mon, 17 May 2010 10:55:44 -0800

I need to edit a series of basic videos together within the next 24 hours. I have no idea what I'm doing! Please help me. Here's what I think I need to do:

Phase A
1. Record video #1 in AVCHD-Lite format (this is non-negotiable).
2. Put video into Handbrake - output as mp4.
3. Import mp4 audio into Audacity. Increase volume and reduce noise. Save.
4. Replace original mp4 with improved audio track using YAMB.

Phase B
1. Import photographs into '?' program.
2. Create slideshow (set photo duration etc).
3. Output as mp4 file (no audio needed). This is video #2

Phase C
1. Join mp4 videos #1 and #2 using YAMB with slight pause in between.

Phase D
1. Repeat this process with several short videos.
2. Burn all videos onto 1 DVD using program '?'.
3. DVD should play in any DVD player in the UK (i.e. PAL).

Okay, so here's the software I have at the moment:
Audacity
Handbrake
YAMB
Nero 7

I can't afford to buy any new software right now. Can I get by with freeware and my old version of Nero?

Thanks!

Preparing audio files for 8khz

clarkie666 — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:02:26 -0800

In preparing voice files for a final sample rate of 8kHz what can I do to ensure that the voice remains as warm and untinny as possible. I am saving down files for upload to a telephone system that only supports 8kHz wav format. While I have recorded at 41kHz it is obviously losing a lot of quality in the down-sample. While I realize there are obvious limitations with the final format and eventually it will sound telephone-y, is there artificial processing I should carry out to balance this before they are down-sampled, e.g. bass boost, equalization to make sure that they sound as natural as possible even at this rate. I have already normalized all of the files and have good levels to work with.

It is similar but opposite to this question, which has already helped.

I am using Audacity - thanks!

How do I go about creating some speech synthesized audio files of a handful of made-up words?

iamkimiam — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:34:55 -0800

I need to create about 8 gender-neutral, speech-synthesized audio files of variants of a made up word for a research project I'm working on. What program should I use to do this? Is there a really simple way to complete this task? What's a good resource or tutorial that I can walk myself through? The audio samples need to be as simple and similar to each other as possible (just tweaked versions of basically the same thing, where I've swapped out one consonant or cardinal vowel sound for another). I don't have a lot of time to spend on this, but need to do what's necessary to create the most scientifically sound (ha!), unmarked (neutral/canonical) forms.

I am well versed in phonetics, phonology, morphology, speech acoustics, etc., but I haven't had the opportunity to create digital sound files from scratch before now.

Bonus if this can be done in Praat or Audacity (neither of which I'm terribly familiar with, but both of which have academic chops that will make explaining my methodology much easier).

How to auto select loop in audio track?

lmm — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:36:02 -0800

Any way of automatically selecting an audio loop in Audacity or some other app? I have a bunch of video game tracks (NES/SNES) that loop (obviously) but the tracks I have don't end at the loop's end (and they also fade out at the end). I would like to loop these tracks. But this is hard. These tracks are really good but I fear that once I'm done with the tracks I won't want to listen to them anymore.

So, I'm thinking it would save a lot of time if there was an quick way to get a rough cut of where the loop in the track is and just go from there.

I've used Audacity a little to cut and join. Commercial software suggestions could be good as a future reference but I'd prefer free.

Why would this MP3 play slowly in Audacity?

chocolate_butch — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 09:29:15 -0800

Why would an MP3 play at a significantly different speeds in Audacity and Windows media player, respectively? Specifically, Audacity is playing the file waaay to slow. When I listen to a particular, MP3, specifically Crush Mode, by the Glitch Mob, it plays at apparently normal speed, with a running time of 40:44. However, When I open it in Audacity, it plays much, much s-l-o-w-e-r, and at a running time of 55:57, and the sound is pitched way down. Almost like playing a 45 on 33, for those of you old enough to remember vinyl. I've never had this happen before, and wonder what is so magical about this particular mp3 that is seeming to baffle Audacity.

Anyone had this happen before? And what might I do to get Audacity to play the file at the correct speed?

Making an mp3 from a Youtube video

cashman — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:05:07 -0800

I'm trying to make a high quality mp3 of the first 3:41 of this yt video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWz-x7YMVCk I have bass-increasing headphones and in them the song sounds great. But the mp3 I made is missing all of that. I tried to use audacity and acid to make mp3s of this video that sound good - capture the bass and the song in general. I can't do it without it sounding 'quiet' or alternatively, clipping. Can someone get me a high quality mp3 of this video of Red doing his live beatboxing?

My email's in my profile.

Why doesn't Audacity see my sound card?

jbickers — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:48:42 -0800

Why does Audacity think I have no sound card installed? Just got a new desktop PC (this one, if it helps), with on-the-motherboard audio. But Audacity says I don't have any sound cards installed.

In Device Manager, two items are listed under sound controllers: NVIDIA HDMI Audio and Realtek High Definition Audio. Sound works just dandy on every other application, as far as I'm aware.

Running Vista Home Premium. So, is this a Vista problem or an Audacity problem? Do I really need to install drivers of some sort?

Controlling recording input with Audacity.

mojohand — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 06:20:36 -0800

Controlling sound input when recording using Audacity for WinXP. I am transferring my recorded book cassette tapes to digital files using Audacity for XP (1.2.6) running on a Dell D820 (SigmaTel Audio). Unfortunately, this laptop does not have a line-in jack, so the cassette deck is connected through the Dell's external headphone jack.

My problem is that I cannot limit the sound input. This is creating serious clipping and distortion in my recordings. Adjusting the sound input volume control slider within Audacity has no effect. In fact it's currently set at 0.

Adjusting neither the 'Sound Recording' nor the "Voice Recording" volume controls within Windows' "Sound and Audio Devices" function has any effect. There are no sound mixing or input controls found within the "SigmaTel Audio" tab in Control Panel.

I'm guessing I'm missing something simple, but I cannot think of what it might be. Thanks in advance.