Punch and Roll Recording

Adjusting settings before you record

Latency correction:

It is a pre-requesite that you tune the Latency correction setting for your audio interface so that play-back and recording are synchronized.

Failure to do this may result in unwanted bursts of audio at the splice point, especially if you are not using headphones.

Pre-roll and Crossfade

You may wish to adjust the pre-roll duration and crossfade duration in Recording Preferences to suit your personal preferences:

1. Pre-roll is the amount of existing audio, in seconds, that will be played before the repair recording starts. The default is five seconds.

2. Crossfade is the length of crossfade, in milliseconds, that Audacity will apply at the splice point to smooth the transition. The default is ten milliseconds.

Record as usual, until you make a mistake

Begin recording as usual with the Transport toolbar Record button , the menu command Transport > Recording > Record, or the keyboard shortcut R key.

If you make a mistake, stop recording with the Transport toolbar Stop button or its shortcut Space.

Choose a splicing point

Select a position in the recording before the error by picking in the recording track. You must select a time within the recorded clip.

You may simply estimate the duration of the error, or guess by sight from the waveform (such as to find a pause between spoken words). Or you may find the Scrub Ruler or Timeline Quick-Play useful to find the right place by ear.

You may wish to use a selection and play it, extending or shrinking it to find an appropriate splicing point. If you select a time range, only the left edge is used as the splicing point - and please be aware that using Punch and Roll will then discard the selection as well as all audio following it.

Using Punch and Roll Record

The command Transport > Recording > Punch and Roll Record can be used to start Punch and Roll recording, but it is more easily done with the keyboard shortcut Shift + D. You can, if you wish, reassign this shortcut to another key or key combination of your choosing using Keyboard Preferences.

The Punch and Roll edit will:

• Delete the portion of the selected track after the splicing point. And note that this will include the selection if you have one

• Play the pre-roll audio (length as defined by your Pre-roll setting in Recording Preferences, default is five seconds).

• When the play head reaches the splice point (now the end of the track) Audacity switches to record mode to enable you to make your correction and continue recording.

• The repair recording will roll until you stop it with the Stop button or its shortcut Space