Let's talk about Audacity

Sorry bout that ... I always find the poke poke poke part of it the most fun ...

Now you can concentrate on playing with some of the more esoteric functions of the software - limited mostly by the imagination. Or not ... I've played around with a lot of that sort of stuff, but just because I could.

Bonus on the video ... I got to poke poke poke around a copy of Pinnacle Studio Pro that had been collecting dust for some time now.

I still plan to put together a followup with how I import all the music to jRiver. Stay tuned ...

PS ... I just reviewed the video here, and have managed to convince myself I had half a clue what I was talking about. <G>

 

Mega props sKiZ for taking the time and offering up your time honored expertise on Audacity. I've been an Audacity user and evangelist dating back to 2003. Like any powerful full-bodied piece of software...learning the UI and harnessing the muscle requires a significant time investment. If you're anything like me, I too have bruises to prove my hard-knocks Audacity degree.

Your tutorial here certainly cuts through the daunting fog of importing vinyl rips for virgins and casual user alike. Well done....Kudos!

Now then. Something indeed stomped on your vid/upload. Not being privy (at this point) to what app/format you used to "shoot" your screen, I'm at a loss to offer any definitive suggestions as to what happened either initially or during YouTube's trans-code. That said, (and future reference) here's what I know/experienced.

-The rez is topping out out at just 240p
-It played OK with my browsers (Chrome/Firefox/Safari) on my desktop rigs
-It was failing to play on my tablets and phone (both Android & iOS). It flipped me off with some sort of 'codec deficiency' error. Something about not being HTML 5 compliant. Nope...wuddn't me.--It only happened with your vid whether viewing embedded here or on YouTube proper. Weird.

Upon re-visiting this thread today however, it appears that this issue has been rectified...plays well on all platforms. So not sure if you re-crunched and re-uploaded or it just took a few days for YouTube to complete a universally compliant user agent trans-code. So skinny resolution aside, all is good.

Maybe peek at your vid capture output settings. Possible you could crank it up to least to 480...or better?

Again, nice job.

 

Thanx for the heads up ... we had some rain here, so I had the time to dig in and try some tweaks. Cleaned up and balanced the audio between the video cuts some (using Audacity of course) and got rid of the annoying hum in a lot of the clips. Also added a few video transitions and notes here and there. Most important, got the resolution up to decent levels that should help viewing it a bunch. My fault - I'm a relic of the 5 gig per month data limits here, and keep forgetting large files are pretty much the norm now. The original file was around 60mb to upload, this one is around 130mb and double the screen size. I figure nowadays, anyone still fighting cap limits knows what to avoid.



(I also went ahead and trashed the first version ... that was almost embarrassing on review) <G>

** Video capture was done using a Corel "freebee" packaged with the Pinnacle Ultimate Edition - you can see the "running" icon flashing in the task bar in the video. I may have to read the book on configuration options if I do any more captures with it - I just used the defaults. Then again, I used the original video clips in the new version as well, so maybe the defaults are just fine as is. Video save in the first version was MPEG-4, H264, 512x288, 4000 kbit/s at 29.97 frames. Best I can say is it looked decent here before YouTube did whatever YouTube Doo. The new version is saved using standard Mpeg-4 settings at "SD" quality.

Huh! Just downloaded the video from YouTube, and it's been cut to 32mb total, at 480x360, and listed as "low res". Don't remember seeing any settings on the upload page, so not a clue what they're doing. Maybe if I upload it in HD, it'll help, but those are really really big, and my upload speed here tops out at around 7mbps. I'd be old and gray by the time it finished ... well ... older and grayer ... ;-}

Oh. Interesting tidbit. I have the Studio loaded up on a different computer and didn't feel like installing the whole shebang again on my HTPC where my video library and tools are stored. Just copied the WindOHs directory to a thumbdrive, and transferred that. Shazam! It worked! What are the changes of THAT happening?

 

<< UPDATE >>

Another slow day, so as promised, the follow up video on importing the Audacity rips to jRiver Media Center. Pretty happy with this one ... already practicing my speech for the Emmy Awards ... <G>

 

thank you, ski

 

Since we're talking Audacity, ....does anyone know of a free or low cost way to mix just two mono wave files into one mono waveform using slider pots (or even dials, if I have to) ...in real time? Audacity lets you set the volume on each, ahead of 'Mix and Render' but I want to mix in real time. Of course there'd have to be very low latency.
Any ideas?

 

I just found this thread today and wanted to give a little advise. Find a Deadhead taper to help. What you want to do is a matrix of two channels. Deadheads combine audience and soundboard to make a truer sound of an actual concert. Soundboard recordings tend to be sterile and flat sounding. Audience recordings sometimes have too much background noise of whats going on around the microphones. A well blended matrix is the best of both worlds imho.Another source of help is torrent sites. Some of these guys record shows nightly and up the shows in record time. That is remarkable considering they cut the shows up and make torrent files in minutes instead of hours. Being a taper myself, I am amazed at how fast these shows get fixed. I still have shows from 2016 that aren't finished.

 

I hate Audacity. I will try True Vinyl and others.

 

Why? It is the only thing I have used so far and seemed to do a good job and was easy to figure out. If there is something easier or less cumbersome I'd like to hear about it..

 

I started with Audacity and then switched to Vinyl Studio by Alpinesoft. You can download a free trial and its only $29 to buy. The workflow is very well thought out and it makes it a joy to rip LP's to digital.

 

If you're just splitting tracks, try Nero wave editor. Free and easier than Audacity.

 

Biggest advantage to me when using Audacity is their "chain" feature. Granted, a lot of what needs doing can get a bit tedious if you're doing a lot of rips, but once you figure out exactly what you need, building a chain macro is easy. Then it's just a one click event to apply any post processing after you break the tracks.

(I've heard of an addon that does that for you too, but I wouldn't trust it, especially with classical stuff. Some things ya just gotta do yourself.)

Once you've built a chain macro, you can easily customize it on the fly. That was real handy with a recent project, ripping a bunch of 78rpm shellac, each of which needed a unique EQ curve applied. Rip a side, preview and adjust noise reduction if necessary, change the curve for that label, and off you go.

PS ... I'd try Vinyl Studio, but early on in ripping a collection is the time to experiment, and I'm way past that point.

 

I'm going to force myself to learn the macro feature next winter when there will once again be time for indoor projects. .

 

a 'chain macro' is....???

 

Just what it says ...

http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/chains_for_batch_processing_and_effects_automation.html

Short version - it allows you to automate the various effects you might want to apply during processing instead of selecting and running them one at a time. As mentioned, the hard part is figuring out what you want to do in the first place and just applying those effects you know will be needed with all the tracks and albums you plan to rip using that chain. Once the chain has run, review the recording and tweak as needed, but that's not really something you'd have to do that often if you've set the effects right in the first place.

That was a life saver during my 78 rpm rips, as those got a bit more complex. Here's a pic of the "chain" I built and used on those ...



If you look down the list, this chain:

- Adjusts the speed from 45rpm to 78rpm (don't have a 78 turntable in da house)
- Removes the standard RIAA equalization curve applied by the phono stage during ripping
- Applies the correct old school equalization curve common to that record label
- Removes major clicks and pops (always go conservative on this!)
- Applies minimal noise reduction based on a sample for that particular rip (that you have to do manually before applying the chain.)
- Applies the "clipfix" effect just to make sure there's no clips. Can't hurt, right?
- Applies a "faux stereo" effect to give me two tracks with just a bit of additional presence. This works really well to restore mono recordings that used the three mike mixing that was popular back in the day.
- Normalizes each track for playback, so I don't have to fiddle with the volume knob when shuffling.

All with one button click - much easier than finding each effect in the menus, running it, then moving on to the next ... for each track. Takes the work right out of it. You can see I've built custom chains for a few of my regular post processing procedures. Each step in the chain can be modified on the fly for recordings that don't quite match up to "normal" ... just remember to reset those to your original custom settings before the next rip is all.

 

Because I tried and failed to copy vinyl lps to a Mac. I tried to use Audacity and gave up with no success at all. So for a luddite like me, Audacity is not viable. I tried, failed and quit.

What is easy to some persons is not necessarily easy to all. The guys on the forums were patient to get me up and streaming.

The audiophile press lists Pure Vinyl from Channel D in recommended components and reviews. For example:

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/channel-d-pure-vinyl-software-and-seta-phonostage/

The Absolute Sound (TAS) and Stereophile and the forums including Computer Audiophile gave me a good overview of the options. Some of the articles on ‘how to’ were discouraging to see the professional struggle to get it.

Another writer said:

Paul McGowan—head of PS Audio—for a supplement to the manual on finding the right software to create a digital library of LPs, which is provided in the sidebar to this review. One of Paul’s recommendations is an independent product called Vinyl Studio ($29.95; alpinesoft.co.uk), which is a very affordable program that worked as well as anything I’ve encountered, and whose features keep improving as the software is refined. The end result was again excellent sound quality for every LP that I copied, but I did come away with mixed feelings about the idea of transferring a library of records to digital. This is not a process that is nearly as easy as streaming CDs or downloading digital recordings. You have to bring your computer to your turntable or vice versa; there are some minor computer set-up issues. Unless you use a Mac, you have to make sure your record is properly cleaned and your phono front end is optimally adjusted, and you have to monitor the actual playback of the record.

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/search/?&q=Converting Analog Vinyl To Digital Files

I continue to study for another try at needledrops with Pure Vinyl and a better phonostage. We are moving overseas so after collecting vinyl since 1967 I must say goodby to the LPs. I started buying cds when they came out in the ‘80s but they are easy to burn with the Bluesound Vault 2. If only there were an automatic method, non computer like that for vinyl. There may be at some price. Astel and Kern? Soloos? I don’t know.

Back in the 1980s, when I first tried to use a computer it was MS-DOS or Mac. I failed at MS DOS, but the Mac was easy, even without instructions.
Then came Window1, imho a poor imitation Mac so I never tried Windows again. I am sure it became just as easy for most but I just never looked back. The new Mac systems were difficult enough for me. I would not even have a functioning computer and network with basic streaming if not for the awesome folks at Apple Care who talk me down over the phone. I have called Apple 3 times in the last 2 weeks.

 

Anyone knows if Audacity can be used as a real-time DSP package? I know that ASIO support can be compiled in.

 

Audacity's built in effects don't support real time preview, which is what I figure you're looking for, but there's supposed to be quite a few DIY open source effects that do. Some are time limited, but get out your fishing hat and start digging, and hope you get lucky.

One killer real time DSP is jRiver's Media Center. If that can't do it, it can't be done. My favorite is the "convolution kernel" - that's being used here as an EQ processor that I've loaded up with a curve of actual room voicings taken with REW for perfect on the fly signal processing. Run a few frequency sweeps in REW, compile them along with an appropriate room curve, import the results to MC, and just sit back and enjoy. Real time volume leveling and expansion ain't bad neither ...

But hey ... that's another thread, so forget I mentioned it ... ;-}

 

Well, at the moment all I'm interested in is to be able to insert an quality oversampling filter in my ASIO chain, or I suppose it would be nice to try a couple to see which one I like better. My understanding is JRiver filters can only be used inside JRiver, which doesn't quite work for my needs as I wanted to use such a filter with say Spotify streaming.

Edit: hmm, looks like I might be able to do this with JRiver's WDM driver after all, interesting.
Edit2: there is also the ASIO input driver in JRiver, I think I'm sold