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1. talks to the sound card to actually handle the recording and playback and Audacity talks to your operating system so that you can capture sounds to a file edit them and mix multiple tracks while playing Transferring Old Records 8 Tapes onto CD Hard Disk Standard file formats for PCM audio DACORUN There are two main types of audio files on a computer e PCM stands for Pulse Code Modulation This is just a fancy name for the technique described above where each number in the digital audio file represents exactly one sample in the waveform Common examples of PCM files are WAV files AIFF files and Sound Designer II files Audacity supports WAV AIFF and many other PCM files e The other type is compressed files Earlier formats used logarithmic encodings to squeeze more dynamic range out of fewer bits for each sample like the u law or a law encoding in the Sun AU format Modern compressed audio files use sophisticated psychoacoustics algorithms to represent the essential frequencies of the audio signal in far less space Examples include MP3 MPEG 1 layer 3 Ogg Vorbis and WMA Windows Media Audio Audacity supports MP3 and Ogg Vorbis but not the proprietary WMA format or the MPEG4 format AAC used by Apple s Tunes Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk Audacity Software DACORUN Audacity is free open source cross platform software for recording and editing sounds Audacity is available for W2. amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk U Record DACORUN To record Set the recording input device monitor then adjust the input level then press the red Record button Correct adjustment of level before recording is essential to avoid noise or distortion 1 2 3 Set the Recording Device either in the Devices section of Preferences or in Device Toolbar Click in the right hand section of Meter Toolbar to start monitoring as in the following image Singing or playing the loudest part of what you are recording adjust the input level using the right hand slider on Mixer Toolbar so that the moving Meter Toolbar bars do not get too close to the right hand edge of the meter Optionally turn on Transport gt Software Playthough on off so it has a check mark to hear what the recording will sound like Press the red Record button to record for real USB Recording This is a very basic guide to recording with USB devices More detailed information can be found at Recording with USB turntables or USB cassette decks Connect the USB cable of the turntable or tapedeck to the computer then launch Audacity If Audacity was already running when you connected the cable restart Audacity or choose Transport gt Rescan Audio Devices Use the Device Toolbar to set the input recording and output playback devices and set the channels to 2 stereo Input Channels In this example on Windows 7 the output is set to the named speakers of the b
3. Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk What is sound DACORUN Sounds are pressure waves of air If there wasn t any air we wouldn t be able to hear sounds There s no sound in space We hear sounds because our ears are sensitive to these pressure waves Perhaps the easiest type of sound wave to understand is a short sudden event like a clap When you clap your hands the air that was between your hands is pushed aside This increases the air pressure in the space near your hands because more air molecules are temporarily compressed into less space The high pressure pushes the air molecules outwards in all directions at the speed of sound which is about 340 meters per second When the pressure wave reaches your ear it pushes on your eardrum slightly causing you to hear the clap When you ring a bell after the initial strike which is a little like a hand clap the sound comes from the vibration of the bell While the bell is still ringing it vibrates at a particular frequency depending on the size and shape of the bell and this causes the nearby air to vibrate with the same frequency This causes pressure waves of air to travel outwards from the bell again at the speed of sound Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk How is sound recorded DACORUN A microphone consists of a small membrane that is free to vibrate along with a mechanism that translates movements of the membrane into electric
4. al signals The exact electrical mechanism varies depending on the type of microphone So acoustical waves are translated into electrical waves by the microphone Typically higher pressure corresponds to higher voltage and vice versa A tape recorder translates the waveform yet again this time from an electrical signal on a wire to a magnetic signal on a tape When you play a tape the process gets performed in reverse with the magnetic signal transforming into an electrical signal and the electrical signal causing a speaker to vibrate usually using an electromagnet Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk How is sound recorded digitally DACORUN Recording onto a tape is an example of analog recording Audacity deals with digital recordings recordings that have been sampled so that they can be used by a digital computer like the one you re using now Digital recording has a lot of benefits over analog recording Digital files can be copied as many times as you want with no loss in quality and they can be burned to an audio CD or shared via the Internet Digital audio files can also be edited much more easily than analog tapes The main device used in digital recording is a Analog to Digital Converter ADC The ADC captures a snapshot of the electric voltage on an audio line and represents it as a digital number that can be sent to a computer By capturing the voltage thousands of times per second you can get a v
5. are patents we cannot distribute MP3 encoding software ourselves Follow these instructions to use the free LAME encoder to export MP3 files with Audacity Windows 1 2 3 Go to the external LAME download page Under For Audacity on Windows left click the link Lame v3 99 3 for Windows exe and save the file anywhere on your computer Do not right click the link to the exe file Double click Lame v3 99 3 for Windows exe to launch it you can safely ignore any warnings that the publisher could not be verified Follow the Setup instructions to install LAME for Audacity Do not change the offered destination location of C Program Files Lame for Audacity The first time you use the Export as MP3 command Audacity will ask for the location of lame_enc dll Navigate to C Program Files Lame for Audacity select lame_enc dll then click Open and OK If you prefer the Zip option for the LAME download save the zip file to anywhere on your computer extract lame_enc dll to any location then show Audacity where to find it as in Step 5 above Getting Started Learn how to import and play an existing audio file record your voice guitar standard turntable or tape deck record with a USB device USB turntable USB tape deck or USB sound card edit sounds including applying effects save or open an Audacity project export to an MP3 or other audio file burn to a CD Ml Transferring Old Records
6. asked here are some tools to supplement music file management You may find that Windows Media Player already does what you need They are all free software 1 If you want to RIP a CD to your harddisk then try one of these They will automatically insert the CD metadata by sending a sample to a free database of music If possible this data will be entered into your digital music files Foobar2000 http www foobar2000 org great for Windows has most functions RipperX http sourceforge net projects ripperx my favourite simple audio ripper Linux only Handbrake http handbrake fr audio and video ripper that runs on all platforms but more complex 2 If you ripped your music offline or your track data was not found you may need to add or edit the data afterwards EasyTag https wiki gnome org Apps EasyTAG This uses FreeDB Musicbrainz and GnuDB to look up Artists Titles and Albums and enter this info into the music file metadata MusicBrainz http musicbrainz org doc MusicBrainz_ Picard MusicBrainz own tool MP3Tag http www mp3tag de en lays everything out in a spreadsheet so you can change large numbers of fields simultaneously y Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk U Digital CD Music Hardware DACORUM There are a few companies which are offering a CD Storage and Music Streamer use one called Cocktail Audio X10 Details can be found here http sygnifi co uk products
7. cocktail audio x10 CD Storage up to 2TB Music streamer Internet Radio Optional Wi Fi Dongle required High speed front loading CD drive Built in high quality 60W amplifier Stand alone or connect to an existing system Easy set up with the 3 5 TFT colour LCD Screen Connect the X10 to your home network and the internet via Wi Fi or Ethernet Control with remote control Web Ul or UPnP smartphone apps High resolution recording WAV FLAC Support for internet streaming services Includes Cocktail Audio X10 Black White your choice of storage AC DC Mains Power Adapter Remote Control 2 AA Batteries User Manual USB cable for PC connection i Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk U Digital CD Music Hardware DACORUN Features Various storage options The Cocktail Audio X10 offers three storage options 500GB 1TB and 2TB in the form of a 3 5 SATA hard drive The X10 provides four options for encoding MP3 FLAC OGG or WAV If you would like to enjoy original CD level quality sound then choose FLAC WAV for encoding If you would like to save space on the X10 hard drive and transfer your music to your MP3 player for travelling choose MP3 encoding The X10 supports lossless for playback and ripping Record vinyl amp cassettes Record your old LP and cassette tapes to the X10 and bring your collections back to life Once recorded onto the X10 you can add album art covers and music tags To transf
8. d area of audio Use File gt Export Multiple to export multiple files at the same time either one for each audio track or one for each labeled area in a single track Tracks gt Add Label at Selection lets you split the tracks from an album for multiple export as separate files See File Export Dialog for more help with exporting Export Formats There are a number of audio formats that Audacity as shipped can export to others can be added with additional software As shipped available exports include WAV AIFF Ogg Vorbis FLAC and MP2 To export as MP3 the optional Lame MP3 encoder must be installed Ml Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk U Audacity BurnCD DACORUN To burn your work to an audio CD for standalone CD players first export it as WAV or AIFF The exported WAV or AIFF file should be stereo 44100 Hz set at Project Rate at bottom left of the project window 16 bit chosen using the Save as type menu in the File Export Dialog These are Audacity s default settings so normally you will not need to change these before exporting Burn the exported file to an audio CD not a data CD or MP3 CD with a CD burning program like iTunes or Windows Media Player For more help see Burning music files to a CD Ml Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk U Other Useful Digital Music Software DACORUN As a follow up to some of the questions
9. en eee Ls gt po gt toane ne 5 PARR PO mempana Diver Eata naa wenn o wei ss T Recording with Audacity o r l ore d Pra tya Oe Selection mn Gid Length Ado Pon iw a ino To CONOR MODs 00100 ORs 001002 1 Oua a ears de rn LU Sort od 0 ts Mren bate 04550 eh e e a e Ma AAPP a Audacity running on Windows x A Ml Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk U Set up Audacity to record from the turntable The turntable must be switched on and its USB cable connected to the computer before launching Audacity because Audacity is not able to recognise a device if you plug it in while it s already running ACORUM 1 Go to the Device Toolbar 1 Select the USB Audio CODEC as the recording device and select your inbuilt sound device or sound card by name as the playback device If you are on Windows do NOT choose Microsoft SoundMapper for the playback device On Windows 7 or Vista you can try Microsoft SoundMapper as the recording device if the USB Audio Codec choice doesn t record 2 Set recording channels to 2 stereo if you want to record in stereo or set to 1 mono for mono recording 2 Goto the Transport Menu and check Software Playthrough to be on to hear the turntable through the computer speakers this setting can be toggled on off easily from the Transport Menu Or if you are using a legacy version of Audacity prior to 1 3 8 you can do this fro
10. er LPs to the X10 connect to Line In of the X10 and Line Out to the turntable A pre amp is required for this function
11. ery good approximation to the original audio signal one pom an e m a s N Each dot in the figure above represents one audio sample There are two factors that determine the quality of a digital recording e Sample rate The rate at which the samples are captured or played back measured in Hertz Hz or samples per second An audio CD has a sample rate of 44 100 Hz often written as 44 KHz for short This is also the default sample rate that Audacity uses because audio CDs are so prevalent e Sample format or sample size Essentially this is the number of digits in the digital representation of each sample Think of the sample rate as the horizontal precision of the digital waveform and the sample format as the vertical precision An audio CD has a precision of 16 bits which corresponds to about 5 decimal digits Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk How is sound recorded digitally Higher sampling rates allow a digital recording to accurately record higher frequencies of sound The sampling rate should be at least twice the highest frequency you want to represent Humans can t hear frequencies above about 20 000 Hz so 44 100 Hz was chosen as the rate for audio CDs to just include all human frequencies Sample rates of 96 and 192 KHz are starting to become more common particularly in DVD Audio but many people honestly can t hear the difference Higher sample sizes allow for more dynamic range l
12. indows Mac GNU Linux and other operating systems About Audacity Audacity is a free easy to use multi track audio editor and recorder for Windows Mac OS X GNU Linux and other operating systems The interface is translated into many languages You can use Audacity to Record live audio Record computer playback on any Windows Vista or later machine Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs Edit WAV AIFF FLAC MP2 MP3 or Ogg Vorbis sound files Cut copy splice or mix sounds together Change the speed or pitch of a recording Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk Audacity Software DACORUN Recording Audacity can record live audio through a microphone or mixer or digitize recordings from cassette tapes records or minidiscs With some sound cards and on any Windows Vista Windows 7 or Windows 8 machine Audacity can also capture streaming audio Device Toolbar manages multiple input and output devices Level meters can monitor volume levels before during and after recording Clipping can be displayed in the waveform or in a label track Record from microphone line input USB Firewire devices and others Record computer playback on Windows Vista and later by choosing Windows WASAP host in Device Toolbar then a loopback input Timer Record and Sound Activated Recording features Dub over existing tracks to create multi track recordings Record at very low latencies on sup
13. m the Audio I O tab of Preferences 3 Goto the Mixer Toolbar and turn up the left hand output volume slider by the speaker symbol The right hand input volume slider by the microphone symbol can often be used to vary the loudness of the recording but it may not function with all turntables If it does not try adjusting the input level on the turntable or in the Windows system mixer right click over the speaker icon by the system clock 4 If you are on a Mac you should always set up the turntable by clicking on the Mac hard disk then Applications gt Utilities gt Audio MIDI Setup Click on the Audio Devices tab then on the left hand side select USB Audio CODEC in the Default Input and Properties for dropdowns You can vary the input level here too If you are on OS X 10 1 or earlier go to Apple Menu gt System Preferences gt Sound click the Input button and select USB Audio CODEC An alternative procedure for setting up a USB input device in Audacity 1 3 12 and later on Mac OS X is documented here 5 Make sure that your Project Rate bottom left of the Audacity screen is set to 44 100 Hz 6 Then simply press the red Record button in Audacity to start recording from the turntable ignore any instructions in the manufacturer s guide to select stereo mix Ml Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk U Saving recordings as MP3 DACORUN How do download and install the LAME MP3 encoder Because of softw
14. ouder louds and softer softs If you are familiar with the decibel dB scale the dynamic range on an audio CD is theoretically about 90 dB but realistically signals that are 24 dB or more in volume are greatly reduced in quality Audacity supports two additional sample sizes 24 bit which is commonly used in digital recording and 32 bit float which has almost infinite dynamic range and only takes up twice as much storage as 16 bit samples Playback of digital audio uses a Digital to Analog Converter DAC This takes the sample and sets a certain voltage on the analog outputs to recreate the signal that the Analog to Digital Converter originally took to create the sample The DAC does this as faithfully as possible and the first CD players did only that which didn t sound good at all Nowadays DACs use Oversampling to smooth out the audio signal The quality of the filters in the DAC also contribute to the quality of the recreated analog audio signal The filter is part of a multitude of stages that make up a DAC Transferring Old Records 8 Tapes onto CD Hard Disk How does audio get digitized on your computer DACORUN Your computer has a soundcard it could be a separate card like a SoundBlaster or it could be built in to your computer Either way your soundcard comes with an Analog to Digital Converter ADC for recording and a Digital to Analog Converter DAC for playing audio Your operating system Windows Mac OS X Linux etc
15. ported devices on Linux by using Audacity with JACK Record at sample rates up to 192 000 Hz subject to appropriate hardware and host selection Up to 384 000 Hz is supported for appropriate high resolution devices on Mac OS X and Linux Record at 24 bit depth on Windows using Windows WASAPI host Mac OS X or Linux using ALSA or JACK host Record multiple channels at once subject to appropriate hardware Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk Audacity Software DACORUN Import and Export Import sound files edit them and combine them with other files or new recordings Export your recordings in many different file formats including multiple files at once Import and export WAV AIFF AU FLAC and Ogg Vorbis files Fast On Demand import of WAV or AIFF files letting you start work with the files almost immediately if read directly from source Import and export all formats supported by libsnafile such as GSM 6 10 32 bit and 64 bit float WAV and U A Law Import MPEG audio including MP2 and MP3 files using libmad Import raw headerless audio files using the Import Raw command Create WAV or AIFF files suitable for burning to audio CD Export MP3 files with the optional LAME encoder library Import and export AC3 M4A M4R AAC and WMA with the optional FFmpeg library this also supports import of audio from video files Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk Audacity Sof
16. to use the File gt Save Project command which has a default shortcut of CTRL S or COMMAND S on Mac If you save a project again having made further changes to it Save Project then updates the aup file and _ data folder silently without bothering you with prompts If the project does not have any unsaved changes for example if the project is empty or you just saved it Save Project will be grayed out In that case use File gt Save Project As instead Save Project As is the safe and recommended way to make a copy of a project with a new name or in a different location This could serve either as a single backup copy of the project or as one of several incremental copies of the project in the state it had at a particular date and time Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk U Export DACORUN To hear your work in other media programs export it to an audio file Audacity as shipped can export to a number of common audio formats including WAV AIFF Ogg Vorbis FLAC and MP2 To export as MP3 the optional Lame MP3 encoder must be installed You can install the optional FFmpeg library to export to many more audio formats including AC3 AMR NB M4A MP4 and WMA To export choose File gt Export then choose the file format you want to export to in the Save as type drop down To burn a CD for standalone CD players choose WAV or AIFF Use File gt Export Selection to export only a selecte
17. tware DACORUN Sound Quality Supports 16 bit 24 bit and 32 bit floating point samples the latter preserves samples in excess of full scale Sample rates and formats are converted using high quality resampling and dithering Tracks with different sample rates or formats are converted automatically in real time Editing Effe Easy editing with Cut Copy Paste and Delete Unlimited sequential Undo and Redo to go back any number of steps Edit and mix large numbers of tracks Multiple clips are allowed per track Label tracks with selectable Sync Lock Tracks feature for keeping tracks and labels synchronized Draw Tool to alter individual sample points Envelope Tool to fade the volume up or down smoothly cts Change the pitch without altering the tempo or vice versa Remove static hiss hum or other constant background noises Alter frequencies with Equalization Bass and Treble High Low Pass and Notch Filter effects Adjust volume with Compressor Amplify Normalize Fade In Fade Out and Adjustable Fade effects Remove Vocals from suitable stereo tracks Create voice overs for podcasts or DJ sets using Auto Duck effect j Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk Audacity Software Aan Am im mee pon hs me ae aayan e n m ei gt is wioa gt Ml Poe qe bb wat pe Hi JE 4 d Pt yo EY ala aj ale 6 AAA gt o e a RO m y Care dado 4 toh mnOape E PP et Y
18. uilt in computer sound device the input is set to the USB turntable usually called or including the phrase USB Audio CODEC and recording channels are set to stereo Windows Vista 7 calls most USB external devices microphones but Windows XP and earlier do not Some higher end USB recording interfaces may appear as their explicit manufacturer s name Ml Transferring Old Records amp Tapes onto CD Hard Disk U Saving DACORUN To return later to your unfinished work in Audacity with all tracks and edits as you left them Save an Audacity project To play your current work in other media programs or send it to others you need to Export an audio file such as WAV or MP3 Save There are two main commands for saving projects File gt Save Project saves an aup project file and a _data folder containing the actual audio File gt Save Project As is for saving an empty project It also lets you save an existing Project with a new name This saves or updates the aup file and _data folder Saving a project lets you save unfinished work and re open it later in Audacity exactly as it was and with the exception of the undo history with all edits and recorded imported tracks preserved As with saving any type of file certain characters cannot be used in the name of the aup file if they are reserved for the operating system see our information on forbidden characters When saving an Audacity project it is normally easiest
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