Hello. I have just started using Audacity for converting my old cassette tapes to MP3 files and then burning them to disc. It works great, but I have noticed a small anomaly. I have been recording the entire cassette and then using labels to divide the recording into tracks. Then I Export Multiple to my computer. Then I burn the CD.
If one song blends into another without a gap of silence wherein I can insert a label, the label perforce must be inserted in a place where there is music playing. On playback, there is a glitch in the music just where I inserted the label. Of course, this is not noticeable if I am able to insert the label in a natural gap of silence between songs.
This is not a huge problem, just a small thing. If anyone has a suggestion, I would like to hear it. Otherwise, great product! I am happy to be able to salvage my old cassette collection.
Are you burning MP3s files (“computer files”) onto a disc or are you making a regular audio CD? Of course an audio CD is made from “computer files” but the final CD doesn’t end-up with computer files.
You can burn MP3s (or WAVs) onto a disc and it will play on a computer (and on many DVD players) but it won’t play on most regular CD players.
If you are making an audio CD you should avoid MP3 because it’s lossy compression. Plus, MP3 compression does introduce a few milliseconds of silence at the beginning and end of each file.
If you are making an audio CD, make a 44.1kHz, 16-bit, stereo WAV files, which is the same underlying format as CD audio.
Yes, I am burning MP3 files onto a disc. I understand that the final CD does not end up with computer files. Contrary to your statement, I am perfectly able to play the resultant CDs on my Sony CD player, or my computer should I want to do that. I have not experimented with WAV files. I am using the default 44.1 kHz, 16-bit files (but producing MP3 files). I will try the WAV files, but I am a bit confused by your advocacy of them.
When I download digital music from Amazon, for example, I get MP3 files. I simply burn the music to a physical disc, and it seems to work fine on my Sony or my computer, so I thought, perhaps mistakenly, that MP3 files were the way to go with Audacity. Also, you mentioned that MP3 files naturally produce a bit of silence at the beginning and end of each file. I guess I am to understand that marking the tracks in a single Audacity recording of a cassette tape produces separate files with a slight gap between each one even though the original recording has none.
I wonder if marking tracks with labels and thereby chopping up a single recording into separate WAV files won’t create the same gaps between files. I will try it.
I understand that the final CD does not end up with computer files.
Of course it could contain computer files if you configure your burning software to make a “data disc”. i.e. You can have a disc with MP3 files, or text files, or image files, etc. Some people burn MP3s onto a disc because you can fit 5 or 10 times as much music, and some car stereos (and some DVD//Blu-Ray players) can play them.
I will try the WAV files, but I am a bit confused by your advocacy of them.
Well, for one thing with MP3 the added silence creates a gap! There are ways to get gapless playback (depending on your player software) but if you don’t really need MP3s you can just prevent the problem. And if you are making an audio CD the added silence won’t be removed and will be permanently burned onto the CD.
Also, MP3 is lossy compression. Data is thrown-away to make a smaller file. You don’t always hear any quality loss… A good quality (high bitrate) can often sound identical to the uncompressed original but if you’re making an audio CD it’s “good practice” avoid the lossy compression step.