Joining recordings end to end
Merging plays the files one after another in the order you list them and writes the result as a single track. It is concatenation rather than mixing: nothing is layered, and two files do not play at once.
Files that share a format, sample rate and channel count can often be joined without re-encoding, which is lossless and fast. A mixture — a mono voice note and a stereo music track, or a 44.1 kHz file and a 48 kHz one — has to be converted to a common format first, and that pass is lossy.
- Levels are not matched
- A quiet recording followed by a loud one stays exactly that. Normalising each part first is what makes a joined file listenable.
- Order is the interface
- Files are joined top to bottom as listed, so arrange them before you start.