How to stop the _01 suffix when exporting MP3 and save to same folder

[OrlandoJetset]

The following has been annoying me for YEARS and I'm finally gonna ask and see if anyone's got a solution! Here's what's going on....

After recording voiceover, I generally save my WAV first to my project folder. However, because I submit auditions as mp3, I then also export the file as an mp3 to the same project folder. But in doing so, I encounter these 2 annoyances:

1.  Export file - mp3 - keeps adding _01 suffix.  I don't want a suffix, I just want an mp3 version with the exact same filename.  
   QUESTION: How can I turn off this suffix being automatically added to my filename??
   
   
2.  Export file - mp3 - keeps wanting to save to my last project folder, not the current one where I saved my WAV. So, I always have to click BROWSE and select the 2nd item in the list.  
   QUESTION: How can I set it so that it will automatically be set to save the mp3 to the same project folder that contains the wav I just saved?

[emmrecs · Accepted solution]

Since I've never experienced either of these problems (and I regularly edit and save .wav files and then convert to .mp3 and save them in the same folder as the .wav original and without the _01) I looked at your workflow. 

According to what you write you export your .mp3; I always use "save as..." (shortcut ctrl+shift+S) and the resulting .mp3 goes, by default, to the same folder as the .wav and has no additional numerical suffix!  The "Export File" screen and the "Save as.." screen offer identical user options, so far as I can see.

HTH

[OrlandoJetset]

OMG. Thank you. It was that easy all along.

I think I got so used to using Export from Premiere (for video) or Cubase (for music) or Photoshop (for photos) that my mind thinks Export = Deliverables.  Thank you ssssoooo much!

May I ask then... when would someone use Export??

[OrlandoJetset]

@emmrecs   Revisiting this thread now after trying out the SAVE AS for a solution to pushing out an mp3 version of my voiceover auditions. You are correct to say that the Export File screen and the Save As screen offer identical user options - however, as you can try for yourself, it always adds the suffix _01 when using export AND it doesn't automatically save to the default project folder. Instead you have to select from the dropdown what is usually the 2nd item. I hate that it does this and to me that's just not very user-friendly as I would assume most people would want to export to the same directory with the same filename.

Anyway, your SAVE AS solution is a way around this annoyance but I discovered in using it that it also does something annoying. It closes the WAV version automatically and there is no preference I can set anywhere to change this behavior. Sure one could argue that if I'm pushing out an MP3 then I should really be done tweaking the original source file. But it does happen every now and then that listening back to my mp3 prior to send, I catch a little something I need to fix. With Audition still open, it's no longer the WAV file that is displayed for edit but the compressed MP3. An easy thing to miss.

So it really looks like I have to pick my poison between SAVE AS and EXPORT.  Is there really no preference I can set for any of these annoyances? Am I really the only one who doesn't like these behaviors and would like to request a feature to tweak this behavior?

[emmrecs]

I understand what you are saying but can only offer the following suggestion (which is my workflow):

• Having completed the editing of the .wav file and before creating the .mp3 I "save as..." it, usually with "_processed" added to the file name.  The save goes to, in my case (because this is what I want) the "source" folder of the original file.
• Then I create the .mp3 version.  And save it to the same folder as the source file.  There's no need to change the folder line on the save as screen because it now defaults to the same as the one for the .wav.

I think the essential fact you need to remember, in your workflow, is that for any file that is "saved" in Waveform view any and all changes you have made are now "baked in" and irreversible.  So saving as .mp3 without first saving as .wav means the edited .wav is permanently lost.  Yes, you can reopen the .mp3 and AA will convert it to .wav but it has already been subjected to one level of compression so is not the "original, edited" .wav.

[OrlandoJetset]

"Yes, you can reopen the .mp3 and AA will convert it to .wav but it has already been subjected to one level of compression so is not the "original, edited" .wav" 

Hmmm... I didn't notice that it was being converted back to WAV when opening - whenever I opened an mp3 in the past, it's always shown me .mp3 in the file list on the left panel of the Waveform editor.

As an aside, the situation I was describing is leaving Audition open after Saving As mp3 and realizing that in doing so, it has closed my WAV version so if I quickly glance back at Audition's waveform view, it is no longer the WAV version I am seeing... though it looks like it... but the left panel shows that it is now the mp3 file that I am looking at because Audition decided to close the wav version.

I would think that Export was designed to do what I am looking to do but why they designed it to have _01 added to filename and to default to previous project folder makes no sense to me. 

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

It shows as an MP3 in the files list, but if you watch carefully when it opens, you'll see it decode the file before displaying it - this is easier to spot if it's a reasonably large file. Admittedly it's confusing; it still shows as an MP3 in the files list, and also in the Properties box, but if you look at the bottom right corner of the main screen, it will tell you what the waveform shown actually is - 32-bit (float), and the size of the file will be at least five times larger, too - a dead giveaway.

And that's the thing - it may say that it's the MP3 that is now open, but that's not what counts - it's what it says at the bottom. I think you'll find that in fact, your wav version is still open, and the file display is still being misleading. TBH, I've never liked this behaviour either, but it's been like it a long time now...

As for the 01 thing - I think that's a bug. But if you delete the entry you are offered and remove the suffix, it saves correctly (without the 01). There was a similar bug years ago which resulted in the extension getting messed up if you mistakenly typed the wrong thing into it, and that always repeated itself. The cure was simply to remove everything and retype the extension correctly. Unfortunately this one isn't the same, as it adds the 01 before the file type extension, and there seems to be no way to stop this, except as I said above, but that's not a permanent fix.

[OrlandoJetset]

Thank you for attempting to further clarify. Let's see if I understand:

So once I've saved my WAV version, and then Saved As MP3 - it updates the left panel to show that the file open is now the mp3 version of it - however, the info at the bottom indicates it is still the WAV file. Is this correct?

So it is a bug then? The WAV file I was originally working on was never closed (just changed the extension shown in the file list on the left) and so I can make more edits and save again without loss of resolution??  Or I need to re-open the WAV file saved in the first pass and work on that?

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

So it is a bug then? The WAV file I was originally working on was never closed (just changed the extension shown in the file list on the left) and so I can make more edits and save again without loss of resolution??  Or I need to re-open the WAV file saved in the first pass and work on that? By @OrlandoJetset

You are correct; the wav file is still open, despite what it says at the top of the screen. Not only that, but you can prove it quite simply. Create a file with a few seconds of noise extending up to 20kHz, and save it using Save As as an MP3. Withoug doing anything else, enlarge the spectral display and observe that it extends smoothly to 20kHz. It still says MP3 at the top of the screen. But it's not...

Close the open file and open the MP3 you just made, and have a look at the spectral display now. See what I mean? It won't be as smooth, and there will be no content above 16kHz, whereas when the previous file (the one you generated) was open, the spectral display didn't change at all after you did the Save As.

So no, you don't need to reopen the file, because Save As did exactly what it was supposed to, and didn't alter the original. Is it a bug? Well, it's certainly misleading as far as the top of the screen is concerned...