Select (extract) songs separately from live recording?

[bythecshore]

Hi All,

I have a 45 minute live recording of a musical (like a Broadway musical) that my son was in. The first act is all one long track. I'm trying to select each song, extract it, work on it a bit, then export as a MP3 or AIFF (for iTunes). I have everything figured out except the extraction part.

So far, I find the beginning of the song, and mark it with CMD-B, and then do the same for the end of the song. But I can't figure out how to select the song, i.e., the part between the beginning and ending markers. How do I do this? Or is there some other way to do this?

Thanks.

[kozikowski]

You could stop right there. File > Export Multiple and you will get two songs each song will start at a label.

You could drag-select the song. Labels are sticky or magnetic and your cursor will stick to them.

File > Export Selection.

mark it with CMD-B,

Label it. Audacity doesn't do Markers.

Koz

[bythecshore]

So CMD-B is a label not a marker?

[bythecshore]

File > Export Multiple and you will get two songs each song will start at a label.

So - I could go through the entire recording and put in beginning and end markers, and then File > Export Multiple? I would then get all the songs as files, plus all the interludes of dialog between them as files?

[waxcylinder]

Yup - see this tutorial from the manual: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/sp ... racks.html

WC

[bythecshore]

Thanks waxcylinder, this is just what I needed.

I have another question that I was going to post separately but I'm guessing you may know the answer or where I can find it.

In the same recording that I'm trying to split up, I was sitting in the audience while recording it. So the sound quality is slightly muddled, the bass is a little heavy, and the vocals need some boost. The basic recording is decent - I used an Edirol digital stereo recorder.

So - what's the best way to tweak the sound? Are there any presets that are already "there," for example one that corrects concert hall live recordings?

Thanks.

[steve]

In the same recording that I'm trying to split up, I was sitting in the audience while recording it. So the sound quality is slightly muddled, the bass is a little heavy, and the vocals need some boost. The basic recording is decent - I used an Edirol digital stereo recorder.

So - what's the best way to tweak the sound? Are there any presets that are already "there," for example one that corrects concert hall live recordings?

Use the Equalization effect http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/equalization.html
There are no standard settings for this type of task as the settings depend on how big the convert hall is, where the microphones are placed, what sort of microphones, whether the concert hall has carpet or wooden floors, whether the audience were standing or sitting, and a thousand other variables.

From your description you will probably need to pull down the bass (low) frequencies a bit and push up the middle frequencies. You will need to experiment for best results.

[kozikowski]

And also, if you play your cards right, even though you have the performance carefully sliced up into individual pieces, you can set your burning software for "0 seconds" between CD cuts and the disk will play straight through exactly like the original show with no holes, and you can still skip forward and back as you wish.

You need to know that Music CDs will only accept about 78 minutes of performance and it's not negotiable. Compression and tricks do not count. If the show goes to 80 minutes, the burner software will either fail or cut off the end of the show. And no, it doesn't matter what the sign on the box of CDs says.

Send the highest possible quality show to the burner.

Use the Equalization effect ...

... While you're listening on the highest possible quality sound system or good headphones. If you can hold your speakers in one hand, that's probably not going to do it. If you mix to laptop speakers, you may find that only your model laptop sounds right.

Koz