Corrupted WAV files

[Wendy_Marie]

Hello,

Really hoping someone can help!

I'm using Audition 4.0. A few months ago I noticed that when I'd save my WAV file (after downloading from my recorder) the file would be corrupted when I opened it again. Luckily I still had the original on my recorder and edited it using a different program. However, I am now having this problem again to a greater degree. I open the file from my recorder (which is plugged into my iMac) and it plays fine. I then save the file to a folder on my computer. This file is then saved as a corrupted file. As in, when I play it back it repeats a section over and over, there are crazy sounds, it's jumbled. The strange thing is that one of the files (the most important one) was saved and playing correctly a month ago. I've been editing it and pulling sound bites from it. I've since deleted the original one to free up space on my recorder. And then today, when I went to open it to continue putting my piece together, it was corrupted. Furthermore, a few (not all) of the selected sound bites I had pulled and resaved are corrupted too. I am hesitant to continue using Audition, despite using it for years, as I am scared this will keep happening and I don't have the time to keep trying to recover my files. One important thing to note: Audition did not crash at the time. I think that's happened previously where it had crashed and then a file was corrupted. But this is happening without it even crashing.

Love some help!

Thanks!

Wendy

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Initially you should run some scans on your hard disk to check for corruption. The only times I've ever had this happen, it was because of disk faults, not Audition ones.

[Wendy_Marie]

Thank you, Steve! I just ran that, as I hadn't thought to do it, but it actually came back fine.

[ryclark]

Where are you saving the audio files that come back corrupted? Do any other media player apps open and play these files OK?

[Wendy_Marie]

I am saving them to a folder on my desktop. I tried to play it through iTunes but it's all jumbled, and corrupted.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

We probably need to start from scratch with this, then. For a start, what recorder are you using, and in what format are you saving on it?

[Wendy_Marie]

Thanks. I'm recording on a Sony Linear PCM Recorder. Format is 4100Hz, in stereo, 16 bit.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

So they are wav files on the recorder, presumably? Even if they weren't, Audition would decode them to wavs on opening them anyway. Just as an experiment, if you copy one of these files back to the recorder and play it on that, does the same fragmented playback occur?

[Wendy_Marie]

Yes, they are WAV. Just tried saving it back to the recorder and playing it but it's still fragmented. It's funny, the wave form looks like it's all there but when I play it it's just the same fragmented bit over and over.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Wendy_Marie  wrote

It's funny, the wave form looks like it's all there but when I play it it's just the same fragmented bit over and over.

You can't tell anything about the waveform from what you can see of it displayed - that's stored as a separate .pkf file. Are you opening these files in waveform view or multi-track? Which ever it is, can you try opening them in the other view and see how they behave then? Opening them in Multi-track view and editing them there won't corrupt the original files at all, as it's non-destructive, and doesn't alter the files in any way.

One thing that's occurred to me is that if you are opening them in Waveform view, editing them and saving them, then you've had to use Audition's temp space and file system. You might want to check that there's actually enough room for the file you're trying to edit - actually several times over, otherwise you'll be limiting the number of undo steps you have available.

[Wendy_Marie]

Thanks so much for all this Steve. It is sounding the same when it's in a multitrack. As for the temp space, I didn't know about that at all. I'm not even sure how I check that. If you have a sec can you let me know how I find out how much room I have?

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Well, at this point I think we need a Mac user to comment, as the temp file location is outside Audition itself and in your computer, and I only run Windows machines. The other thing I have to ask you is whether all the storage you are using is local - anything networked or on a cloud-based system could easily have issues all of its own...

[Wendy_Marie]

I'm just saving to my desktop. I have a lot of space though. My Audition version is quite a few years old. Am I supposed to update it? Could that be a problem? I just never had this issue when I was working as a reporter using it, and I saved many more volumes than I am now.

[roberts87183339]

Hi,

I'm reviving this thread since we started experiencing the same problem. This happened in Audition 3 as well as CS6. To be more specific:

A wav file is recorded perfectly and can be accessed  and played back at another time. Sometimes when opened in the editor, the file will play back a section and then repeat that section over and over. The waveform represents what I'm hearing, ie, the waveform section is repeated over and over. If I close the file and reopen, it will open correctly as it was recorded originally. However, if I save the file before closing, it saves the corrupted file and the original is lost.

The only thing I can think of is that Audition is getting confused when writing to the temporary file. Why it's happening on occasion is unclear. The temp folder has lots of space on the drive so I don't think it's a space issue.

If this issue has been discussed elsewhere please let me know.

Thanks

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Hmm....

roberts87183339  wrote

A wav file is recorded perfectly and can be accessed  and played back at another time. Sometimes when opened in the editor, the file will play back a section and then repeat that section over and over.

If you have a file that has been saved successfully and when reopened, plays fine then there's nothing wrong with the file. If you open it again, and it only plays back a section of it repeatedly, then the file read was incorrect - confirmed by you saying:

If I close the file and reopen, it will open correctly as it was recorded originally. However, if I save the file before closing, it saves the corrupted file and the original is lost.

So firstly, you've established that the file is correct. Second, you've established that sometimes when reopened, it doesn't open correctly - ie, it's not been read correctly. Thirdly, you've confirmed completely that the temp file is fine, believe it or not; It has correctly stored the incorrect information, and saved it from there - in its incorrect form.

I think that what you've established is that for whatever reason, your computer isn't always reading your hard disk correctly. Which generally means it's on the way out, I'm afraid.

[roberts87183339]

As a followup, we moved up to CC2019 and the file loading issue we were having with 3 and CS6 went away. I've noticed that CC takes a bit longer to load files into memory than the previous versions. This might be a good thing, and part of the fix to our previous problems.

[Tirrell5FCD]

Is there any way whatsoever to fix this issue, even if the corrupt file is saved? I did an interview with my cast members, and it's the only file I have.