Help: Audition won't Overwrite files "in use"

Report · Mar 17, 2024

Hi guys, I'm admittedly new to Audition- but I'm using it to keep track of and mix/master the sound effects for a game me and my small indie team are making. There are about 100 sound effects with varying volumes that I need to balance in a single file (which I've done in a .sesx session file) because balancing them in all different files is a nightmare.

Putting them under their categories (for example, gameplay, UI, a specific character, etc) as Tracks in Audition makes the balancing quite simple.

However, I'm having a gigantic problem. When I select a single clip, let's say "arrow_shoot" sound effect, I right click, go to Export Mixdown > Selected Clips; then I define the export settings (we need to use lossy .mp3 unfortunately as it's a mobile game), and say export. Now, the name is the problem I'm having. Because the name HAS to be arrow_shoot, as that is the programming reference inside the video game. If it's a different name, it won't work.

But since I'm currently editing arrow_shoot inside Audition, it won't #*$&@ let me export it because it says it's "Currently Open for Editing"; so I need to basically go and delete that file, then I can export it; or, I need to export it to a different name, then rename it in Windows. But when I did that and brought it in again, it created so many issues that it honestly takes a 10 minute video to explain and that's a separate issue in any event.

So my question is, why on God's Green Earth can I not just force Audition to overwrite the file? Literally every other audio editing app allows this- Audacity, which is a free POS can do this. Is there any way to force Audition to behave as I expect it to?

Report · Mar 17, 2024

Are you trying to do this in a single directory? If you are, I'm not surprised you are having trouble. I'm not entirely clear about your exact workflow here, but you might be better off just use Mixdown session (clip) to a new file, and save that with the name you want in a different directory, surely? Won't complain at all about it being open then.

To be fair, the system is trying to protect you from yourself; it's remarkably easy to overwrite a file you didn't mean to, which is why it's like that. Leaving aside that technically it's the correct thing to do, and there's plenty more software around that I'm aware of that would do the same thing...

Report · Mar 17, 2024

I am mostly working out of 3 different directories, but it does depend- because if we've erroneously determined a single clip to for instance be too loud, and threw it into the game directory, we may have to pull it out of there directly at some point to quickly tweak it. This is just one example- there's tons of cases where we may need to pull files out of the same directory. So duplicating every single file after receiving, throwing it into the Audition Project folder, renaming it, then editing it, then exporting it to a different folder, so that it can eventually end up in the game folder... that's an inordinate and ridiculous amount of extra work for a step that could literally have just been solved by allowing me to overwrite files when I want to. I don't need an app regulating my workflow - I keep backups in my downloads directory.

Honestly I am so tired of Adobe's sh1t that I am just moving to a Macbook so I can use Apple's software with a once off purchase, so much better. 5 years editing (and paying subscription) in Premiere Pro with way too many headaches, and now trying to bend over backwards for Audition again is simply not worth it. All they could have done is provide a checkbox in Edit > Preferences > Export > Allow Overwrites (with a warning label), and I'd be more than happy to put that risk on myself- but as with all things Adobe: no no, you'll do it their way.