I have recorded my student concert as an MP3 file and now want to edit it, so that I can cut out all the unwanted bits and have a separate track for each student's performance in order to put it on to a CD.
I have managed to open the file on Audacity, but that's as far as I can get. I have read the "Help" through, but quite honestly I don't understand most of it. There is a link to the Audacity website given, where apparently there are further instructions, but the link doesn't work. Is there anyone out there who can give me a step-by-step guide of what to do?
Full Version: Help! How Do I Use Audacity?
To handle MP3 files you need the LAME MP3 encoder, link here. Apart from that, I'm afraid I can't help. I didn't have much success editing mp3 files in Audacity when I tried it, but maybe someone else will know.
QUOTE(Suepea @ Jan 4 2007, 02:23 PM) 
I have recorded my student concert as an MP3 file and now want to edit it, so that I can cut out all the unwanted bits and have a separate track for each student's performance in order to put it on to a CD.
Edited. Others have answered while I was writing. If the replies are not detailed enough, PM me and I'll send you want I wrote. More detail about splitting the tracks, generating the silence unless you want all your CD tracks to play without breaks!
Kai
QUOTE(dcmbarton @ Jan 4 2007, 03:50 PM)
I do this too and have just finished editing a concert. Once you've opened the whole track, I select each part I want to be a separate track and then go File>Export Selection as Wav. Once I've done that I just hit delete and go on highlighting and exporting until I have all the tracks separated and saved as separate files.
I then open the tracks separately, select all and then go Effect>Amplify and then Effect>Normalize. After this I select a small potion of the beginning and go Effect>Fade in and then the same at the end Effect>Fade out. I then go File>Export Wav and save it as a new filename in a separate folder, then start over again doing to the same to each individual track. It's time consuming though!
David
Thanks David. How do you select each part? (You can see why I want an idiot's guide
) I've now got Audacity working and can kind of see the basics of it. I wonder has anyone used it record or have you all just imported MP£ files.
When I record through the laptop built in mike when it's played back it is very quiet. We have turned the Mic up and the output up but nothing happens. Hubby's even tried changing the windows settings but still nothing happens.
Any advice folks?
QUOTE(notmusimum @ Jan 5 2007, 07:01 PM)
I've now got Audacity working and can kind of see the basics of it. I wonder has anyone used it record or have you all just imported MP£ files.
When I record through the laptop built in mike when it's played back it is very quiet. We have turned the Mic up and the output up but nothing happens. Hubby's even tried changing the windows settings but still nothing happens.
Any advice folks?
I've used it to record, and am quite pleased with the quality of the result. The two recent recordings on the Forumrecordings website were done using my laptop with Audacity to record them.
Well I think I've got it sorted now!
Well, the files are all ready to go on to the CD. Thanks for your help. Kai.
QUOTE(notmusimum @ Jan 5 2007, 07:01 PM)
I've now got Audacity working and can kind of see the basics of it. I wonder has anyone used it record or have you all just imported MP£ files.
When I record through the laptop built in mike when it's played back it is very quiet. We have turned the Mic up and the output up but nothing happens. Hubby's even tried changing the windows settings but still nothing happens.
Any advice folks?
We found we had to use an external mike when using a laptop - though even then, the quality was not as good as with our Minidisc recorder. We use the Minidisc to record - the files are then imported in WAV format via sonicstage, which is the program needed for the recorder, then we can open them using Audacity and edit out the false starts....
and save as MP3s to reduce file sizes, or as WAV for better quality on a CD.
QUOTE(anacrusis @ Jan 7 2007, 08:12 PM)
We found we had to use an external mike when using a laptop - though even then, the quality was not as good as with our Minidisc recorder. We use the Minidisc to record - the files are then imported in WAV format via sonicstage, which is the program needed for the recorder, then we can open them using Audacity and edit out the false starts....
and save as MP3s to reduce file sizes, or as WAV for better quality on a CD.Sounds complicated! to be honest I've tried recording things on to Mini Disc before and I've never been able to get them on to computer, my player is really basic. Can you download Sonicstage free or did it come with your player?
Other option is to try recording on to hubby's MP3 player it has an external mic.
QUOTE(notmusimum @ Jan 7 2007, 09:17 PM)
Sounds complicated! to be honest I've tried recording things on to Mini Disc before and I've never been able to get them on to computer, my player is really basic. Can you download Sonicstage free or did it come with your player?
Other option is to try recording on to hubby's MP3 player it has an external mic.
Sonicstage came with the Minidisc. The recorder has a USB cable to connect it to the computer, but, thinking about it, I did have to delegate the transferring of files to my twelve-year-old...
. It took a bit of fiddling to get LAME to do its stuff too, if I remember rightly. This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.