Audacity: merging audio tracks without interruption
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Audacity: merging audio tracks without interruption
I have some audio tracks of someone speaking, and would like to merge them in Audacity with no audible interruption in the speaking. I can do it, but not seamlessly. So far, the only way I know how is to paste the second track in at the end of the first. This method doesn't work perfectly, because even if I used "Truncate Silence" at the beginning of the second track before I copied and pasted it, Audacity apparently adds a pause at the spot (end of the first track) where I pasted the second track in. Because the first track ended in the middle of a word, I am left with an audible interruption even after I use "Truncate Silence" repeatedly. What procedure will merge the first and second tracks as though they were never separate?
Last edited by newbiesforever; 01-16-2013 at 10:57 AM.
How do I move the second track into the first? I thought it would be done either with one of the Align options or by dragging the second track to the end of the first, but none of those will do it for me.
As he said, set it up as a new, separate track, underneath the first. Then shift it over until the beginning of its audio directly follows the end of first one, perhaps with a slight overlap. Don't bother trying to merge them directly in the workspace. Just run them in parallel.
When you play or export the project the two tracks will be automagically merged into one.
You can also apply fade out/fade in effects at the ends of the tracks to create a small transition if you want. Maybe normalize them too, if they have different sound levels.
Last edited by David the H.; 01-20-2013 at 03:21 PM.
Reason: rewording for clarity
As he said, set it up as a new, separate track, underneath the first. Then shift it over until the beginning of its audio directly follows the end of first one, perhaps with a slight overlap. Don't bother trying to merge them directly in the workspace. Just run them in parallel.
When you play or export the project the two tracks will be automagically merged into one.
You can also apply fade out/fade in effects at the ends of the tracks to create a small transition if you want. Maybe normalize them too, if they have different sound levels.
Thanks, that explains everything. I didn't guess that playing or exporting the tracks would automatically merge them. Except one thing: I can't figure out which Align option makes the beginning of the second track directly follow the end of the first track. The options are Align With Zero, Align With Cursor, Align With Selection Start, Align With Selection End, Align End With Cursor, Align End With Selection Start, Align End With Selection End, Align Tracks Together.
Last edited by newbiesforever; 01-21-2013 at 05:23 PM.
Forget about all the align tools and whatnot. Just use the time shift cursor tool to move the track left or right until it starts when you want it to. Then export the result.
Last edited by David the H.; 01-22-2013 at 09:43 AM.
Reason: bettered the advice
Okay...I have followed your instructions and they worked perfectly, thank you. But it seems that in one of the combined tracks I made, I have one long interruption left (probably because I forgot to use "Truncate Silence" on some of the tracks before I combined them), and need to manually eliminate it (unless I do the whole thing over again--I don't want to). Is there a more efficient way than using Truncate Silence until the break is gone?
Last edited by newbiesforever; 01-29-2013 at 02:07 PM.
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