Audacity Again - sorry

[tom9437]

Hi does anyone know the meaning of all the effects in Audacity?? all i want really is to.Record the sax [done] add a little reverb??.Add backing[done it] but the backing is to quiet so how do i increase volume on backing??Hell i just want it to sound nice ish lol many thanks Tom

 

[Tommy Ng]

Hi does anyone know the meaning of all the effects in Audacity?? all i want really is to.Record the sax [done] add a little reverb??.Add backing[done it] but the backing is to quiet so how do i increase volume on backing??Hell i just want it to sound nice ish lol many thanks Tom

Hi tom

If i am not mistaken, you could adjust the volume level of your recording. If the backing track is too quiet, then reduce the volume level of your recording.

tom.

 

[c9off]

an answer to your question could be to increase the slider on the left pane of backing track, and or, "normalize" from the drop down menu (highlight track first) or use the amplify function but.. I have to ask having used this for ages; I've never needed to increase a backing track's volume - always the recorded sax?.....

Thereafter I run standard compression ('cause crazy does so), plus Gverb (reverb) with the settings previously posted as default are simply daft!

 

[tom9437]

c90ff.sorry iam not being rude. but i am crap with this so can you run that again in layman terms?? thank you Tom.

 

[c9off]

hi Tom, no problem.

Starting at the beginning, what backing track are you importing??

Once imported, click on the left had box, it will change colour, this 'selects' it for effects; then go to effects then normalize & click, selecting the default settings. Screen shot attached may assist...

Once you ok with this we'll move on...

If you have a bit of surfing time, have a look at Youtube searches of "audacity tutorial" - these explain things much better than I with more knowledge..

 

[Jules]

Youtube's got loads of good Audactiy tutorials (and a few not so great ones, but you can certainly get all the relevant info with a bit of searching). Ironically there are a few on how to use Audacity with appalingly recorded soundtracks!

 

[tom9437]

Hi thank you, let me tell you how i done the recording.

I recorded myself playing "my little suede shoes"

I then put the c.d. on my c.d. player turned my mic on and pressed record. so i have no imported.

I have tried loads of the you tube vids but as you know some are not good.And also just couldnt find the vid i wanted. But i am now going to try what you have said . thanks again. Tom

 

[DaveW]

Just a thought Tom. Can you play your backing CD in your PC? If so play around with the input source in Audacity and you should be able to record the CD directly without having to use your mic.

 

[Chris98]

Hi Tom,

Pointing your microphone at the speaker is the worst possible way to get the CD backing track into your computer, and will explain in part why the volume is so low - and the quality will have suffered as well.

Part 1.

So the first step is to import the CD track into your computer.

1. Open Audacity

2. At the bottom left hand corner change the project sample rate to 44100 (this will match that of the CD backing track)

3. Insert CD into the computer.

4. Go to 'File' - 'Import' - 'Audio'

5. Navigate to the CD and select the track you want. - Click 'Open'

6. The Backing track will import.

7. Go to 'File' - 'Save project' you will get a warning about file type, click on 'OK'

8. You will be asked where you want the project saved.

Continued in Part 2...

 

[c9off]

Hi thank you, let me tell you how i done the recording.


I then put the c.d. on my c.d. player turned my mic on and pressed record. so i have no imported.

OK now we are getting somewhere, I am going to make the assumption that the backing track won't/you have not tried importing into Audacity - here lies the problem...

What book are you playing from???

 

[Chris98]

Part 2.

9. Once you click save you will get the following message:

Click on 'Copy All Audio into Project (Safer) This will save the CD backing track onto your Hard Drive.

Let me know how you get on with this and then we can tackle the other things.

All the best,

Chris

p.s. sorry for having to split this post but I'm limited by the number of pictures I can put in one post.

 

[Chris98]

If you already have the backing track in iTunes:

If you already have the Backing track in iTunes:

1. Open Audacity

2. At the bottom left hand corner change the project sample rate to 44100 (this will match that of the CD backing track)

3. Go to 'File' - 'Import' - 'Audio'

5. Navigate to your iTunes Library on your hard drive and select the track you want. - Click 'Open'

6. The Backing track will import.

7. Go to 'File' - 'Save project' you will get a warning about file type, click on 'OK'

8. You will be asked where you want the project saved.

And it's done - because the backing track is already on your hard drive (in your iTunes Library) you are not asked if you want to copy onto your hard drive.

All the best,

Chris

 

[tom9437]

Hi yes i am playing from jazz play along vol 26.charlie parker. i just tryed importing i thought it was going well but then it says "this is a music c.d and audacity wont allow that type.Listen please dont waste any more of your time what your saying is spot on its just i am not good with these things but thank you so very much Tom.

 

[Chris98]

Hi Tom,

You may be experiencing problems which guarantees that others will as well and it might be worth while having a bit of a resource on this forum for others that will want to experiment with recording and experience similar problems to you.

It could be because you are using a windows machine, I'm on a mac, things work slightly different.

Which version of Audacity are you running?

Do you have iTunes? if not then download it from Apple, it's free. Install it and have a go importing the CD.

All the best,

Chris

 

[tom9437]

Hi Chris yes i have itunes i have stored my c.d.s on it.but when i try to import it says this is a music project and audacy only imports music files????????? lol lost. Oh i think it may not be like yours as i have to go into projects to get the option to import its not on my file drop down box. speak soon. is there any other way to record without all the complications lol

 

[Chris98]

Hi Tom,

To add to the confusion I usually record in Logic so I'm learning my way though Audacity as we are doing this! What also doesn't help is that I've obviously got a Beta version of the software (v1.3.7) and I'm running it on a mac - but that just adds to the fun!

Okay, I understand that the ability to import directly off the CD is either a mac thing or due to the Beta software. So lets try this:

Audio CD Extractor software: http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/?q=download

This should enable you to pull off the track that you want, I suggest that you save the audio files as a "wave" file this will maintain the quality. Save the file to your Hard Drive.

All the best,

Chris