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BOOT CAMP 454 (12/12/06)
Vinyl and Tape to CD and MP3, part 5
If you have been following this short series on
transferring recordings on vinyl and cassette to CD and MP3 you should now have
a folder on your PC with one or more sub-folders inside, each containing a set
of album tracks. Over the last couple of weeks we have looked at how to split
and edit the tracks and remove clicks, pops and hiss using the excellent (and
totally free) Audacity recording
and editing program. Now we are ready to finish processing the tracks and
‘burn’ a CD.
Up to this point we have been editing and
storing files in Audacity’s proprietary ‘*.aup’ file format but this isn’t
compatible with any of the applications or devices we will be using from now on
so they have to be converted.
The two file formats we are concerned with are
‘Wave’ (extension *.wav) and MP3. Wave or ‘wav’ is the standard for sound files
in Windows. It is an uncompressed PCM format and sound quality can be
excellent. It is also very closely related to the ‘CDA’ format used on audio
CDs -- another PCM variant -- so the conversion process is quick, simple and
doesn’t involve any loss of quality. The MP3 format is used to send music over
the Internet and for storing music on most personal digital stereo players. The
data is heavily compressed so it takes up less space and as a result there is
some loss of sound quality.
Audacity converts .aup files directly to .wav
format but for various reasons it needs a ‘plug-in’, called a LAME encoder, to
convert from .aup to MP3. We looked that this in part two and even if you have
no immediate interest in making MP3 files it’s a handy facility to have and I
would still install LAME by going back to the Audacity download website.
We’ll tackle MP3 file conversion first, and it
really is very simple. By default LAME uses an encoding bit rate of 128kbps,
which most people find gives an acceptable compromise between sound quality and
file size. If you want to use a higher or lower bit rate go to Preferences on
Audacity’s Edit menu and select the File Formats tab.
Open the first track you want to convert then
go to File > Export as MP3 and select the folder where you want it to be
stored. A dialogue box opens and you have the opportunity to create a set of
ID3 ‘tags’ for each track. This embeds text information, the name of the artist
and album etc., within the music file, which most MP3 players display during
playback. Fill out as many of the boxes as you like, or your player can
display. Afterwards click OK and the conversion process begins. This may take
several minutes depending on the length of the track, and that’s all there is
to it. Repeat for each track and copy
the MP3 files to your player.
Creating an audio CD is almost as
straightforward but before we go any further make sure that you have Windows
Media Player version 10 or above installed on your computer. If your PC is less
than a year or two old you probably already have it, otherwise you need to
upgrade and it is available free from the Microsoft
web site. If you are using a pre XP
version of Windows you won’t be able to install WMP 10 but see this week’s Top
Tip.
The .aup to .wav conversion facility is also on
Audacity’s File menu; simply open each track then click ‘Export as WAV’ on the File menu. Once again
you can change the quality settings from Preferences on the Edit menu but it’s best
to leave it on the default ‘Microsoft 16-bit PCM’ setting.
To compile and burn an audio CD pop a blank
disc into your CD/DVD writer drive and open Windows Media Player. Add the
tracks you want to ‘burn’ to the ‘Library’ (File > Add to Library > Add Folder).
If the menu bar isn’t displayed right-click on the Toolbar and select Show Menu
Bar. Now click the ‘Burn’ tab then Edit Playlist, select the tracks you want
and click OK to add them to the list in the left hand windows. Keep an eye on
the Total Time indicator in the bottom left hand corner to make sure it doesn’t
exceed the capacity of your blank CD (shown in the bottom right hand corner).
Finally click the Start Burn button and the tracks are first converted and then
recorded on the disc. When it has finished the drawer opens and your disc is
ready to play.
Next Week -- Wireless Networking
JARGON FILTER
BIT RATE
The speed at which digital data is conveyed or processed, usually in
measured in thousands or millions of bits per second (kbps/mbps)
LAME
(Bizarrely stands for: LAME Ain’t an MP3 Encoder), an Open Source
encoding program for converting audio files into the widely used MPEG-1, layer
3 (MP3) file format
PCM
Pulse Code Modulation, a way of representing varying analogue signals as numbers
or digits
TOP TIP
Unfortunately Windows Media Player 10 will not
work on earlier (Pre XP) versions of Windows, in which case you will have to
use another program to create your audio CDs. Both Roxio Easy Media Creator and
Nero Burning have Audio CD burning facilities and there are also plenty of
freeware and share ware utilities. You will find a comprehensive selection on
the Tucows
website. Finally, if the whole business seems too complicated then have a look
at a one-stop LP to CD utility called RIP Vinyl. This excellent
program has been steadily evolving over the past few years and simplifies the
whole business of recording tracks from records or tapes and turning them into
CDs and now MP3 files and right now it is on special offer and selling for just
£6.99.
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© R. Maybury 2006, 0612
Part 1 2 3 4
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