Note: The
previous two
sections had separate Mac and Windows pages; this time around, I've
just produced a single version-- using the Windows SoundForge XPsoftware.
You may be using a different
program on a Windows system or on a Mac; in that case the specific
command-names and dialogue boxes will look different. But there will be
enough similarities that hopefully this will prove usable. If you have
any questions,, feel free to drop me a line.
If you've been following this series of
tutorials,
you've connected your audio equipment to your computer, set your
control panel or system prefence for recording, gotten a better
recording application than what came with your computer, and set test
levels for a recording. You're ready to go! But before you do, remember
to clean the LP and the turntable's stylus, or clean and demagnetize
the playback head of your tape deck. Perhaps get a new turntable stylus
if you really value the music.
What not
to do!
You may want
to press record on
your computer software, start up your LP or tape, check your levels,
and then go away until you've finished recording one side of the LP or
tape (about 20-45 minutes worth of music). After all, you can always
cut and paste to individual tracks later. This will
work, but
it
turns out to be a very inefficient use of your time. Your software
takes
a long time to process large files. Using SoundForge XP 5.0, for
example, I recorded a 45minute file containing 18 songs. It
took
about 6
minutes for the software to process the file when I tried to select and
cut out one 3 minute tune, in order to paste it as a new, separate
track. As the file got smaller and smaller (as I removed each song
individually), it took less and less time-- but there was a lot of time
wasted after I had the whole thing recorded.
Here's
a
tip
suggested by reader David Bentley of Walnut Creek,
CA, USA.
He says: " The
trick
is
to start at the end. Then it takes Sound Forge very
little time to rework the remaining parts of the file. If you
need
something from the middle, first delete whatever follows it (or cut
& paste that to another file), then cut off the part
you
want,
which is now on the end! If you want, of course you can
always
use undo to restore the file to what it had been, and this will
probably be faster too as it is adding things to the end, and doesn't
have to shuffle huge amounts of information forward to eliminate the
gap. I think that is what takes all the time." -- Thanks
David!... but reader Charles Angelich suggests a further step (along
with other useful suggestions that have been implimented in this
tutorial). He rightly suggests duplicating the large file, and working
on the duplicate. That way, if any mistakes are made, the original
recording will still be intact.
Instead..
Best, in my
experience, is to
record each track on the LP or tape individually, saving it before
going
on to record the next track. Once it's saved, you can clean it up
later,
but get each track recorded and saved individually first. Try something
like this:
Click
the Record button on your software (often an icon of
a button
with
a circle or square on it). Here's the screen you'll see in SoundForge
XP
5.0:
With
the software recording, scoot over to your audio equipment and start to
play the desired track. Try to start a little before the exact starting
point; it's easy to edit out the junk later, but you've wasted
everything if you miss the first few seconds of the track.
Go
back to your computer, and check that the levels are OK while you're
recording.
When
the track ends, go back to your audio equipment and pause or stop it.
Go
back to your computer and click the button to stop recording. On
SoundForge, you should then click the Close button.
You'll see
something like:
Save
your
sound file. If you're planning to burn an audio CD, save in an
uncompressed format such as Wave (*.Wav for
Windows users) orAIFF (for Mac
users). If
you're wanting to rip MP3 files, your sound application may give you
the option to save directly as MP3... but don't do this if you want to
make an audio CD-- though you may be able to convert these MP3s to CD
Audio, you'll be losing some sound-quality in the process.
If
you're
planning to make an audio CD, a good idea is to start your filename
with the number of your track. In order to easily have your computer
sort the tracks in the proper order, for numbers 1- 9, use '01', '02',
etc... that way, '02' will be sorted prior to '10' or '11'... so call
your first track something like '01 I Love My Dog.wav' or
something
similar.
Once
you've
saved your track, you may want to record and save the next track, and
continue that way until they are all recorded, cleaning up all the
tracks at the end. Or you may want to do a
bit of processing on each track after it's recorded. Either
work-flow is fine. In any event, take a look at the picture of the
sound file above. Note the quiet in the first 10 or 11 seconds of the
track. I can highlight and delete it-- but I would suggest listening
to it first, in case there is some quiet instruments leading into the
main sound. Delete the unneeded portion, then listen again-- most
software includes an Edit/Undo if you cut out too
much.
Go to
the
end of the track, and again, listen... there's probably some that you
can remove in the same way.
If your
recording levels were low, you can boost the volume. In
SoundForge
XP 5.0, there's a Process/Volume menu
item which gives the
following:
If
nothing in the
picture of the file is selected, the volume boost will apply to the
whole file. If a section is selected, only the selection will be
boosted. When
you
boost the volume, however, you also boost the background noise. And if
you recorded with your levels set too high, you may hear audible
distortion. In this case, lowering the volume will simply give you
quieter distortion. Better to re-record, with your levels adjusted to a
more optimal setting.
Most of your
software will have lots more bells and whistles you can
play with, but personally, I'd recommend using as little as possible,
to
get as clean a recorded sound as you can. Even software that promises
to remove pops and scratches when recording old LPs does so by altering
the sound of all the music. You may be better off keeping the scratches
in the recording.
When you've got a set of usable recordings, you're ready to burn them
to CD. The software that came with your CD burner will do
fine
for this, though deluxe commercial versions will again offer more
features. For example, Roxio
Easy CD Creator Pro or Platinum
editions, unlike the
Basic version that is often packages with PC CD-burner hardware,
includes a SpinDoctor module which includes features to remove clicks,
pops, and hisses, and normalize (balance) levels between tracks
recorded
from different sources. Mac users can get similar SpinDoctor features
from
Roxio Toast Titanium. These are not (legally)
downloadable,
but
can be
purchased
online (US$99).
Last
updated: July 7,
2003
The complete Burning CDs
from LPs and
Tapes series: