Converting Analog Music (Records & Tapes) into Digital Sound Files (Using Audacity, v. 1.2.6 )

1. Converting Analog Music (Records & Tapes) into Digital Sound Files(Using Audacity, v. 1.2.6)

2. Why convert to Digital Sound Files? • Can store on your computer. • Can download and play on your digital music player. • Can store on your CDs or DVDs. • Can edit and clean up the original sound recordings.

3. How to convert from Analog Music to Digital Sound Files: • Use the free PC software download, Audacity v. 1.2.6 which is top rated by many internet sources. • It is a free-ware, that is, developed and maintained by a group of software engineers for public distribution.

4. Nature of Analog and Digital Sound …Definitions: • Analog Sound: • A common type of sound wave is a periodic wave.

5. Nature of Analog and Digital Sound …Definitions: • How is sound recorded digitally? • The main device used in digital recording is an 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.

6. Nature of Analog and Digital Sound …Definitions: • Each dot in the figure below represents one audio sample.

7. How does audio get digitized on your computer? • Your computer has a soundcard or it could be built-in to your computer. • Either way, your soundcard comes with an Analog-to-DigitalConverter (ADC) for recording, and a Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) for playing audio.

8. How does audio get digitized on your computer? • Your operating system (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, etc.)to the sound card to actually handle the recording and playback, andAudacitytalks to your operating system so that you can capture sounds to a file, edit them, and mix multiple tracks while playing.

9. Standard file formats for PCM audio: • Uncompressed File Formats (PCM): • Common examples of PCM files are WAV files (PC), AIFF files (Mac), and Sound Designer II (Audacity) files. • Audacity supports WAV, AIFF, and many other PCM files.

10. Standard file formats for Compressed audio: • Modern compressed audio files represent the essential frequencies of the audio signal in far less space. • Examples include MP3(MPEG I, layer 3),Ogg Vorbis, and WMA(Windows Media Audio). • Audacitysupports MP3 and OggVorbis, but not the proprietary WMA(Microsoft) format or the MPEG4 format (AAC) used by Apple's iTunes.

11. Setup, Audio Import and Playback: • Essentially, run your speaker wires to your computer input using a small stereo jack. • Additionally, for play-back through your stereo system, hook up to your computers output jack using a small stereo jack and connect to your auxiliary input on your stereo receiver input jacks using two standard stereo jacks. • You can get the components at Radio Shack.

12. Setup, Audio Import and Playback: • Create a new project: • Select Save Project(e.g. Save As…) and choose a location and filename for your project. • Audacity writes all the changed and recorded audio to a directory called Projectname_data, which is located right where you saved the project file itself.

13. Setup, Audio Import and Playback: • Check the Preferences: • See Pass-Out • Import an audio file: • Drag the sound file into the open Audacity track space • Go to File > Open > Browse for the file. • Use the keyboard shortcut : CTRL+I

14. Setup, Audio Import and Playback: • Playback: • The imported file should now be displayed in an audio track. The track will look a little like this, depending on what you imported:

15. Setup, Audio Import and Playback • Now click on the green Play button at the top and you should hear the file you have just imported.

16. Create a new project: • Save an empty project. File > New • Check the preferences: See above • Hit Record • ClickontheredRecordbutton to begin recording. • ClickonthebluePause button to pause the recording. Press it again to continue. • ClickontheyellowStop button to cease recording. The cursor will return to its previous position, before the recording was started. • Save File[Note: This is a safety measure for editing]

17. Recording Tool Bar:

18. Sound Editing: • Editing is about cutting, placing, fading, cross-fading, shifting, duplicating and adjusting the volume (also referred to as level) of audio material. • Effects are use extensively to editing older record and tape recording. • Mixing is a form of editing too, of course.

19. Sound Editing: • Making a selection: • In order to do any editing you have to select the area to be affected, just like word processing. • To select the part you wish to cut, copy or paste to, use the selection tool

20. Sound Editing: Making a selection:

21. Sound Editing: • Making a selection: • Now press and hold the left mouse button while you drag the mouse to mark an area.

22. Sound Editing: • Cutting the selection: • Go to Menu > Cut or Copy • To undo this operation, select Undo in the Edit menu or press CTRL+Z • You can then paste that data back in to any track by clicking where you want this audio to be inserted and select Paste in the Edit menu, or press CTRL+V.

23. Sound Editing: • Zoom Tool: • This tool allows you to zoom in or out of a specific part of the audio. • To Zoom In, click anywhere in the audio. • To Zoom Out, right-click or shift-click. If you have a middle button, you can middle-click to do the same thing as Zoom Normal.

24. Sound Editing: • Silencing unwanted sound sources: • When silencing parts between vocal lines a sudden drop in background ambiance can have an bad effect, so fade the area around the silenced part, to minimize that effect. • Select the area to be silenced and press the SilenceTool. • Select and add Fade-In and Fade-Out at the ends. Menu > Effects > Fade-In or Fade-Out • Rules to start with are, fade in quickly and fade out slowly.

25. Sound Editing: • Editing Out Pops and Clicks in Records: • Draw Tool: Enables the user to draw (correct) the actual waveforms. • This is especially useful to eliminate large and small pops and clicks from material.

26. Sound Editing: • Editing Out Pops and Clicks in Records: • ALT + click smoothes an area of audio • CTRL + click & hold edits only one sample, no matter whether you move the mouse left or right.

27. Sound Editing: • Demonstration: • Editing a vinyl record recording • Editing a tape recording