Sound manipulation software

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

When it comes to sound manipulations like getting an even recording
level and etc. My SB Audigy2 ZS platinum Pro tools fall pretty short.

The video player/recorder has a scrubber to control input signal but
seems to have almost non-existent effect.

I'm pretty inexperienced with any modern equipment but have some sound
experience on older hifi equp. I'm used to being able to fully
control input signal so that resulting music is recorded/copied etc at
an even volume level.
An example might be a recent attempt to capture some of my old blues
music from tape (cassetts) to electronic format (mp3, mp4). I find
I'm losing many decibels on the finished product compared to the tape.

What is out there that will allow me to correct that kind of stuff
when working with sound files? Creating them from external tapes or
even old records?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Harry Putnam wrote:
>
> What is out there that will allow me to correct that kind of stuff
> when working with sound files? Creating them from external tapes or
> even old records?

Do you mean hardware or software solution? Here's a cheap setup that work
great for me: All my input go through a mixer, a Behringer UB1002, through
an M-Audio audio card. I control input level with the mixer and monitor
(level) through software, trying to stay below -6db so I have headroom for
adding effect later. Voice-over are done with an AT3035 trough the Behringer
preamp, there's two, which I also use as synth input and it sound clean (I
added this because of the Behringer "controversy", I don't care I use what
works for the smallest amount of cash outlay). I monitor the sound trough
headphone, with mild EQ on the mixer and finish off in software.

Good luck.
--
www.odysea.ca

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"Deco_time" <coral_city2000@NOSPAMyahoo.ca> writes:

> Harry Putnam wrote:
>>
>> What is out there that will allow me to correct that kind of stuff
>> when working with sound files? Creating them from external tapes or
>> even old records?
>
> Do you mean hardware or software solution? Here's a cheap setup that work

I was talking software, but thanks for the tips since I do need some
more hardware as well.

About software though... anyone have suggestions about software that
allows lots of adjustments. Especially controlling input signal so
that resulting files have uniform volume.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"Deco_time" <coral_city2000@NOSPAMyahoo.ca> writes:

> Harry Putnam wrote:
>>
>> What is out there that will allow me to correct that kind of stuff
>> when working with sound files? Creating them from external tapes or
>> even old records?
>
> Do you mean hardware or software solution? Here's a cheap setup that work
> great for me: All my input go through a mixer, a Behringer UB1002, through
> an M-Audio audio card. I control input level with the mixer and monitor


What is an M-Audio audio card? Is it just a brand of sound card?
I'm using a SB Audigy2 Z2 supposed to be sort of the cadillac of
sound cards.

Should I be able to do something similar to your setup with it?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

If you are looking for software, I have used "Audio Cleaning Lab" (
www.magix.com )
It is the cheapest, most featured, easy to use sound recording/processing
software I have seen.
I have an earlier version and it's weak spot was in mp3 creation (unless you
upgrade)
If you are looking to record anything that you can plug into your sound card
and make a cd this is good stuff for the average consumer. You can adjust
input and output volume, get rid of scratches and clicks, noise and add
compression to name a few. I have done some amazing things with old
scratched records that I got at the dump! I even "converted" some old
favorite 8 track tapes to CD!
Whoops, I'm showing my age!
I have no affiliation with magix! Just like this particular software.

J Miller

"Harry Putnam" <reader@newsguy.com> wrote in message
news:rgui7019lpn8eippp89fqhlsgajskll9b5@4ax.com...
> When it comes to sound manipulations like getting an even recording
> level and etc. My SB Audigy2 ZS platinum Pro tools fall pretty short.
>
> The video player/recorder has a scrubber to control input signal but
> seems to have almost non-existent effect.
>
> I'm pretty inexperienced with any modern equipment but have some sound
> experience on older hifi equp. I'm used to being able to fully
> control input signal so that resulting music is recorded/copied etc at
> an even volume level.
> An example might be a recent attempt to capture some of my old blues
> music from tape (cassetts) to electronic format (mp3, mp4). I find
> I'm losing many decibels on the finished product compared to the tape.
>
> What is out there that will allow me to correct that kind of stuff
> when working with sound files? Creating them from external tapes or
> even old records?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Harry Putnam wrote:
> What is an M-Audio audio card? Is it just a brand of sound card?
> I'm using a SB Audigy2 Z2 supposed to be sort of the cadillac of
> sound cards.
>
> Should I be able to do something similar to your setup with it?

M-Audio:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.list&ID=pciinterfaces
make Audio card, amongst other things, card that are specialised for
recording and that uses special low latency drivers, called ASIO, that
recording app takes advantage of. Other vendor are Lynx and Echo, amongst
others. Audigy makes Sound card for gamer with some recording capability
built in, but I don't see why you couldn't have a similar setup as mine
using it.


--
www.odysea.ca

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

J Miller wrote:
> If you are looking for software, I have used "Audio Cleaning Lab" (
> www.magix.com )
Magix product are probably the least known of the better deal in sound
software at the moment. I just got their Audio studio 2004 and I can't
believe all the feature for such a low price. I bought it for the midi
sequencing ability and VST hosting, but find I use Audio studio more and
more.

--
www.odysea.ca

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Harry Putnam wrote:
> About software though... anyone have suggestions about software that
> allows lots of adjustments. Especially controlling input signal so
> that resulting files have uniform volume.

See J Miller post and my answer to him...

--
www.odysea.ca

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Deco_time wrote:
>Audio studio 2004
I meant Music studio 2004, of course.


--
www.odysea.ca

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Deco_time wrote:

> Deco_time wrote:
> >Audio studio 2004
> I meant Music studio 2004, of course.
>
> --
> www.odysea.ca

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned "Audacity".

It's free, open source, multi-platform (OS-X, Linux, Windows) and can do
some very cool and useful stuff. It downloads fast, installs in seconds
(no, you don't have to compile it ;->).

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about.php

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/ (online help)

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/menu_effects.html (explains
some of the effects)

http://www.daniel.uklinux.net/tutorial/ (tutorial covering lots of
useful things, with screenshots)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> wrote:
: When it comes to sound manipulations like getting an even recording
: level and etc. My SB Audigy2 ZS platinum Pro tools fall pretty short.

Surprise surprise

: experience on older hifi equp. I'm used to being able to fully
: control input signal so that resulting music is recorded/copied etc at
: an even volume level.
: An example might be a recent attempt to capture some of my old blues
: music from tape (cassetts) to electronic format (mp3, mp4). I find
: I'm losing many decibels on the finished product compared to the tape.

What software are you using? First off, you can't control input level.
You can probably gain, but you can't decrease it. You should be able to record
whatever comes in. Plug your RCA of tape deck to line in of your soundcard
and record. The good tools are:
Soundforge and Goldwave. You can use either or both. Goldwave has trial version
for free.

Personally I'm not surprised that your SB glitches. If you want to record
music, try M-Audio Audiophile 2496. Very simple soundcard, but it's amongst
high end card. There's also Terratec available with the same chipset as
M-Audio so you may want to look into it.

--Leonid

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

A year ago, I'd have told you to download and buy a product called
Cool Edit. There was a really cheap version called "Cool Edit 2000"
that covered basic digital audio input/output/processing/conversion,
with various modules (noise reduction, etc.) that you could buy as
add-ons. The full-blown multitrack version was "Cool Edit Pro"
(or CEP, as it was affectionately known). The company was bought
by Adobe, CE2K disappeared, and CEP has become Adobe Audition,
and has become a tad more expensive. But it still might be the most
cost-effective general purpose professional-grade audio editing package
out there. It's what I've used for transferring my old analog 4-track masters
from TEAC to a laptop, doing noise reduction, mixing, mastering,
and generating MP3's. Easy to use. Works great. But it's not free.

"Harry Putnam" <reader@newsguy.com> wrote in message news:rgui7019lpn8eippp89fqhlsgajskll9b5@4ax.com...
> When it comes to sound manipulations like getting an even recording
> level and etc. My SB Audigy2 ZS platinum Pro tools fall pretty short.
>
> The video player/recorder has a scrubber to control input signal but
> seems to have almost non-existent effect.
>
> I'm pretty inexperienced with any modern equipment but have some sound
> experience on older hifi equp. I'm used to being able to fully
> control input signal so that resulting music is recorded/copied etc at
> an even volume level.
> An example might be a recent attempt to capture some of my old blues
> music from tape (cassetts) to electronic format (mp3, mp4). I find
> I'm losing many decibels on the finished product compared to the tape.
>
> What is out there that will allow me to correct that kind of stuff
> when working with sound files? Creating them from external tapes or
> even old records?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Keith Clark wrote:

> Deco_time wrote:
>
>
>>Deco_time wrote:
>>
>>>Audio studio 2004
>>
>>I meant Music studio 2004, of course.
>>
>>--
>>www.odysea.ca
>
>
> I'm surprised nobody has mentioned "Audacity".
>
> It's free, open source, multi-platform (OS-X, Linux, Windows) and can do
> some very cool and useful stuff. It downloads fast, installs in seconds
> (no, you don't have to compile it ;->).

Good call Keith,

I use Peak 4 for the Mac. However, I was thinking of buying SoundSoap
also. SoundSoap is a filter to clean hums or background noises from
tracks, but it looks like Audacity has this little filter built in..
worth a try.

Thanks!
-Richard

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Keith Clark wrote:
>
> I'm surprised nobody has mentioned "Audacity".
>
We were waiting for you, keith
Seriously, that's a very good link. Audacity seems to have a lot of
features, only lacking a compressor which can probably be added as a DX or
VST; You know of a freeware one as well?


--
www.odysea.ca

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Richard Ragon wrote:

> Keith Clark wrote:
>
>> Deco_time wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Deco_time wrote:
>>>
>>>> Audio studio 2004
>>>
>>>
>>> I meant Music studio 2004, of course.
>>>
>>> --
>>> www.odysea.ca
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm surprised nobody has mentioned "Audacity".
>>
>> It's free, open source, multi-platform (OS-X, Linux, Windows) and can do
>> some very cool and useful stuff. It downloads fast, installs in seconds
>> (no, you don't have to compile it ;->).
>
>
> Good call Keith,
>
> I use Peak 4 for the Mac. However, I was thinking of buying SoundSoap
> also. SoundSoap is a filter to clean hums or background noises from
> tracks, but it looks like Audacity has this little filter built in..
> worth a try.
>
> Thanks!
> -Richard

Scratch that.. I downloaded the OSX version, and it's extremely buggy!!
Reading the notes states that the OSX version is really buggy, and
they are looking for an OSX GUI programer for fixes.. Real bummer too,
because it looked good. Perhaps in a while from now it might be mature
abit to be usable.

Thanks
-Richard

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Richard Ragon wrote:

> Richard Ragon wrote:
>
> > Keith Clark wrote:
> >
> >> Deco_time wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>> Deco_time wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Audio studio 2004
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> I meant Music studio 2004, of course.
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> www.odysea.ca
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I'm surprised nobody has mentioned "Audacity".
> >>
> >> It's free, open source, multi-platform (OS-X, Linux, Windows) and can do
> >> some very cool and useful stuff. It downloads fast, installs in seconds
> >> (no, you don't have to compile it ;->).
> >
> >
> > Good call Keith,
> >
> > I use Peak 4 for the Mac. However, I was thinking of buying SoundSoap
> > also. SoundSoap is a filter to clean hums or background noises from
> > tracks, but it looks like Audacity has this little filter built in..
> > worth a try.
> >
> > Thanks!
> > -Richard
>
> Scratch that.. I downloaded the OSX version, and it's extremely buggy!!
> Reading the notes states that the OSX version is really buggy, and
> they are looking for an OSX GUI programer for fixes.. Real bummer too,
> because it looked good. Perhaps in a while from now it might be mature
> abit to be usable.
>
> Thanks
> -Richard

Bummer. I've had good luck with the Linux and Windows versions...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Agreed. It's the best audio tool out there for the money. I make my living
with it.

Randy

"Kevin D. Kissell" <deletethisspamtrapKevinK@paralogos.com> wrote in message
news:c5ccrn$5o3c$1@ID-123127.news.uni-berlin.de...
> A year ago, I'd have told you to download and buy a product called
> Cool Edit. There was a really cheap version called "Cool Edit 2000"
> that covered basic digital audio input/output/processing/conversion,
> with various modules (noise reduction, etc.) that you could buy as
> add-ons. The full-blown multitrack version was "Cool Edit Pro"
> (or CEP, as it was affectionately known). The company was bought
> by Adobe, CE2K disappeared, and CEP has become Adobe Audition,
> and has become a tad more expensive. But it still might be the most
> cost-effective general purpose professional-grade audio editing package
> out there. It's what I've used for transferring my old analog 4-track
masters
> from TEAC to a laptop, doing noise reduction, mixing, mastering,
> and generating MP3's. Easy to use. Works great. But it's not free.
>
> "Harry Putnam" <reader@newsguy.com> wrote in message
news:rgui7019lpn8eippp89fqhlsgajskll9b5@4ax.com...
> > When it comes to sound manipulations like getting an even recording
> > level and etc. My SB Audigy2 ZS platinum Pro tools fall pretty short.
> >
> > The video player/recorder has a scrubber to control input signal but
> > seems to have almost non-existent effect.
> >
> > I'm pretty inexperienced with any modern equipment but have some sound
> > experience on older hifi equp. I'm used to being able to fully
> > control input signal so that resulting music is recorded/copied etc at
> > an even volume level.
> > An example might be a recent attempt to capture some of my old blues
> > music from tape (cassetts) to electronic format (mp3, mp4). I find
> > I'm losing many decibels on the finished product compared to the tape.
> >
> > What is out there that will allow me to correct that kind of stuff
> > when working with sound files? Creating them from external tapes or
> > even old records?
>
>