Topic: Needing a "how to" guide...

[philfernandez]

So I have been using the Roland R-05 following the death of my DAT deck.  I am using the 24/44.1 setting as my general goal is to make CDs for listening in the car, etc.  I have been using a mini>RCA cable connected to a Tascam CD burner.  I realize that this is not optimal, but it works.  My burner is dying and I would like to start using my computer to make the CDs.

I downloaded Audacity and TLH, but I have no idea how to use them.  I've tried to figure it out, but computers are not my strength.  I would love some help with this process.  I would also ultimately like to learn how to up my recordings to etree, but just being able to make CDs is my first goal.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

[sabre]

If you required destination is CD, the you should be recording in 16 bit / 44.1 Khz. That way you won't have to convert it.

Your Roland R-05 records onto flash cards, so in order to transfer them to your computer just connect the R-05 to your PC with the included USB cable. Then use Windows Explorer to browse the R-05 and copy and paste the .WAV files to your desktop. It should only take a few minutes to transfer across the files.

Once you have the WAV files on your PC, you can use Audacity to split the files into tracks and make any edits you desire. If you make any changes, make sure you save the file as 16 bit / 44.1 Khz.

Then use whatever burning program you have to burn an "Audio CD".

[philfernandez]

Thanks for the reply.  I'm all set with moving the files to the HD.  Will Audacity convert the 24/44s to 16/44?  What command/function do I use to split the file into tracks?  Thanks again!

[jamroom]

A useful piece of software is R8Brain. It is free and will convert 24bit files to 16bit easily.

http://www.voxengo.com/product/r8brain/

[sabre]

What command/function do I use to split the file into tracks?

Here are some instructions for Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=files&i=split

You might also want to check out CDWave : www.cdwave.com for a really user friendly way of splitting a concert.

[JasonSobel]

A useful piece of software is R8Brain. It is free and will convert 24bit files to 16bit easily.

http://www.voxengo.com/product/r8brain/

r8brain is a great converter, and it does dither 24 bit data down to 16 bit.  However, it's primary purpose is to resample files (from 48 kHz to 44.1 kHz, for example).  And with r8brain, it will not apply dither (or process the file at all) unless you are converting sample rate.  Therefore, it will not take a 24 bit / 44.1 kHz file, and apply dither to output a 16 bit / 44.1 kHz file.

[philfernandez]

I dl'd CDWave and split the tracks.  Thanks for the advice on that.  Should I convert/dither the 24/44 down to 16/44 prior to splitting?  I know I can do it with Audacity, but I'm not sure how to do it...

[greenone]

Yes, dither before splitting. If you split and then dither, you'll get files that aren't necessarily cut on sector boundaries.

[JasonSobel]

Yes, dither before splitting. If you split and then dither, you'll get files that aren't necessarily cut on sector boundaries.

that might be true if he was resampling, because you'll now have a different number of samples in each song, and each song might not be cut on sector boundaries.

however, if recording at 24 / 44.1, if he splits the files, and then dithers down to 16 bit (without resampling), there are still the same number of samples in each file, no resampling has occurred, and the files will still be split on CD sector boundaries (assuming that they were to begin with, and with CD Wave, that's a good assumption).

All that said, I would recommend dithering before splitting the files as well, simply from a work-flow standpoint.  it's simpler to dither first (along with any other edits/volume changes, etc), and then split the large file into individual songs last.

[morst]

Is it possible that this audio might be valuable in a world where CD's are considered old and low quality? If so, I suggest recording at 24 bit if at all possible, since I live in that world right now.

[philfernandez]

I intend to continue recording at 24 bit, but making CDs allows me to listen in the car, give to friends, etc.  With Audacity, do I simply import the 24 bit file then export at 16 bit?  That seems too easy, but I cannot find any other function...

Thanks!

[Shadow_7]

Definitely record in 24 bit.  It's like natural compression to me.  16 bit is just too limited with a high potential of failure IMO.

Audacity can convert from 24 bit to 16 bit.  When you export selection as, be sure to select the appropriate output format.

If you can, cut all of your tunes on even seconds.  Boundary issues solved.  Manually fade in and fade out for one second pre and post if need be.  Or whatever suits.  Depending on if you're making a TAO or DAO disc.  There's a project bar view that lets you type in actual timestamps down to the nearest sample.  And other quantizations.  Not entirely intuitive, but it is there.  I just manually do the math, and notate it in a .txt while I edit.  The sector view breaks it up into segments (1/75th of a second?) from 00:00:00.00000, which might not be where I want my editing to be orientated.  In short audacity can do all that for you.  Just don't be expecting it to be automatic, or intuitive.  But it can do it, and lots of other things.

[twatts (pants are so over-rated...)]

You should go ahead and record in the highest quality you can.  24/48 or higher.  It is just as easy to go to 16/44 from 24/96 as it is 24/44, at least in terms of Audacity.

My work flow:

1)  Record a show at 24/48.  I use a Tascam HD-P2 which uses a CF Card.  I take the card out of the recorder and use a card reader to transfer (copy file) the WAV file to my PC.
2)  I open the 24/48 master WAV file in Audacity and "Export" to 16/44.
3)  I open the 16/44 master file in CDWave and cut tracks.  I save a CUE sheet in case I want to make a change to the 16/44 master file, and I save the 16/44 tracks.
4)  I FLAC the 24/48 master file and the 16/44 master file.  I then make MD5s of everything.
5)  I FLAC the 16/44 tracks, add FFP, and text file.

I've been using r8brain lately since I haven't been working with anything except 16/48 files (DAT transfers).  Someone else will have to help you with all the settings for Audacity, though.  I haven't taped anything in a while so I'm still a 24bit noob...

Terry