Editing audio

[inovermyhead]

Hello,

I have recently copied an old cassette tape of my Dad's using an old marantz tape deck and my rh1 (line in with a mini plug stereo cable). I want to put the recording on a cd for my father and I would like to do so with the best quality that I can.

The recording was done at about 80% volume on the tape deck and is a little weak in signal. The recording alternates between Mike Snyder telling jokes and playing bluegrass with his combo. The joke telling tracks are much quieter than the actual music.

I don't know if it would be kosher to post a little example of the recording, due to copyright issues, but if possible, it might help to hear the recording for feedback.

I appreciate any input. Please let me know if I am being too vague.

Thanks,

Donald

[boojum]

I would do two things after recording it and uploading it to your computer: first, I would use Audacity to apply compression to the file. This will even the disparity between the spoken and played parts. If you are satisfied just export the file and it will have the compression. Then, convert it to FLAC and run ReplayGain on it. This will raise the overall volume to a max without clipping. I would use foobar2000 for this. Use FLAC on SourceForge: http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html.

foobar200 is at foobar2000.org. If you want to cut it into tracks manually use CD Wave Editor. Let us know if you have problems with this or any other thing you want to do.

You can use foobar2000 to burn a CD from the FLAC file(s).

Cheers

[Strungup]

Hello,

I have recently copied an old cassette tape of my Dad's using an old marantz tape deck and my rh1 (line in with a mini plug stereo cable). I want to put the recording on a cd for my father and I would like to do so with the best quality that I can.

The recording was done at about 80% volume on the tape deck and is a little weak in signal. The recording alternates between Mike Snyder telling jokes and playing bluegrass with his combo. The joke telling tracks are much quieter than the actual music.

I don't know if it would be kosher to post a little example of the recording, due to copyright issues, but if possible, it might help to hear the recording for feedback.

I appreciate any input. Please let me know if I am being too vague.

Thanks,

Donald

What model Marantz ? PMD 201 101, 360 , I would love to have one of the old Marantz decks , was always fond of the design. Cant find them anymore tho.

Another way to Deal with that file is in Audacity ,(freebie) Load the whole file , drag the cursor over the quiet parts to highlight them , then at the top on the tool bar you see "Effects" there is a gain adjust ment there , or just select the Whole file and use the "Normalizer " that would be the quickest way and probably smoothest way .

Step 1 :Toolbar, select "Edit" scroll down on "Select" you "Select All"

Step 2: Toolbar "Effects" scroll down select " Normalizer" a popup window will ask you what level , set it at -2 db max , there is a check box the asks "Allow Clipping " uncheck it , then click OK bam, your done .

Then export as Wav file and burn to CD

http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Edited April 14, 2007 by Guitarfxr

[spice-the-cat]

In addition to the above, and if you decide to use Audacity, there is a very helpful Audacity Wiki site which will help you learn all of this excellent program's functions.

http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

[inovermyhead]

Hey Thanks for all the feedback guys. I couldn't find the audigy program. Maybe b/c I don't have a soundblaster soundcard? I did go the flac-->foobar2000 method and couldn't get the volume of the "spoken" parts of the tape to a volume matching the music.

I also failed to do so by normalizing in audacity. I also tried to increase gain on the spoken parts and then normalizing the whole track. Maybe this is a contradictive thing to do.

I love cd wave editor! I split all the tracks with no problems.

I would still like to increase the volume in the spoken parts more without clipping. Maybe I just need to re-record the track somehow. I made sure to record at the maximum volume level without clipping on the tape deck though.

Oh, and maybe tape deck is the wrong label for my Dad's tape "player." It is a portable tape player that was made for recording and such. I will ask him for the model number later. It is a very cool device!

[A440]

Looking at the waveform in Audacity, you should be able to just see the quiet versus loud parts. Just raise the gain on each of the quiet parts one by one.

Alternately, you can try Compressor rather than Normalize. A compressor compresses the dynamics: brings the loud parts down and the soft parts up so it's a more even sound.

Look at this thread for some compressor settings to try--there are a bunch of different ones .

http://audacityteam.org/forum/thread/4729;...1c2311cf11fb176

I have a feeling that "audigy" was a mistype of Audacity.

[inovermyhead]

awesome, thanks! I used the compressor settings in that thread you posted a440 and used foobar2000/replaygain to boost the volume, and now the track sounds great!

This whole process is way fun, lol, I'm not going to lie.

[A440]

I used the compressor settings in that thread

Do you remember which settings you used? There were what looked like very diverse ones in that thread. Maybe the exact numbers could help someone else here.

[inovermyhead]

The compressor settings I used were: Threshold -35dB, Ratio 10:1, and Attack time .1sec.

I am actually going to re-record the tape again because the volume is still a little low and I have figured out how to control the rh1 record volume, hehe.

I hope this helps!

[bobbyo]

I understand how to get to the compression settings and how to change things, but I don't understand how I decide to set them. I used to settings that were suggested to that guy, and my resulting file had absolutely no dynamics left over whatsoever.

Does anyone maybe have a link to a good tutorial for editing live recordings in terms of applying compression and equalising the 900hz areas?

Thanks

[Strungup]

I understand how to get to the compression settings and how to change things, but I don't understand how I decide to set them. I used to settings that were suggested to that guy, and my resulting file had absolutely no dynamics left over whatsoever.

Does anyone maybe have a link to a good tutorial for editing live recordings in terms of applying compression and equalising the 900hz areas?

Thanks

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=18866

klik that download the file on the first post , read thourougly . Take two aspirin call me in the morning , Doctors Orders.

[bobbyo]

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=18866

klik that download the file on the first post , read thourougly . Take two aspirin call me in the morning , Doctors Orders.

Thank you so much.

[smkranz]

The recording alternates between Mike Snyder telling jokes and playing bluegrass with his combo. The joke telling tracks are much quieter than the actual music.

I encourage you to post a brief clip of your recording, either to the Gallery or in a post. You can post a brief snippet of music for educational, critical or analytical purposes without running afoul of copyright laws (i.e. that would be smkranz's view of the "fair use doctrine").

I was lucky enough to see Mike Snyder live at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival a few years ago, and I must say he put on one helluva stage show. He is an extraordinary musician, his comedy routines & songs were really funny (tho I am easily amused), and his backup guys were just as awesome.

[King Ghidora]

I like Goldwave as an editor much better than Audacity. It does have a trial period where nothing is crippled. It's exactly the sort of thing you're working on where Goldwave is stronger. There are many tools to adjust sound levels in selections. You can shape the volume just about any way possible with Goldwave. There are actually some better sound editors around but they cost a lot of money. Goldwave is a great editor if you just need to fix a track without hassles. It only costs $45 if you decide to buy it. It is a very useful program. For example thee is a function called "Matching Volume" where levels are equalized throughout the whole file. There are several presets to choose from, you can choose to allow clipping or not, you can choose the average db level and you can preview different settings without having to process the entire file.

Goldwave is really quite a bit better than Audacity IMO but maybe I'm prejudiced because I've been using it for 15 years probably. I have tried Audacity though and I don't find the wide variety of tools that Goldwave has. You can find a copy of the trial by doing a Google search. I think you'll find the tools much more powerful and useful.

[Strungup]

I like Goldwave as an editor much better than Audacity. It does have a trial period where nothing is crippled. It's exactly the sort of thing you're working on where Goldwave is stronger. There are many tools to adjust sound levels in selections. You can shape the volume just about any way possible with Goldwave. There are actually some better sound editors around but they cost a lot of money. Goldwave is a great editor if you just need to fix a track without hassles. It only costs $45 if you decide to buy it. It is a very useful program. For example thee is a function called "Matching Volume" where levels are equalized throughout the whole file. There are several presets to choose from, you can choose to allow clipping or not, you can choose the average db level and you can preview different settings without having to process the entire file.

Goldwave is really quite a bit better than Audacity IMO but maybe I'm prejudiced because I've been using it for 15 years probably. I have tried Audacity though and I don't find the wide variety of tools that Goldwave has. You can find a copy of the trial by doing a Google search. I think you'll find the tools much more powerful and useful.

Does it work on Mac

[King Ghidora]

According to the web site it doesn't. They suggest Audacity as an alternative or possibly Sound Studio or Bias Peak. Sorry.

[Strungup]

I just watched the video on Bias Peak LE , very nice program , definately need to save up for that one. It is a must have

http://www.bias-inc.com/downloads/videos/peakLe5/movie.php

[raintheory]

We have Bias Peak on our Mac... I've never really used it much though. My fiance uses the Mac most times.

I use GoldWave on PC myself. Highly recommend it, been using it for years.

[boojum]

Audacity has heaps of plugins available at its web site that offer just about every possible function you could dream of. They download as a zipped file and auto-installs. Maybe not zipped, but it does auto install. Way cool.

Cheers

[Strungup]

Audacity has heaps of plugins available at its web site that offer just about every possible function you could dream of. They download as a zipped file and auto-installs. Maybe not zipped, but it does auto install. Way cool.

Cheers

They just Updated Audacity to 1.33beta , The update read me , say the list list of improvement included a "Vastly Improved Noise reduction system"

It needed some work I have downloaded but wont get to use it for a week or so.

I wish some of you guys lived around here , .....BBQ and House building party . GOD I NEED SOME HELP!!!!!!!!!