Saving as .wav creates background noise

Question

When I save a file as a .wav, it creates a deafening background noise, and I'm not sure why. (Saving as an .AIFF does not create the noise)

See the screen shots below for how it all seems to go south when the recording (which is a .wav) is saved again as a new .wav.

1) A nice healthy file.

2) I highlight and copy the soundwaves.

3) I create a new file.

4) New file looks good!

5) I paste the soundwaves in the new file. Looks good. I check it for sound - sounds good.

6) I save the new file, then close.

7) I open up the new file and it's a mess.

FWIW, this doesn't happen with AIFF saves. I can save and close an AIFF file, open it up again with no problems. Only .wav to .wav.

I have ruined a few recordings with this process. Is there any way to save them? They're in a Dropbox, but Dropbox for some reason does not recognize the previous version.

SteveG_AudioMasters_ · Answer

The answer to this is explained in your other thread. If you save files as 8-bit - which yours are - then automatically the noise floor will jump from what it was to about -48dB. You need to alter the default save settings for your wav files so that they are 16-bit. So when you go to 'Save As' you need to be looking carefully at the settings:

You need to click on 'Change', possibly for both the sample type and format settings, and make sure that they are set to 16 bit settings. If you don't do this, you files will be converted to noisy ones.

Once you've done this to the only copy of a file, there is no way back.

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