FAQ:Editing
From Audacity Manual
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Why can’t I use the effects or other menu items?
Some menu items are grayed out or disabled until they are available for use. Before choosing an effect, you must select the audio that you want to change. To select audio click and drag with the Selection tool to highlight it, or choose the “Select All” command from the Edit menu.
Many menu items are disabled while playing, recording, or pausing a track. To enable them, press the yellow Stop button.
How do I combine two files into one longer file?
Follow these steps to splice two files together:
- Import both files into Audacity.
- Select the second one by clicking on its label (the area around the mute/solo buttons).
- Choose “Find Zero Crossings” from the Edit menu.
- Choose “Cut” from the Edit menu.
- Place the cursor by clicking in the first track, after the end of the audio.
- Choose “Paste” from the Edit menu.
You can press the Play button to hear the result, and use the Export commands (in the File menu) to save it as a sound file.
How do I mix two tracks together?
To mix two files, import both of them into Audacity. They will appear in separate tracks.
When you press the Play button, you'll hear both tracks play together. Because this adds the sounds together, the end result may become too loud and distorted. To fix this, turn down the -...+ gain sliders on each track until you see no clipping light on the Meter Toolbar. Use the L...R pan sliders to adjust the spatial position of each track in the mix. You can also use to display the controls for each track together in a separate window.
When you use , the tracks will be automatically mixed to an audio file for use in other applications. If you want to mix tracks together explicitly before export, so that they are replaced with a single mixed track, select the tracks, then .
Can I remove the vocals from a recording to make a Karaoke track?
This is only possible for certain stereo tracks. When the vocals are exactly the same on both stereo channels, you can remove them by “subtracting” one channel from the other. This works for many studio recordings, where the vocal track is mixed exactly in the center.
To do this in Audacity:
- Import your stereo file into Audacity.
- Open the track menu (click the arrow next to the track title), and choose “Split Stereo Track.”
- Select the lower track (the right channel) by clicking it in the area around the mute/solo buttons.
- Choose “Invert” from the Effects menu.
- Using the track menus, change each track to “Mono.”
Press the Play button to hear the results. If you are lucky, the voice will be gone but most of the other instruments will be unaffected, just like a karaoke track. You can use the Export commands in the File menu to save the results.
If the vocals are not exactly the same on both stereo channels, there are some other techniques or optional plugins you can try. Please see our Vocal_Removal Wiki page for more details.
