Audacity

[Donna]

Well it's on my computer.

What do I do with it?

I'd like to try to re-mix an MP3. And also, I'd like to add a part (which is on mp3) to another existing MP3 and mix that (or them).

Thanks. Pretend you're talking to a 10 yr old and I should understand.

[nigel lawry]

hi

try this

a 10yr olds guide to audacity

[Donna]

hee hee. yer a pal.

(whoosh! clicking)

[nigel lawry]

hee hee. yer a pal.

(whoosh! clicking)

your welcome

[Donna]

Nigel, another question... so, if I re-mix something, is there any way to save the original? Because in one case I for sure want the original intact, not knowing if the experiment will turn out worse.

[nigel lawry]

Nigel, another question... so, if I re-mix something, is there any way to save the original? Because in one case I for sure want the original intact, not knowing if the experiment will turn out worse.

sure the easy way would be to make a copy of the origional and re-name it and use the copy, then if you hash it up you can repeat the process till it's done to your needs

[Donna]

Solid!

[Guest voclizr]

Boy, do you ask hard questions!

I haven't really played with this program but to use it as a "virtual pitch control". My experience with it, insofar as saving changes to the file is that it won't let me save the changes to the original MP3. I have to save it as a WAV file (which is 10 times larger, but contains the full frequency range). If I try to save as an MP3, it prompts me to download LAME (another piece of encoding software). A word of advise: If you're going to speed anything up, don't go any higher than about 3%. You can pitch it as high as you wish, but if you take it too extreme, the sound quality falls apart.

Now for the 10-year-old stuff: When you were a kid, did you ever enjoy playing a 33RPM record at 45 or 78 RPM? You can do this with this program. You can play a tune backwards (to see if there are secret messages LOL). I don't know if you can add tracks (not saying you can't. Just saying I've never looked for it). Just don't smoke those drumheads before you play with those special effects. You don't need anymore hallucinations.

Jonny B.

PS: Aren't drumheads kinda expensive to smoke like that?

[Donna]

puffffff

[Donna]

Hey JB, btw, I'm starting to get into this little keyboard. I believe it has all 88 keys. Anyway, did a section this eve, er last eve, trying to sort of cop Loo's parts. It was encouraging. THREE lines (+ bass and canned toms): organ, piano and strings. Heh heh, dunno when to quit, that's the hardest part.

I went direct and recored the synth stuff to 2 tracks, vox the other 2 tracks, eq'd, added chorus and panned way wide...then driving around in the car checking the mix. But Bowie's "Golden Years" came on the radio and got mightily distracted there for awhile

Which led me to want to ask John what the copyright situation is if one wanto insert a vs from Golden Years into a bridge somewhere...for real, not "sort of" copping it...

Anyway, I sure wish I'd 8 tracks. However, I really do believe if I keep working on mixing I can get things respectable. It's good to know that I will be able to get a workable groove on the keys if I will put the effort and time into it.

When all else fails, the best approach seems to be just feel the music and pretend I'm a (keyboard/guitar) player. More often than one'd expect, this can yield notes or parts which are better than the labored ones.

Tangent done. (Where's that "pack" of heads?)

[Guest voclizr]

Wow Donna;

It really seems like you're getting into alot of neat stuff!

Re;The copyright thing with the Bowie song: If all you're gonna do is play it for your family & friends I'd say you could probably get away with it, but if you're intending on publishing it (including posting it on Song Planet) then I'd say you'd best talk to Bowie's people about obtaining licensing. The copyright owner would probaly never allow it otherwise and could sue you, even if you don't intend to use it for profit. It's best to proceed with caution in these type of matters. Besides, You don't have to cop anything from Bowie. You're creative enough yourself!

Keyboards are cool, especially if you have alot of realistic sounds on them! Do you have touch sensitive keys?

They add to expression. Did you ever try "bouncing" tracks on your 246? You can get up to 10 sources in your song like that. A word of caution though: You have to be careful to pre-balance the gains, because once you've bounced it's permanent and can't be changed, so if you got say, a guitar part bounced with a piano part on the same track, if your guitar is too low you can't make it louder without turning up the piano too. Also, with analog tape you build up hiss quick so be careful with your high end on your EQ. Don't ask me how you do this because I couldn't tell you as I had a Fostex and you have a Tascam and they are completely different animals. It's best to consult your manual for that particular machine. (It's been so long that I can't even remember how to do this on MY machine). Having twice as many tracks IS nice. In fact, on the first 5 projects I've worked on with my 8 track I sometime find myself with a track I don't need. Some of the guys on this forum reviewed "Nuke" and suggested that I add more instrumentation, and I have the track space for it, but in my mind, the song isn't calling for more, and I'd rather under-produce than over-produce. I don't believe in the Phil Spector Wall-Of-Sound approach (although it did work nicely for the Ronettes records). I just give what I think a song asks for, and leave it at that. You're doing the right thing by doing a mix and taking it in the car to hear how it sounds. It's best to test the mix on as many different types of systems as you can. Do you get a better buzz on Remo heads?

John B.

[Donna]

Yah, Remo's is good. And I do have touch sensitivity. The sounds are OK, some of them quite workable, I think. You'd figure over 400'd be enough! But there's stuff I'm still searching for which I've not founs on that little machine. I'm keeping John's suggestion to you (demo review nuke) bout downloading sounds, filing it away in brain....

Thanks for the continued interest! Hari has a recording diary proper, and I have this little site here (sigh/flowers icon).

I suppose you're right about inserting others' stuff...who has time to try to do THAT? It'd take 10 years to finish the tracking his people down part.

I used to bounce on the 246 and am presently totally reluctant to do it, for the reasons/example you gave, but I'm sure I'll get over that eventually.

Hey thanks for your detailed responses - are you Scandanavian btw? Something seems midwestern about ya tho from Philly/Reading (they're big on coffe and conversation, lotsa sweedes and such up here, ha ha the only spice is salt and pepper).

Yeah, digging into music-land! The part I said about pretending like I'm a REAL guitarist/keys really works sometimes - said something to someone here once about they could get away with a certain line if they sing it with attitude. It's true, that can make all the difference if the basic chops are there.

But it's painstaking, learning this stuff not even section by section, but phrase by phrase at this point.

I can't wait to experiment with audacity!

Edited February 27, 2006 by Donna

[Guest voclizr]

Actually, my last name (Bowen) is Welch. My dad's people are not musical, though. The music comes from my mom's side. She's half italian (Talarico). My mom's dad was born in Italy and lived there until he was 5. His cousin was a guy named Joe Borelli, who taught me clarinet. Joe's dad was a shoemaker (a very lucrative job back in the early 20th century America) and Joe was fortunate to have been able to study music at Ithica College. Joe was gifted in talents for both clarinet & violin. He is also where I got most of my appreciation for classical music. Anyway, While at Ithica, he roomed with a guy named Les Brown, who went on to form the famous "Band Of Renown" jazz orchestra. Joe introduced me to Les once. Very thrilling! Les asked Joe, at one time, to join his band, but Joe was a family man and stuck to local teaching. Joe met and married a dancer named Bonnie who was a wonderful person. The kind who ALWAYS had something nice to say to you, and GENUINE! She passed away recently. Very sad. I also studied saxophone with a guy named Sam Correnti. Sam, in his earlier years, taught a guy named Gerry Mulligan how to play clarinet. Gerry later went on to taking up the baritone sax and became very famous as well. So, you see, I've been taught, and influenced by alot of good and musically talented people. Forgive me for going on a rant about this, but once I get started on my family and their musical influence, I can't stop. So, in a nutshell, I get it from my mom's side.

So, I read on your SP page that you are a saxist too. You might want to check out my instrumental "Absolutely" (see Song Review section for link). Two tenor parts and an alto playing as a section and a clarinet solo. Did it in 1991 on Fostex 4-track, not too much different from your Tascam 246. What are your musical roots?

John B.

[Donna]

Hey JB - cool backround (ethnic and musical). I'd remembered about Sam (GM's teacher) being your own. It was knowing of your classical/ and band (as in woodwind/brass sections) exposure that I found a familiar face, so to speak. There're probably more with this kind of backround here that I don't know about.

So...mine is similiar to yours, but only had one famous teacher (and he was famous locally, in Dixeland genre). Did not have extended lessons, 3 years drums, maybe one years string bass, couldn't hang w/ sax, my bottom lip area got aggravated. Good timing, the lessons and fundamentals training were before I was a teenager. Plus playing in orchestra/band.

From there it was just listening to my favorite kinds of music and trying to copy it. Sometimes going to books, too (for chord positions or 4-way independence articles here and there, for drums, long ago). Met a vast amt of musical figures along the way...the guy who made his own (calfskin) drums and was an avant garde composer/theory monster stands out, but there've been many to learn from or just take in, usually not more than a glance, but it all adds up.

[Guest voclizr]

Cool Donna;

It sounds like you keep your playing chops in shape for the drums pretty good on LTTB. I never played drums but I imagine that if you don't keep practicing you can get rusty fast. Woman drummers are kinda rare, so I really thinks it cool to see women play them. Karen Carpenter was pretty good on drums. I saw a bio on them awhile back and it showed her playing a jazz tune in their early years. Dynamite! Of course, Karen is one of my favorite lady singers. I love a nice rich alto, and in my opinion, Karen was a benchmark in that area. My three fav male singers are Levi Stubbs (4 Tops), Frank Sinatra, because he made it sound easy, and Nat King Cole, because his voice was soooo soothing. Back to lady drummers: A few years back I started listening to an all female jazz combo called "Straight Ahead". Their drummer is a lady named Gaylee McKinney. Her playing would blow alot of male drummers off the stage!

Anyway: I finished the remix on Nuke. I think you'll like it. I only made changes on the second half of the song, but I re-did the bridge, and made the flute parts in harmony. I'll be posting Nuke version 2.0 shortly. Oh, I almost forgot! SP played "A World Away" this past Saturday morning. I wish they'd tell me in advance so I could tune in, but they don't. Keep your eye on your stats page. If somebody downloaded your song, there's a good chance they'll play it.

JB

PS: Do any of your kids play or study music?

[Donna]

JB, very interesting about Miss Carpenter, etc; Sheila E is a MONSTER btw - and on trap kit, not just timbales..

I'll check the new mix of Nuke when I can...time time time is not on my side, no it isn't...unfortunately not even to be able respond much to your last post.

[Donna]

Audacity or PC experts,

At least I've downloaded thee complete manual!

Re: the first step of remixing, one must get the mp3 or file "to" audacity...the manual quotes:

"1. How do I mix two tracks together?

Audacity mixes automatically. All you have to do is import two tracks into the same project, which you can do using the "Import Audio" command in the Project menu, or simply by dragging the two audio files to Audacity"

How do I drag the mp3 file to audacity?

Still haven't figured out how to copy an mp3 file, either. I right click on it, click "copy" and then nothing discernable (to me anyway) happens.

Gracious thanks.

[Donna]

PS: I do NOT like it that audactiy mixes automatically, no no no!

But I'm sure I'll get over that and find another prgm when the time comes - it does appear if I've an intact "one" file w/ everything on that one I can manipulate IT, we'll see.

HH, you know the need for a site to explain all this is what I for sure could use!

[nigel lawry]

Audacity or PC experts,

At least I've downloaded thee complete manual!

Re: the first step of remixing, one must get the mp3 or file "to" audacity...the manual quotes:

"1. How do I mix two tracks together?

Audacity mixes automatically. All you have to do is import two tracks into the same project, which you can do using the "Import Audio" command in the Project menu, or simply by dragging the two audio files to Audacity"

How do I drag the mp3 file to audacity?

Still haven't figured out how to copy an mp3 file, either. I right click on it, click "copy" and then nothing discernable (to me anyway) happens.

Gracious thanks.

hi donna

tryEXPStudio Audio Editor Free 3.94a if your struggling ,

when it comes to making a copy of an mp3 have you tried to right click it in windows then scroll down to copy..(then re-name it)

peace

nige

[Donna]

Hey Nige, t/y (beer icon) I copied the mp3 file + imported the audio (mp3)

So fine, I could hear the mp3 mix on audacity window or whatever, could pan, gain, etc; When I hit the "Effect" menu all the options were written in "ghostpen" and unclickable (ie equilization)...do ya know does that mean I would need one of these "plug-ins" the manual apeaks of (tho I saw no specific plug-in for equalizing).

Then, to your 2nd point (EXP link), did you mean "try this and chuck audacity all together" or use as a clarification of it?