Recording on CD-R

[m139139]

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[/b][/color] I am pleased with the recording quality of Audacity; however I would like to be able to "burn" recordings from Audacity onto a disc. I can't find any instructions in the tutorials for this type of operation. Would appreciate any ideas. I can be reached at m139139 at comcast dot net. Thank you.

[waxcylinder]

All you need to do is to place a label at each track break - use the Ctrl-B shortcut - and don't forget to place a label right at the beginning for the first track.

Then use Audacity's Export Multiple command (available from the File drop-down) to export a multiple set of WAVs.

To assist with the track numbering/ordering when creating the CD, I initially label the tracks as 01 <trackname1>, 02 <trackname2> etc. Then Export Multiple WAV files. This gives me a set of WAV files that can easily be ordered correctly for burning to a music CD.

When exporting WAVs for CD, do ensure that you have the Export set at 44.1kHz, 16-bit PCM, Stereo (this is the Red Book Standard for CDs). The way you do this is different in 1.2 and 1.3, I don't know which you are using - consult the Wiki (see below).

The Audacity Wiki, Documentation and Turorials have much useful information on how to do this - a recommended read - http://audacityteam.org/help/

BTW: do always ensure that you use CD-Rs (good quality preferrably) - and not CR-RWs.

WC

[m139139]

Dear Waxycylinder:

Thanks for your help.

I will try this after I print your instruction; I have to purchase some more CD-R's first. Also, I tried the mp3 download LAMElibmp3.dll (or whatever it is called) and it made a mess of my PC, plus the recording quality was quite dreadful after I converted this to the so-called mp3 file.

You seem to be very knowledgeable about Audacity; BTW, I use the 1.2.6. version. Can you suggest anything else. I often send other e-mail friends copies of my music, and mp3 is the way to go; they can't open a WAV file on their end.

Thanks again for your help. If you like, you can reply directly to me at m139139 at comcast dot net

Have a great 2008!

Mimi

[waxcylinder]

....... the recording quality was quite dreadful after I converted this to the so-called mp3 file.

Mimi,

have you checked the setting of the MP3 bitrate you are using for export? Low bitrates will give poor quality. For music 128 is normally regarded was the minimum in order to retain sufficient audio quality - 256 gives a quality that most folks and their equipment can't differentiate from CD. 64 is the minimum bitrate you should use for decent quality voice recording. 128 is the normal Audacity default.

In Audacity 1.2.x Edit/Preferences/File Formats - is where you can view/set this bitrate. In 1.3.x you can set the bitrate at export time with the Options button.

WC

[m139139]

Dear WC:

Thanks for your help on bitrate settings regarding mp3. I can convert other recordings to mp3, but do I still have to download that LAMELIBmp3.dll to use on Audacity. As I explained in a previous posting, this LAME, etc. affected my PC in a negative way, so I uninstalled and deleted it.

I had recorded my playing on my Allen organ which is electronic (no pipes) at the time.

Thanks again and have a pleasant weekend.

Mimi

[waxcylinder]

Mimi

I think that what you do then is use Audacity to Export your WAV files - and then find a another pice of software which will do the conversion from WAV to MP3 for you. A surf of t'interweb should yield something suitable (and probably free) - just try Googling "WAV to MP3", yields several pages of results.

Indeed IIRC iTunes (which is downloadable free) can do this conversion for you. One way would be to use the CD-Rs you have created and then use iTunes to rip them as MP3s at the required bitrate - in iTune go to Edit/Preferences/Advanced set the Import Using to "MP3" and for the setting use the "Custom" setting to select the bitrate you require.

WC

[m139139]

Dear WC:

Thanks for your help in with converting WAV's to MP3's. I do that on Roxio Entertainment Suite and was trying to drag my audacity recording to Roxio also, but I guess I'm going about the wrong way. I'll check out those pages, i.e. Google.com or Ask.com for free downloads, etc.

Take care.

Mimi

[m139139]

7:35 PM (Eastern Standard Time)

Yippee!!! I converted my audacity-recorded music to a WAV, then was able to convert it to an mp3. I had downloaded one of those devices from google, but it was most likely the conversion mechanism in the Roxio 9 Suite that helped it;

You were probably already asleep at the time I wrote and sent this post.

Thanks again.

Mimi

[waxcylinder]

Hi Mimi - yup, fast asleep zzzzzzzz.....

Glad you got it sorted.

WC