Audacity Forum

OK, I'm admitting up front I "use" things but am not technologically proficient, and there's too much terminology I don't understand.

I just got a USB Turntable that I hope I set up correctly. I have Windows XP. I want to record my 33/45 vinyl records so they can be used on my MP3 player (Sansa Fuze).

So, how do I get from A to Z?

I've recorded a couple songs to test the system. They seemed to record, and I split them up. I saved them as OGG -- is that what I should have done? I think my real choice is between that and MP3; not WAV, but I'm not sure. Also -- regardless of how I save them, my options (for example) are "export to OGG" and "export Selection to OGG"; is there a difference?

Is there a recommended file to temporarily put the songs in? Eventually I want to move them to Windows Media Player to get them on my MP3 player, but haven't figured out how to make that happen. I can't seem to move them there directly.

The biggest thing for me at the moment is that the booklet says after I stop a recording, I can hit Play and listen to the song. But, no can do. I hit play, and it's obvious it's scanning the "squiggly lines", but no sound, and I've spent the last couple hours trying to find the problem. I seem "so close", but I don't want to spend time recording till I know if I really have something recorded, and how it sounds.

Any/all help greatly appreciated. Sharon

For a start you will probably be better off upgrading to the latest Audacity 1.3.12 - don't be put off by the Beta labelling 1.3 is now a pretty mature and is now probably actually more stable than the officially "stable" 1.3.12. And it has lots of new functionality that will help you with LP transcriptions, particulary much improved labelling. You can get the latest 1.3 from here: http://audacityteam.org/download/

Reading this set of tutorials from the 1.3 manual will help you: http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... iscs_to_CD
And in particular this one: http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... turntables

With regards to lack of playback:
USB devices have a habit of hijacking the entire sound – output as well as input – and they don’t tend to have loudspeakers (hence “no sound”).
What you need to do is to direct the Windows sound output to your PC's soundcard Control Panel>Sounds and Audio Devices>Audio>Sound Playback - and make this setting to the PC soundcard.
You may also need to ensure that Audacity sends it output to the PC soundcard Edit>Preferences>Audio>Playback - and set this also to your PC soundcard. You may need to stop and restart Audacity for this setting to take effect.

WC

Thanks for the suggestions; I thought I read that the new beta version was for Windows 7/Vista and NOT for XP, which is why I didn't download it. Perhaps that'll help. And I'll check their manuals.

Regarding playback, I've already done the 2 things you've suggested -- several times, in fact -- with no luck. They're set as best I can determine on what was set up on the turntable. It should be right.

Any thoughts on if I should use WAV, OGG, or MP3 Play to export?

Is there an "easy file" I should export to, prior to moving it to Windows Media? I haven't figured out how to make that happen yet either, and I thought it would be a drag and drop function.

Sharon

Audacity 1.3.12 is the current release for everybody. The older Audacity 1.2 won't even run on some newer Macs.

The sound on a Music CD is a sister of WAV, not OGG. Set Audacity for 44100, 16-bit, Stereo and restart. The whole chain should be running at the same technical standard because that's what most turntables speak as well.

Export WAV and those files should drop right into almost any sound or CD authoring program.

Koz

Audacity isn't a WAV editor and won't Save a music file. You have to Export to get a sound file -- always.

There are ways to easily break up a long performance into Music CD "songs" and there are a number of tricks to this. If you're using a turntable, there are pages of tricks to get rid of clicks and pops, etc. Those tutorial pages have a lot of good information.

Koz

I did the export, so the 3 songs I "broke up" and saved exist. It's just that I can't hear them when I press "play" on Audacity. I'll have to try the new version and see if things are different.

Now I want to copy my vinyl record songs so they can be put on an iPod -- should I be using WAV for that? Thought that was for CDs. That's why I opted for OGG (and exported to save)

Sharon

You're using iTunes for your iPod interface, right? Set iTunes Preferences > CD Import Settings to AAC High Quality or Plus (the one I use).

After you push your WAV songs into iTunes, select one and Advanced > Create an AAC Version.

When it gets done, drag the AAC song over to your iPod.

You can hold shift and select, convert, and drag multiple songs at once.

That's far more straightforward and a higher quality than doing it any other way.

Koz

Sorry, I use iPod "generically" -- I have a Sansa Fuze, and in the past have used Windows Media Player to transfer the songs to my MP3 player. Would I be able to use iTunes?

The Sansa Fuze manual says that you can just drag and drop files into the Sansa player’s MUSIC folder (page 14 of the manual).
However, to be able to play the music, the files must be in a supported format. The only formats that the manual says are supported are MP3 and WMA.

If you install LAME for Audacity, you will be able to export MP3 files from Audacity which will play in your Sansa Fuze.
See here for LAME: http://audacityteam.org/help/faq?s=install&i=lame-mp3