Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer

Subject: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From: Mbo
Date: 07 Nov 99 - 08:33 PM

I want to make some .wav, mpeg, etc... of my music, on the computer. Does anyone have any good suggestions of how to get a good recording? Windows Sound Recorder makes .wav files, but they can only be 1 minute long. And is there a way to record mpegs? Are there some plug-ins that can be downloaded to do the job. What about size? Is a .wav file bigger than an mpeg? And how could I compress a sound file to a smaller size? Is an 8-minute-plus sound file impossible to make into a reasonable size?

--Mbo ("You know what happens to children who ask too many questions--they end up in the hulks!")

Subject: RE: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From: Musicman
Date: 07 Nov 99 - 11:45 PM

Mbo, what form is the music in now.....?

One way that has worked for me is to record onto a cassette (assuming this is just for posterity....)then recording onto your computer through your sound card as a .wav file.... Any CD player/midi/wav player should record the song without limitation.... Use a line in through your sound card and make sure you've selected the right input in the recorder.

A .wav file is very large, so transfering it to mp3 format drops it to about 10% of it's size....Audio grabber by Xing works well for this.

I am certain that there are other ways that people can recommend. This has worked for me.

For an 8 min song.... big .wav file. There may be some programs that will transfer directly from a line in to mp3.

Have fun....

Subject: RE: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From: Gene
Date: 07 Nov 99 - 11:52 PM

* go here click on MP3 *

What is an MP3?/how to make MP3s/other answers

Subject: RE: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From:
Date: 08 Nov 99 - 12:26 AM

There is free software from Creative Labs for their products allows you to make unlimited wav files! Don't know bout other makes of sound card. Wav stereo @ max resolution run 10 meg per stereo minute! Not a good idea unless you've a 700mgz Pentium with Vast memory and disk space!

The most popular format is RealAudio, since most machines are using very basic speakers and you cannot tell the difference twixt a mp3 and a ra file on lil speakers.

Realaudio encoder is free. DOS MP3 encoder were free but hard to find anymore, you can get it incorporated into many freeware packs eg Winamp, also for some reason the writers of this type software seem to think that PC's are for CD ripping only -

The original track can be made on any two tape recorders + a mixer OR for xcellent quality two stereo video players (yard sale stuff) + a mixer. You do not need two but it helps a great deal. Also a good mike and do remember a popping screen(2 bucks) a good investment!

The ideal setup is make the master off the computer but encode on a computer, editing on a computer is very hyped IMHO and is not worth the expense of the software.

Subject: RE: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 08 Nov 99 - 12:37 AM

G'day,
You need program such as Cakewalk, Cool Edit or many others. N-Track is a shareware program which people seem to like, it's multi track recording software which you can try free. I might have the URL of the homepage somewhere.

You should be able to download a shareware version of Cool Edit from www.syntrillium.com. I use Cool Edit Pro but it's a bit pricey. To hear an example click here.

If you don't want multi track capabilities there are probably plenty of shareware programs of the Windows Sound Recorder type but without the obvious limitations. Try a shareware site such as www.nonags.com. Or there may be something suitable bundled with your sound card.

You also want a good sound card. Sound Blaster Live or Ensoniq as a bare minimum, although there are many to choose from. It must be capable of full duplex if you want multi tracking capability. Beware, some cards claim full duplex but only achieve it through trickery. They fool some of the software some of the time.

A wave file takes about 10MB per minute, recorded at 16 bit 44100 samples per second stereo. You need this EXACT format if you want to burn an audio CD. MP3 files at 128k bps (often referred to as near CD quality) are about 1/11 the size of wave files. To start with go to www.mp3.com and download Plugger+. This is a free DOS-like program which encodes MP3 files from wave files. If you prefer to not use DOS you can download a free shell for Plugger+. One such shell is called AMP3ENC from SoundBytes (Denmark) & you can get it (and Plugger+) from http://software.mp3.com/software/all/windows/encoder/.

I also use Cool Edit Pro for all my MP3 encoding/decoding. It has a very high quality MP3 plugin for $US29.

Non-lossy compression of wave files doesn't work very well, achieving typically 70% of the original size. This is why MP3 is making such an impact. Given the fact that it's a lossy method achieving results smaller than 10% of the original size, it's amazing. You can only sometimes hear the difference from the original.

Hope that helps,
Alan

Subject: RE: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From: Melbert
Date: 08 Nov 99 - 05:13 AM

I've had acceptable results with a program called "Audiotools". I think I got it from DOWNLOAD.COM

The demo version which you can download is restricted to production of a 10 minute .wav file.

Subject: RE: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From:
Date: 08 Nov 99 - 08:40 AM

Hi,

I have used Audiotools and find it an excellent programme to use. It's around $20(us). The support is excellent and Andrew Fish - the creator of the software is continually improving it and readily answers any questions. There is a discussion board -

http://www.btinternet.com/~amfish/index.htm

which will give you an idea of what it does. I'm using the programme to put selections from my old lp's onto CD. And as has been pointed out, you do need 10 meg/min but with the size of hard drives, that probably not a major problem

Rana

Subject: RE: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From: Eric_Storm
Date: 08 Nov 99 - 12:51 PM

I have done three simple tapes using NTrack and been very impressed with the software. Get a copy of the demo/shareware version at http://fasoft.com/

My soundcard is a bit weak, so I haven't been able to use NTrack's "play one track while recording another" feature. Still, it did a great job and my projects keep getting better as I learn to do more with it.

Eric

Subject: RE: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From:
Date: 08 Nov 99 - 02:49 PM

32 Bit, 128 Bit architecture is about specific machines and has nuttin to do with industry standards! The 10 meg/min is not fixed but varies from machine to machine.

The Industry standard rate is based upon 48 kilohertz per sec. That is, 48 thousand 'snapshots' of the sound in each second. Clearly Digital recording leaves holes unlike analogue which does not.

Subject: RE: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From: Gene
Date: 08 Nov 99 - 06:23 PM

* Check out this site *

Subject: RE: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 08 Nov 99 - 08:26 PM

G'day,
To anonymous, the references to 10 MB/min are in the context of audio CDs and it IS fixed. 16 bit, 44.1kHz, stereo is the ONLY standard here. 48kHz, 96kHz, 24 bit etc. are used in various other contexts but not CDs.

As for the "holes" in digital recording, you should read up on this. If you have an audio signal which extends to no more than 20kHz before digitally recording then 44.1 kHz sampling rate enables you to "completely characterise" the original signal. The sound you play back will contain ALL repeat ALL the frequency components of the original at their original amplitude. Any deficiencies here are due to the filter in your CD player. The popular press usually gets this wrong.

The sample size may be a different story - 16 bits results in quantisation noise below -98dB, far better than any analogue system, however some people claim to be able to hear the difference between 16 bit and 24 bit.

I agree with the comment about 32 bit or 128 bit architecture, however nobody above mentioned this in any way.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Need Help With Recording Onto a Computer
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 10 Nov 99 - 06:24 AM

G'day,
Let's keep this thread alive so that people can check out the link that Gene posted. It sets out the steps clearly and simply.

The only thing is that we're dealing with a different context here, so the file format you want is 16 bit, 44100 samples/sec, stereo, and save as Windows PCM (*.wav). If you want MP3 and have the $29 MP3 plugin then save directly as MP3. If you think you'll want a wave file in the future save it as a wave file now. You don't want to convert MP3 to wave - there's a (very slight) loss of quality.

Cheers,
Alan