saved .wav output levels

[squrl]

Can someone tell me how to set the output level so all saved files are about the same level.
I'm trying to convert my vinyl to wav files and some seem to have considerably different output levels

Thanks

[billw58]

This is a non-trivial question.

First, make sure you have removed any ticks and pops from the recordings. The presence of these loud but short transients will "fool" Audacity's amplification tools. I see you're on Linux, so you may be interested in Gnome Wave Cleaner http://gwc.sourceforge.net/ Otherwise you can use Effect > Click Removal.

Once you've removed the ticks, pops and other noises, you can select your recording track by track, or one LP side at a time, and do Effect > Amplify, accepting the default values. This will maximize the peak amplitude of the wave. This may not correspond to perceived loudness, as that is a more complex matter.

Here is a sample workflow for digitizing LPs: http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... gitization

Good luck with your project.

-- Bill

[squrl]

Thanks Billw I'm finding out none of this is trivial or simple. Maybe I should put them back in the box and save for another forty years. Most of my vinyl is from the forties and fifties. Back when I was a kid building my own preamps and amplifiers. None of this transistor stuff can measure up to a tube type amplifier when it comes to overtones and harmonics.

[billw58]

I've found that removing the ticks, pops and surface noise can be done without removing the "quality" of the vinyl recording, and that the result is more pleasurable to listen to. So my advice is: don't give up.

-- Bill

[waxcylinder]

The other tool that is good for removing clicks and pops is Brian Davies' ClickRepair - it costs $40 (but you do get a 21-day free-trial) - see this sticky thread: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1994

<<<Maybe I should put them back in the box and save for another forty years>>>
Nah, don't give up ... If you're smart enough to build your own amps then you're smart enough to conquer digital audio

You should find this set of tutorials from the 1.3/2.0 manual useful: http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... iscs_to_CD

WC

[squrl]

Another thing that has come up.... My grand daughter is into midi files and has several of her own making. She wants me to record and save them as mp3's. I've tried every combination I can think of but can't play the midi and record it at the same time. Am I missing something or will it take two machines to do this?

[steve]

My grand daughter is into midi files and has several of her own making.

What program does she use for creating MIDI files?
Which Linux distribution (and version) are you using?

[squrl]

I think she is using timidity.
Ubuntu 10.04 I play the midi file with timidity and try to catch the output with audacity. I can hear it but dont pick it up with audacity.

[bgravato]

I think she is using timidity.
Ubuntu 10.04 I play the midi file with timidity and try to catch the output with audacity. I can hear it but dont pick it up with audacity.

Audacity might not be the best tool to convert midi files to mp3...
MIDI files are a bit different from other audio formats...

Anyways, I've never used timidity (and I haven't played with midi's in a very long time) but according to its description timidity should be able to export to other formats including WAV and Ogg Vorbis. MP3 is not mentioned though, but if you can convert it to WAV then it's easy to convert to mp3. You can use audacity for that if you wish, but there are other tools such as soundconverter (if you prefer a graphical interface) or pacpl (one of my favourites, but it's for the command line... steve check it out! ).

It's possible to make audacity record what's playing on timidity but that sounds like too much work/trouble for something that can probably be done easier in some other way...

[steve]

I've not used Timidity for a while, but from what I remember, by default (on Ubuntu) it outputs directly to the sound system (it "plays" MIDI), but it is also able to output to a file (such as a WAV file). (Outputting to a file is the default for Timidity++ on Windows).

According to this page: http://www.digipedia.pl/man/doc/view/timidity.1/
outputting to a file is easy to do from the command line by specifying:
"-o" to specify output to a file (hyphen, lower case letter)
"-O" to specify the Output format (hyphen, upper case letter O)


for a full list of options, open a Terminal window (from "Applications > Accessories") and type

Code: Select all

timidity -h

-----------------------------------------------

OK, so I've had a go with it - the correct command to output to a WAV file:

Code: Select all

timidity input.mid -Ow -o output.wav

for example, if I have a MIDI file called "test.mid" in my "Music" folder and I want to output to "test.wav" to my Desktop:

The full address of the "Music" folder is "/home/username/Music
which can be abbreviated to "~/Music" (the first character is "tilda", otherwise known as "squiggle" ~)

The full address of the Desktop is /home/username/Desktop
which in similar fashion may be abbreviated to "~/Desktop"

so the command would be:

Code: Select all

timidity ~/Music/test.mid -Ow -o ~/Desktop/test.wav

(this is one of those things that is easier to do through the command line (in a Terminal Window) than trying to configure the Graphical Interface to do the job).