record

markm2553 · Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2003 12:03 pm Post subject: record

Let's say I use the tape deck in our Church PA system to record some live music we are doing. It gives a pretty good reproduction of what is played. Now let's say I want to take that tape home and use my computer to record the music into a file. Earphone out the tape player, into the mic jack on the computer. But now what software do I use to record what I want?

Thanks,

PunkStar · Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 12:46 am Post subject:

I do that kinda thing a bit. I use a program called Audacity.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

It's a totally free program that I've found does a pretty good job. It records my terrible voice pretty well. I like it. It's freeware, so you don't have to pay for it. Just download it.

markm2553 · Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 4:31 am Post subject:

I'll take a look at that program. I'll try and download it this weekend at home, I'm at work now. I don't have a CD burner in my computer right now, but that can be taken care of. In the meantime I think I could get a friend of mine to burn what I need.
Is there standard software in windows that would you to record? By standard I mean like notpad or paint, you know like that stuff?

Sing cause your saved, not cause your good.

PunkStar · Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2003 12:13 am Post subject:

Windows has a standard sound recorder that does a similar (but not as good) job as Audacity. You can find it under the Start, Programs, Accessories, then some category after that (entertainment on XP, but it probably depends on which version you are using). It's called Sound Recorder. But the problem with Sound Recorder is that it stops recording after a minute, then you have to hit the record button again. And it's very compact and I just think it needs to be better designed.

Audacity is good. It gives you more options to mess with the wav file you are recording with the program. And it's got a better interface, so it's just nicer to use. And Audacity doesn't stop recording until you tell it to. So I just prefer it. But if you have trouble downloading it, send me an email and I'll send it to you. Just make sure you have a big enough inbox. It's about 1.3 megs I think. Either way, it's a small program. But I love it.

markm2553 · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 4:28 am Post subject:

Well it took me lone enough! But I got around to working on this some more. Here is where I'm at, I bought a mic and put on my computer at home. And used the built in sound recorder in windows. Just to see what it would sound like, and I have been using yahoo messenger to talk to my brother, and we wanted to try out the voice feature. Well, it does not sound very good. I mean very bad. When I would try and record, the sound was so low that you could hardley make out what I said. It this normal? Punk Star, I have not down loaded that software yet, I wanted to make sure my hardware would work first. Now I'm not sure. I have not hooked the take player up yet, I have to gat a cable. A friend of mine at work bought some kind of sound card, and says he converts tapes to CD's all the time like this. Am I going to have to get a sound card? He will convert the tape for me, but I want to be able to do it myself.

PunkStar · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 11:05 pm Post subject:

The standard Windows sound recorder is absolutely terrible. As you said, the volume issue. There is an option in the program to boost volume, but it's not great. But also, the program stops recording after a minute of recording. If you want to continue, you have to hit record again. Not worth it IMO.

If you have an onboard soundcard, then you don't need to go and buy one. But often, the onboard sound isn't great quality. So if you really want good quality, maybe you should go and buy one. But download Audacity first and see if that works. If it does work, you don't need to buy a card. If it doesn't, then check your connections are right. But Audacity will work and work well.

markm2553 · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 7:48 am Post subject:

Thanks, PunkStar I will try and download that program this weekend. We recorded a song at Church last night and I would like to get it in the computer. I will try out the hardware I have before I buy anything.

Bates15 · Moderator Joined: 19 Feb 2002 Posts: 1084

Punkstar, let me ask you something.

Have you ever imported cd audio into audacity? I have some recordings I made of music written by my father. I would like to boost the gain a bit and was trying out Audacity. The program wont let me import my cd audio. How do you import it, if you do it at all?

PunkStar · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2004 10:10 pm Post subject:

Ok, give this a go. I just took a look at the program and I think this should work.

1. First, copy the music to your computer. Make sure it is in a format the program can use. My version allows .wav, .aiff, .au, .snd, .mp3, .ogg. It's probably just easiest to use MP3. There are numerous free programs that can convert CD to MP3 (MusicMatch Jukebox for example).

2. Open Audacity.

3. Click "Project" on the menu bar, then click "Import Audio" Or alternatively, you can just use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+I. Find your file of the music you converted. Click on it, then click "Open". The program should then automatically import the audio into the program.

That should work. It worked for me just now.

vulcanbob · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:47 am Post subject: simple recording of my songs

I have a creative labs mp3 player ($50.00) it has a record feature on it with a buit in mic. I record my songs on this this, just singing and playing my guitar. I then thansfer the songs (in wave format) onto my computer. The sound is not great but I actually was suprisied at the quality. The volume is Kinda low but I use the free version of Audacity to boost the gain and aquire the desired volume and then convert the file into mp3 format. I have recorded about 10 of my songs this way so far.