Edit Menu: Labels
For example, if you have used to label all very loud sounds in a piece of audio (such as unwanted beeps or advertisements in a radio broadcast) you can use a Labeled Audio command to remove all those sounds in one go.
- Click, or hover, on any menu item in the image to read about that command. Skip the image
The commands apply to all labeled audio regions that are fully inside a selection drawn in a label track. The selection may extend beyond the label boundaries, but audio that is not labeled and audio whose region label is only partly within the selection will not be acted on.
- Region labels that touch each other without overlapping are treated as separate labeled regions.
- If two or more region labels overlap, they are treated as one labeled region.
- Labeled Audio Split can mark audio splits at point labels as well as at region labels.
To enable the Labeled Audio commands in the Edit menu, the selection must be made in the Label Track and must fully include (or extend beyond) at least one region label, or must touch (or extend beyond) at least one point label.
If none of the audio tracks are included in the selection, the Labeled Audio commands apply to all audio tracks in the project. However if you include only certain audio tracks in the selection, the Labeled Audio commands will only affect those selected audio tracks. See the examples below for a demonstration of the difference between selecting in the label track only versus selecting in the label track and one or more audio tracks.
Edit Labels
This command invokes the Labels Editor which lets you add or remove Label Tracks and edit their labels entirely using the keyboard, so is particularly useful for visually impaired users.
Brings up a dialog box showing all of your labels in a keyboard-accessible tabular view. Handy buttons in the dialog let you insert or delete a label, or import and export labels to a file. See Labels Editor for more details.
Add Label At Selection CTRL + B
This command will place a new label at your current cursor position or selection. See this page for more details.
Creates a new label at the position of the editing cursor or selection region. You can then title the label by typing with the keyboard and hitting "Enter" when you're done. When you click in the label later it will recall the position of the editing cursor or selection at which the label was created. See Label Tracks for more information on how to use label tracks.
Add Label At Playback Position CTRL + M
This command will place a new label at your current playback or recording position. See this page for more details.
Like Add Label at Selection but the label is added at the current position during playback or recording.
On a Mac the shortcut for this command is (COMMAND + .).
Paste Text to New Label CTRL + ALT + V
Pastes the text on the system clipboard (or text from a label stored in the Audacity clipboard) to a new label at the cursor or region position in the currently selected label track. If there is no selection in the label track a point label is created. If a range is selected in the label track a range label is created. A new label track is created if none exists.
The most recent text cut or copied to either clipboard is pasted. If you have copied or cut a label to the Audacity clipboard, the text of that label will be pasted. If you have cut or copied text to the system clipboard from an application other than Audacity, that text will be pasted.
In the example below, the text "Question 1" was copied from a word processing document then the "Paste Text to New Label" command was executed.
Cut ALT + X
Removes the selected labeled audio data and puts it on the Audacity clipboard. Any audio data to the right of the selected labeled audio regions is shifted to the left. Only one item can be on the clipboard at a time, but it may include multiple audio tracks and multiple audio clips.
- Note that the audio associated with "Label 2" and Label 3" has been cut, but the audio associated with "Label 1" and "Label 4" remains because Labels 1 and 4 were not fully inside the selection.
Delete ALT + K
Removes the selected labeled audio data but does not put it on the Audacity clipboard. Any audio data to the right of the selected labeled audio regions is shifted to the left.
Split Cut SHFT + ALT + X
Same as Cut, but none of the audio data to right of the selected labeled audio regions is shifted. Gaps are thus left behind in the audio track which split the existing audio clip into multiple clips that can be moved independently using Time Shift Tool.
Split Delete SHFT + ALT + K
Same as Split Cut, but the audio is not copied to the Audacity clipboard.
Silence Audio ALT + L
The selected labeled audio regions are replaced with silence.
Copy SHIFT + ALT + C
The selected labeled audio is copied to the Audacity clipboard.
The image below shows the result of selecting as in "Silence Audio" above so that Labels 2 and 3 were fully inside the selection, choosing Labeled Audio Copy, then creating a new audio track, pressing the Skip to Start button and pasting. The two audio clips associated with Labels 2 and 3 were pasted starting from the start of the new track, separated by blank space.
Split ALT + I
The audio track is split into multiple clips; a split is created at the boundaries of every fully-selected label.
- Note that "Label 2" and "Label 3" are touching but not overlapping, so they are still treated as separate labels and the boundary between them is marked with a split line.
Join ALT + J
Clips within the selected labeled audio regions are joined into one clip by removing the split lines.
Detach At Silences SHFT + ALT + J
In a labeled audio region that includes absolute silence and other audio, creates individual non-silent clips between the regions of silence. The silence in the region becomes blank space between the clips.
If the labeled audio region is entirely silence, it becomes blank space between the audio either side of the region.
Type to Create a Label (on/off)
When the label track has the yellow focus border as in the image above you can, if preferred, just type to create a label containing that text rather than first using the menu or shortcut to create the label. This default behaviour can be turned off, if required, in Tracks Preferences by unchecking the "Type to create label".
- When enabled (default), if there is already a label track that has the yellow focus border, you do not need to use "Add Label at Selection" or its CTRL + B shortcut to create a new label. Just type your required label text to create a new label at the position of the editing cursor or selection region. If the label track does not have focus, use the UP or DOWN arrow keys on your keyboard to move focus into the label track.
- When this preference is disabled, typing never creates a label in the focused label track. This lets you use shortcuts (for example, transport shortcuts to play audio related to the editing cursor or selection) without accidentally creating an unwanted label. When you want to create a new label, use "Add Label at Selection" or CTRL + B or "Add Label at Playback Position" CTRL + M.
- if audio is playing, recording or paused, and the cursor or selection is at the same position in waveform and label track
- if there is already a label at the exact same position in the label track.
You can also create a label at the same position by moving focus to and typing in another label track, as long as there is no label yet at that position, and if audio is playing, as long as the cursor or selection in the waveform is at a different position.
Examples
Example 1 - selection in the Label Track only
- The selection shown above was created by clicking and dragging in the label track. Applying the command results in this:
- Result: Audio has been cut only in the regions where the labels are fully inside the selection. Part of the first label is outside the selection so its audio is not affected by the Split Cut operation. The final two labels overlap each other, so are treated as one label.
Example 2 - selection in the Label Track and some Audio Tracks
- If instead the selection is made in the bottom two audio tracks and the label track, applying the command results in this:
- Result: Audio has been cut only in the selected tracks and in the regions where the labels are fully inside the selection.
