Audio: Software

Software for processing sound

From Digital Audio Recording to Audio CD: Part 3 - iTunes and CD burning

In the previous two how-to tutorials, we worked in Audacity with a digital audio file. Now we’ll export it from Audacity, import it into iTunes, and burn an audio CD with it.

Part 1:  Getting your audio into Audacity, whether by opening a digital audio recording made elsewhere, or using Audacity to record directly to your computer.
Part 2: Making minor edits to increase sound level.
Part 3:(You are here!) Exporting your recording to a file format that iTunes can use and creating an Audio CD.
Part 4: Dividing the audio into sections based on topics of discussion using Audacity’s Label Tracks.
(note: I may expand sections if any one of them gets to be too long. This section will be updated as I go.)

First, we work in Audacity to export the audio file to a WAV file (reminder from the little extra section in Part 1: WAV is an uncompressed file format. We likes that, we does!)

1. In Audacity, go to the File menu and choose Export…
   
   A Save dialog box appears.
2. Choose WAV from the file format pop-up menu at

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Software • How-To
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From Digital Audio Recording to Audio CD: Part 2 - Basic Audio Edits

The Audacity how-to continues!! This second part of the series involves working in Audacity to edit your audio file.

A major sound edit technique: Changing Amplification (making a quiet recording louder).

This multi-part how-to series focuses on using Audacity and iTunes — two freely available pieces of software — to work with your recording and then create an audio CD.

Part 1:  Getting your audio into Audacity, whether by opening a digital audio recording made elsewhere, or using Audacity to record directly to your computer.
Part 2: (You are here!)Making minor edits to increase sound level.
Part 3: Exporting your recording to a file format that iTunes can use and creating an Audio CD.
Part 4: Dividing the audio into sections based on topics of discussion using Audacity’s Label Tracks.
(note: I may expand sections if any one of them gets to be too long. This section will be updated as I go.)

Amplifying audio

Here is a stereo file recorded using my portable-studio-in-an-Otter Box (described here).

(click to enlarge)

Notice that the waveforms are small and don’t take up to the entire vertical space there. The recording quality is clean enough where I can amplify the audio.

(The goal in recording is to create a recording with all those sound... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Software • How-To
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From Digital Audio Recording to Audio CD: Part 1 - Audio into Audacity

It starts with the audio recording you made after you said, “Hi Mom, I want to interview you about your memories about Grandma and Grandpa.” It ends with your burned Audio CD.

This multi-part how-to series focuses on using Audacity and iTunes — two freely available pieces of software — to work with your recording and then create an audio CD.

Part 1: (You are here!) Getting your audio into Audacity, whether by opening a digital audio recording made elsewhere, or using Audacity to record directly to your computer.
Part 2: Making minor edits to increase sound level.
Part 3: Exporting your recording to a file format that iTunes can use and creating an Audio CD.
Part 4: Dividing the audio into sections based on topics of discussion using Audacity’s Label Tracks.
(note: I may expand sections if any one of them gets to be too long. This section will be updated as I go.)

Part 1: Audio in Audacity

I love Audacity. It’s open source software (freely available, or volunteer a payment to support the effort). It’s cross-platform; it works on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Screenshots shown here will be Mac based, but the instructions work for Windows and Linux, too. 

Do you need Audacity? Download Audacity from audacity.sourceforge.net. The page... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Software • How-To
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Countown to my Digital Audio Workshop

Am currently working hard to prepare for Friday’s “Birthing Digital” workshop at USC for the Southwest Oral History Association conference. What equipment am I bringing? Here’s a list.

YES, you can still sign up! (late fee waived!)

• Two Mac Laptops to demo and test all the direct-to-computer tools
• USB mic
• 2 USB Audio Interfaces: Edirol’s and M-Audio’s
• No wait, make that three. Creative Lab’s EEMU USB Audio Interface
• iPod Nano and Belkin TuneTalk, plus Belkin GoStudio. Or, everything you wanted to know about turning your iPod into an audio studio (or quick, stealthy recorder)
• M-Audio Microtrack II Portable Digital Recorder
• Samson’s Zoom Handy H2 Portable Digital Recorder*
• Marantz PMD 620 Portable Digital Recorder*
• LiveScribe Pulse Pen
• Possibly a Tascam portable recorder
 
• My own portable recording kit, as written about here

*A couple of these will be for sale, (very) gently used, in about 3 weeks’ time, once I’m finished with all my equipment tests

I expect to post lots of good info on audio recorders to this site in the weeks following this presentation.

Kevin Roderick at LA Observed mentioned the conference in this morning’s link roundup.

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware • Audio: Software
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Listen & Type: A good transcription tool

I downloaded Listen & Type last night. It’s a handy transcription tool for Mac OS (Shareware. $15. 20 days’ tryout time). I’ve mentioned it before. But oh, it bears mentioning again. (Later today I’ll post the results of that transcription session). It takes a few minutes to adjust to after launch, but then you’re up and runni— er, typing.

When you first launch Listen & Type, an Open dialog box appears, directing you to open a sound or movie file. (Listen & Type works with any media file that QuickTime can work with.)

Once you locate and open your media file, a new window appears, with playback controller and a small button labeled “Front.” Here’s the part that makes the app both tricky and wonderful: The window with the sound file floats above other windows on your screen. Once you click anywhere on the screen after it first opens, the Listen & Type window, though floating on top, is not the “active” window. Open up any text editor and that window is active. You can type to transcribe the speech while using a set of key commands to control the playback.

The tricky part: The window is in front, but it’s not the active application. Once some other application is... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Software • Transcription
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Making a recording self-explanatory

I’ve been finalizing an Audio CD of a 1980-era recording that my Mom gave to me. (For her birthday). I’m making copies for her and for a brothers and a coupla cousins that will be at a family gathering. The “think long term” mindset has dug in and changed the way I mark CDs and my other “metadata” (data about the data) that I’m including with the CD. The recording came to me with some gaps in info, a generation and family branch removed, so I’m learning by doing and trying to create as dense a nugget of info to pass on to others with the CD as I can.

I was amused by a little in-situ metadata that was part of the recording itself, identifying who the main speakers are. The original recording was made by my grandfather’s cousin, Bud or George (I hafta ask my Mom again. I wasn’t there, I don’t know. Have never met either.) It opens with my grandpa telling a story. At the end, the narrator’s voice comes on and says, “That was Bruce B[ family name].” My great uncle, his brother, also told a story. The narrator identified him, too. It’s obvious he made this recording for his side of the family, and identified the speakers on the other side—that would be my side. I, of course recognize the voices that he identified, and am frustrated by not knowing the identities of the other speakers, who were, of course, obviously known to the maker of the tape.

I edited the audio in Audacity, using... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Afterwards • Audio • Audio: Software • Do it: Yourself • Longevity
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Evoca- Record to this site from your phone

They’ve got a page devoted to oral history; Donald Ritchie is an advisor. Gotta check it out. It has that Web 2.0 shiny hype headline of “Evoca will change the way oral history is done.” (Thank goodness it does not say that “it will take your oral histories to the next level!” — can you tell I used to work in the software biz?) Anyway, there’s a nice quick guide on that page. I gotta check out the site some more. [via Place Based Education]

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Software • Do it: Yourself • Links
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Fission: new Mac app splits audio files

Rogue Amoeba’s new application, Fission is a minimalist audio editor for the MacOS. It cuts portions out of audio files. Most importantly, it splits longer audio files into smaller portions. It’s a compliment to another of Rogue Amoeba’s well-known offering, Audio Hijack. When I reviewed the universe of audio editor appliactions for importing oral history recordings into the computer, Audio Hijack didn’t make the short list. How could you break up long recordings into smaller portions if you wanted to segment Uncle Bob’s stories into separate audio tracks? Fission does that. Audio Hijack and Fission together cost $50—each, separately, cost $32. (Thanks to site member RBrower for bringing it to my attention!)

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Software
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Vermont Folk Life Center’s Field Research Guides

Field Research, as in field recording, as in portable audio recording equipment. As in information about solid state field recorders, and digitizing and editing recorded audio. Very good information from the Vermont Folk Life Center.

I learned about the Vermont Folk Life Center from reading the Oral History mailing list. Andy Kovalos always has a good word on the ins and outs of digital tools. He recently wrote to the list and said that they’d re-vamped their field recording guides. These pages are definitely worth a read.

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware • Audio: Software • Do it: Yourself • Links
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PCWorld.com - Rip Your Records

This how-to article for PC users has many overlaps with digitizing audio recordings you make yourself of family oral history.

Rip your records

The article focuses on vinyl records, but the author tested different hardware and software that comes in handy for inputting family recordings. Of course, it’s likely that you won’t have family recordings on vinyl. But the sound cards, the audio input to computer and the process of digitizing them are very similar

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Hardware • Audio: Software
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Mike Hurst’s Sound Editing presentation

Synopsis and tutorial movie as part of Sound Editing Training Day (March 15), in NE England.

Written synopsis and links to digital video demo (RealPlayer, QuickTime, Windows Media Player) of using Adobe Audition (Win only) software and the various commands used to minimally process sound to obtain a better quality recording.

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Software
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The Amazing Slow Downer

From Roni Music comes software to slow down (or speed up) music without changing pitch. Windows and Mac. $44.95. Designed to slow down music so other musicians can figure out that cool guitar lick (or whatever), this may be helpful to slow down speech for transcription.

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio • Audio: Software
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Rogue Amoeba - Audio Hijack Pro 2

Audio Hijack Pro 2 will do everything for audio input-to CD burning on MacOS X.

Audio Hijack Pro 2 features. It’s a MacOS X application, costs $32, and will bring in source sound, do noise processing, ID3 Tagging, and will preview output and burn CDs. Coming Summer 2004

Use Audio Hijack Pro to…save all your old vinyl and cassettes to AAC for digital playback. If your Mac can play it, Audio Hijack Pro can record it. And like always, you can use AH Pro to improve the sound quality on any audio you play or record as well.

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio: Software
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Audacity: open source sound editor

Open source sound editor for Mac, Windows, Linux

Audacity is an open source application that’s developed for Mac, Windows, and Linux. What is Audacity (and what can it do?)? Here’s the answer given at the Sourceforge.net site, Audacity’s home:

Audacity is a free audio editor. You can record sounds, play sounds, import and export WAV, AIFF, Ogg Vorbis, and MP3 files, and more. Use it to edit your sounds using Cut, Copy and Paste (with unlimited Undo), mix tracks together, or apply effects to your recordings. It also has a built-in amplitude envelope editor, a customizable spectrogram mode and a frequency analysis window for audio analysis applications. Built-in effects include Echo, Change Tempo, and Noise Removal, and it also supports VST and LADSPA plug-in effects.

Audacity is being developed by a team of volunteers under the open-source model. It is written in C and C++, using the wxWidgets cross-platform toolkit. All of the source code to the program is... Read More

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio: Software
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Listen & Type

MacOS shareware app for playing audio files in order to transcribe them.

The playback window always goes in front of whatever other app you’re working with (Word?), and the playback is controlled via key commands. Download it from Nattaworks. Available in two flavors: MacOS X and MacOS 8/9

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Audio: Software
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