Protect Your Files Like Your Wallet Depends on It.
Don’t lose clients to preventable mishaps.
Loss of the audio from someones podcast or wedding video is probably going to minimize referrals from those clients.
Always save a copy of your original recorded audio in WAV or AIFF format in a folder or external drive using AudacityAudio Editor File Export. In between work sessions you should save your work as a project but save a copy in WAV or AIFF of your latest work naming it with name, date and time. Note: MP3 exporting takes a little life out of your work through lossy conversion. Save MP3 for the final copy.
Leave a few seconds of ambient sound before actual
content recording. If this is to be a long or interrupted recording
session, or if background noise is likely to change, such as outdoors,
venue with audience, record additional voice free
sections fir noise sampling and tag or make a note of lication in file
by time(elapsed)
Take the time to label and make a note of every save, to avoid having a tangled mess of files of unknown status.
If you want to build an editing or other related business you might as well start now by numbering each copy in a notebook noting the changes you made up until that point.
ALWAYS! - Cancel (uncheck) “ENHANCEMENTS” in sound devices on Windows
You
will have wasted every minute if you process your audio with
enhancements on. You will not be hearing correct reproduction of the
recorded audio and your first step of cancelling DC Offset may be
disabled if enhancements are on. PCs have a built in DC offset feature when recording from the built-in sound inputs.
Right-click over the speaker icon in the System Tray at the bottom of your screen and select Sounds. Click on the Recording tab. Click on show disabled and disconnected devices then enable each device.
Right-click and select "Properties" then in the "Enhancements" tab or in the sound device's own control panel in "Hardware and Sound". Check "turn off all enhancements"
Audacity isn't like Microsoft Docs, with secret backups hidden deep inside your C drive. When it says "Audacity didn't close properly, try to recover your work?" It means "most likely, it's not gonna happen."When leaving a project that's unfinished, think before you walk away.
PLUGIN HOARDING
It is tempting to try to force every audio plugin of every kind work in your copy of Audacity. You really don't need ten compressors and eight types of EQ plugin. This DAW is great but it gets finicky with all that stuff, or rather, I think it's Windows that gets confused checking all those plugin files. It's a new world and most audio applications don't require cinematic audio. Let it go. Note all your settings, equipment and anything unusal in the file folder along with a short recording of the room ambiance. The one time you need it you'll be able to recover. Then get a good work flow going that is easy and smooth for you and seems to please your customers.
Speaking of plug- ins, it is strongly recommended, when installing third-party plug-ins, that you thoroughly test the plug-in on non-critical project data before using it in production use on a live project.
