Audacity Forum

Hi,

I'm new to this. I'm using a Numark TTUSB deck and Audacity 1.2.5.

I have recorded my first vinyl and in accordance with Numark's advice, 'Normalized' the recording. However, it only appears to be changing one channel/track. In fact, strangely, it appears to be lessening one track and increasing the other. (Although both appear pretty even to start with).

How should I be doing this ?

Thanks for any help/info.

Grant

Hi Grant,

I personally wouldn't bother with the Normalize - rather I would use the Audacity Amplify effect. I know that Numark/ION manuals recommend that you do Normalize but it really isn't a necessary step - and you only need to use the Amplify effect if your recordings are not loud enough.

The problem with the Audacity Normalize is that it works on each track independently and brings volume up or down for each channel separaetely depending on the peak volume in that channel. This can work to damage the stereo balance - particularly if one channel is deliberately quieter than t'other. Precisely the behaviour you have observed with your recording.

I would also recommend upgrading to a later version of Audacity - my guess is that you have installed 1.2.5 from a CD that Numark provided, right? 1.2.5 was supereded by 1.2.6 a while ago. Actaullay 1.2.6 itself is pretty ancient now and you may want to consider installing 1.3.8 beta version - i know is says "unstable version" and "for advanced users only" - but actually the beta is pretty mature now and the developers are looking at the next couple of beta releases as release candidates for the next major stable release 2.0. 1.3.8 is actually pretty stable so you may as well learn the new interface now and also benefit from the new added features in 1.3

You can download Audacity free from here: http://audacityteam.org/download/

Just make sure that is Audacity that you download and not one of the paid-for packages that advertise on the Audacity site. You can have 1.2 and 1.3 on your computer at the same time - just don't try to run them both at once. And while 1.2 projects will open in 1.3 it is not the case the other way around.

WC

Hi WC,

thanks for the extremely useful reply!

I was using 1.2.5 because that is what I had a tutorial for and the setup was easy because the screengrabs matched. I've now tried 1.3.8 and it seems fine.

I've also tried Amplify. Maybe there is something in one side of this first LP that is causing the levels to stay put, a spike or whatever, but I can't see it. Anyway, I'll stick with Amplify on your recommendation.

I have another couple of questions which I'm struggling with before I get down to working my way through all my old vinyl.

1/ Where is it best to put in the metadata?
2/How to deal with gaps between tracks?

Should I be doing these 2 things in Audacity?

Grant

Hi Grant,

GFSymon wrote: 1/ Where is it best to put in the metadata?

I dont't bother with metadata, apart from track/songnames until I either create a CD or import the files into my iTunes library

GFSymon wrote: 2/How to deal with gaps between tracks?

I'm not sure what you mean here? Sometimes I will truly "silence" the gaps between tracks (select the "silence" and use the CTRL+L shortcut). But the gaps are where to place labels so that you can use Audacity's Export Multiple featue to create multiple WAV/MP3 files rather than a single music file for the whole of the LP.

I have copied below a draft of my personal workflow which I prepared for another user recently.

WC

Workflow to take Audacity Projects to AAC in iTunes

1. Record and edit the project in Audacity
2. Export as a set of WAV files (to facilitate correct ordering later I Label the tracks 01 <track_name_1>, 02 <track_name_2>, etc.)
3. Import the WAV files into iTunes
4. Use iTunes to make AAC copies (at your chosen bitrate) in the library of the WAV files
5. Delete the WAV files from the library.
6. Edit the metadata tags of the tracks/album
7. And last but not least - backup my updated iTunes library
8. Delete the Audacity project file (.aup and folder) to release hard disk space


some more detail:

For step 1. I record and edit with Audacity set at 44.1kHz and 32-bit floating stereo (this gives me good headroom for any required editing) – I down-sample on export to 44.1Khz 16-bit PCM stereo (the Red Book standard for CDs)

For step 2. – I down-sample on export to 44.1Khz 16-bit PCM stereo (the Red Book standard for CDs). All the files for a particular album or show are placed in a specific named folder for that album/show.

For Step 3. in my iTunes application I have the Import Settings ( Edit > Preferences > General > Import Settings ) set to Import Using AAC and with my preferred bitrate set via Custom. I then add the folder created in step 2 above to the iTunes library with the File > Add Folder to Library. This loads the WAV files into the library.

For Step 4. One of the columns I always have showing in my iTunes library is Bitrate. Clicking on the Bitrate column header will re-order the display by bitrate (you need to have All Genres/Artists/Albums showing).
The WAV files should show up as a set at the top of the list (or bottom) - mine show at a bitrate of 1411 kbps. Alternatively you could activate the Kind column - whereby the imported files will show as WAV and similarly clicking on the Kind column header will produce a suitable ordering for you.. Select all the WAV files that you need to convert and then use Advanced > Create AAC version.

Actually to facilitate later location of the converted files I usually edit the common metadata tags for the set of WAVS whilst they are selected - most importantly the album/show name.

For Step 5. The WAV files should still be the only selected tunes at this stage, providing that you have done no further clicking - just take extreme care at this stage (the AACs are created but selection is not forced by iTunes) So then I just Delete the selected files using the Delete key - and send the files to my wastebasket (Note carefully that my iTunes is set to copy files in NOT to reference external files - so the WAVs that are deleted are copies of the original source WAVs that iTunes made in my library in step 3. This is set in Edit > Preferences > Advanced with the “Copy tunes into iTunes folder when adding to library” tickbox.)

For Step 6. In order to edit the metadata for Song Name etc - the album is easy to locate as I have already edited the Album tag in Step 4 above.

Step 7. This is a critical step – as I have no desire to lose the valuable fruits of my labours. I maintain two separate 1TB disks. On each disk I place a complete set of the WAV files I have created in their album/show named folders – with the album folders sorted by genre and placed in “Genre folders”. Each disk also contains two generations of backup of my iTunes libraries - (I actually don't do this library backup after every update - but I do try to do it at least every couple of weeks so I have a roll-back point)..

Step 8. After the backups are made I can then safely release space on my onboard hard drive by deleting the Audacity project files and the originally exported WAV files which remain there.

Yes it's a bit of work - but worth the effort IMHO

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Alternative Method

Actually there is an alternative method I sometimes use when transcribing a vinyl album. I usually make a CD of these from the set of WAV files, retaining the original ordering of course. I then load this CD into my PC - if I am lucky the Gracenote CDDB database will "recognize" the CD and supply all the necessary metadata for me (otherwise I edit the metadata tags and submit them to Gracenote). Then I can simply rip the CD into my iTunes library in the same way as I would do with a commercially produced CD.

WC