Class:
COMPUTER SOUND FILES
AND DIGITAL
RECORDERS
©2007 by Donald R. Snow
Sections of the Class Notes
Return to Don's
Class
Listings page or to the home page of Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group . This page was last
updated 4 Feb 2007.
INTRODUCTION
- Instructors
are Donald R. and Diane M. Snow, 801-225-7123 in Provo, Utah
and 435-673-1932 in St. George, Utah (snowd@math.byu.edu,
dms34@juno.com)
- These notes with active Internet links are
posted on the
Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group website http://uvtagg.org
under Class Outlines, Don's Listings.
- This class
will discuss using digital recorders, digitizing sound sources
from something like reel-to-reel or cassette tapes, editing digitized
sound files, and putting them on CD's
- The main kinds of digital sound files
- cda = CD audio -- the kind of digital sound files
on a music CD that you
buy at the store - plays in CD players and computers
- .wma = Windows media audio -- a kind of digital sound
file - plays in computers
- .wav = high-quality digital sound file, but
very large file size
- .mp3 = almost as good quality sound as .wav sound files, but
only
1/10th the size - plays in iPods and computers
- .midi = Musical Instrument Digital Interface -- special kind
of sound file from musical instruments with midi output jacks - allows
editing, mixing channels, even writes the sheet music for you -- see
info at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_Instrument_Digital_Interface
- High quality sound files are large and take up lots of space
on your hard drive.
SOURCES OF
SOUND FILES
- CD's -- commercial music or talks or homemade CD's
- Recording directly to the computer using a microphone plugged
into the jack on
the sound card
- Digital recorders -- small handheld devices that record
directly into digital
format
- Internet "streaming audio" -- talks, music, Internet radio
stations, recordings online
- Internet sound files to download -- can do a Google search
for
title, artist, or talk
- Old reel-to-reel or cassette tapes or phonograph records
(analog sound devices) played
and recorded (digitized) on the computer
- Sound track from a DVD video
- MIDI (= Musical Instrument Digital Interface) -- some musical
instruments (keyboards,
guitars) have midi connector to USB -- can record what the instrument
plays
DIGITAL
RECORDERS AND
DOWNLOADING SOUND FILES
- Some ideas about buying and
using digital recorders
- Many
uses, e.g. keeping your journal by voice, recording FH
interviews, and life stories
- If you buy one, be
sure
to get one with a USB cable connection so the digital sound
files can be downloaded to a computer; otherwise you have to
play them into the computer to digitize (record) them
- Get
a recorder that uses regular AA or AAA batteries so you can
use
standard
rechargeable batteries and easily get regular
batteries world-wide
- Try
Internet searches and "price comparison" web sites, since they
usually sell them much cheaper, even with the shipping costs.
- Each
time you replace the batteries be sure the date and time are set
correctly so the data included with sound file
is correct
- Downloading
sound files from your digital recorder to your computer
- Windows Explorer is sometimes easier to use
to
download
your sound files, instead of the software that came
with the recorder
- See the list of files on your
recorder by using Windows Explorer
- May help to
rename the file
to include who, what, where, etc., before downloading it from the
recorder -- allows
searching for key words in the
file name later, e.g. person, place, or occasion
- Download
your sound files regularly so you don't run the risk of losing
them in
case the recorder storage card gets fouled up
- Good
idea to make periodic backups of your sound
file folder by using a flash (USB) drive or
burning it to a CD
CAPTURING
AUDIO FROM
EXTERNAL SOUND SOURCE:
REEL-TO-REEL TAPE, CASSETTE, VINYL
PHONOGRAPH RECORD, MICROPHONE, MIDI
- Need a machine to
play the reel-to-reel tape, cassette tape, vinyl phonograph
record, or MIDI
-- that may be the hardest part, finding a suitable machine
- Helpful instructions
about this in Kim Komando's Computer Column -- http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=242
- Connect
a cable from player (line-out, speaker, headphone)
jack to line-in jack on your sound card on back of your
computer
- Programs to record the sound
on your computer
- Need a good quality
player
since you will be recording whatever sound it produces
- It
records in real time, i.e. it takes as long to record as the
sound is playing
- Rule
of Thumb: "It will take twice as long to get it done as the
recording
is long." -- includes setting up, experimenting, checking
files, etc.
- Recording
- Experiment
to set volume on player so it doesn't overdrive the recorder or you
will get distortion -- you see visually how it is recording
- Tell
it the sound file format you want, e.g.
.wav, .mp3, etc., and the name you want of the recording
- Make a
good qualilty recording to archive, then you copy that
to compressed mp3 format later
- Start
the recorder and turn
on the player
- Turn off the recorder and player when
fnished
- To
record from a microphone, plug it into the mike jack on your
sound card in the back of your computer and use the program Audacity
- Need
a midi program to record from midi connection -- records and
even writes the sheet music of whatever is
played on the keyboard or instrument
AUDIO FROM CD'S, INTERNET, OR EMAILS
- "Ripping" is the term used for copying tracks from
a CD onto your computer
- Can save all tracks or just selected ones
- Some programs, e.g. Windows Media Player (free and in Windows
XP) downloads the CD info, name,
date, etc., from the Internet when you rip a CD for your media library
- Can then search for song titles, artists, etc., in your
entire collection
- For archiving sound files, save it with a good quality sound
file, e.g. a
.wav file
- Can burn CD's with the particular songs you want
- From Internet, you may be able to just download a
sound file, but you usually have
to record it with Audacity while it plays -- can record anything that
goes to your computer speakers
- Can send and receive sound files as email attachments
EDITING
SOUND FILES WITH AUDACITY (FREEWARE)
- Helpful tutorials about using Audacity
-- http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
- Open the sound file in Audacity - you see both channels, if
it's a stereo file
- Can edit it by inserting pieces
from other
files, making parts
louder or softer or fading out -- can copy parts of it elsewhere
- Examples
MISCELLANEOUS
ON SOUND
- Narration
on a slideshow
- Burning
a CD
- Many free
CD/DVD burners -- Deep Burner from http://deepburner.com
-
Windows XP has a simple burner built-in
- Your CD
burner may have special characteristics and may have come with a burner
itself
- Example
- Skpye
-- telephoning via your
computer
- You
talk via a microphone and listen via speakers or
earphones plugged into your computer sound card
- Can
even do conference calls with up to 5 people at once
- Costs
for Skype phone calls
- Free
to call any computer with Skype on it, world-wide
- $30/year
to call any land or cell phone in U.S. or Canada
- 2.1
cents/minute to call any land or cell phone world-wide
- Example
- Converting
VHS video to digital -- can buy
equipment and programs or else have it done professionally
FURTHER
HELPS AND
CONCLUSIONS
- A few tutorials about recording audio -- to find many others do a Google search for "sound
recording tutorials" or similar
- A
few sources of online sound and files -- to find many others do a
Google search for "sound files" or "audio files free" or similar
- Time to get started transferring
your old family history tapes and cassettes to
digital format before the tape goes bad
ASSIGNMENT
- Click on and look at a couple of the tutorials
above, especially the ones on Audacity.
- Use a microphone and record a few minutes of you speaking or
reading something. Look at the sound file in Audacity and cut
out a portion and form a new file using it.
- Get a cable at Radio Shack or elsewhere and plug a radio or
cassette player into your sound card and record something.
- Go to an Internet Radio link, e.g. http://www.live365.com/index.live , and listen to some Internet radio station for a few minutes. Try recording something from it on your computer.
Return
to Don's
Class
Listings page or to the home page of Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group .