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Tommy32077598hlm8
Participant
September 5, 2023
Question

Recover original audio file.

  • September 5, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 471 views

Hi! 

My first time using Audition i saved the changes i did in the program. I was not pleased with the set up so i deleted thar file and went back to pick up the original file on my SD stick on the computer. I couldn´t find the original file, only the file thar i worked with with all the changes. How do i recover my original file? 

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1 reply

SteveG_AudioMasters_
Community Expert
SteveG_AudioMasters_Community Expert
Community Expert
September 5, 2023

How on earth can we tell? We know nothing about your setup, or how you did the editing. We don't even know if this is on a Mac or a PC. To say we're a bit short of information would be a bit of an understatement...

 

But editing 101 says very clearly that you should never edit your original file. You should copy it first into a working directory and edit that copy, because it's very easy for mistakes to happen, especially if you aren't too familiar with the software. If, for instance, you opened the original file, edited it and hit Save - then you will have overwritten your original with the alterations, because you won't have changed the file's name. If you'd used Save As, then you would have been given an opportunity to give it a new name. And when you went to close the original file that you'd altered, you would  have been asked whether you wanted to save the changes you'd made, and that's another trap for the unwary - if you said 'yes', then you'd have overwritten your original file...

 

And I'm afraid that recovery from any of those scenarios is not possible.

    T
    Tommy32077598hlm8Author
    Participant
    September 6, 2023
    Thank you for your response! I use a Mac and it's an audio file thats with a bad recording and low until silent speak. I googled and find a setup on Youtube done by Cinema sound/Mark Edward Lewis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG9PXzLUwBU
     
    I followed his steps and added effects  
    1: Parametric Equalizer
    2: Multiband compressor
    3: Multiband compressor
    4: Parametric Equalizer
    5: De noisier
     
    I followed his steps and added the effects on my file and it came out even more worse. So i closed the file and wasn´t focus on the information about saving. Now i can see that it says: " Save changes to wav before closing"....I know, i´m an idiot!!!! 

     

     
    Do you think it´s possible somehow to backtrack the settings to come near the original audio? 
     
    SteveG_AudioMasters_
    Community Expert
    SteveG_AudioMasters_Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 6, 2023

    EQ you can undo as a rule, but compression effects, which cause signal level variations according to a formula we don't have the inverse of, can't be undone. And denoising artifacts aren't easy to deal with either; all of which means that you'll never really get the original sound back. What's worse is that you'll probably degrade it even more by trying, I'm afraid.

     

    The next rule in editing 101 says that all EQ and effects scenarios are unique, as no two bits of audio ever sound quite the same. The implication of this is that somebody else's treatment regime isn't going to be optimal for your audio - it's a bit like trying to bake a sponge cake using a fruit cake recipe... So you only ever use suggestions like that as a starting point (although not with the cakes). The ultimate arbiter of the results you get will be your ears.

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