Connecting the external device to PC |
There are several ways to connect analog audio devices such as cassette tape deck and record player to your PC: |
 |
 |
 |
Connecting with cassette tape deck to PC |
|
|
 |
|
|
You can connect the Line-Out port on the cassette tape deck directly to the Line-In port on the PC. |
 |
|
|
Connecting analog record player to PC |
|
|
 |
|
|
Due to the difference in electric characteristics between analog record players and personal computers, you cannot connect the output signals from analog player to the line-in port on your computer. As the solution of this problem, there is an equipment called phono equalizer. The phono equalizers are usually built in many of pre-main amplifiers and also available as a stand-alone product. Before you connect the analog record player to computer, you should check the features supported by the record player by refering to the documentation that comes with the record player. |
 |
 |
Adjusting the level of audio to be recorded |
For better recording result, you should set the input level appropriate for the audio you will record. The rule of thumb is to set the level as high as possible to the extent that the sound is not distorted (Setting the recording level too low results in noisy sound). |
|
|
1. Choose View - Mixer Control to display the Mixer Control. Set the record channels to Stereo or Mono, depending on the number of channels of the sound source you will record.
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
2. Click the Monitor checkbox to enable it so that you can monitor level of the sound source before you start recording.
Playback the sound source and make sure that the level meter responds to the sound.
Adjust the recording level until it sounds good to you, making sure that the level meter never reaches to the maximum level.
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
Normalizing the sound data to correct the level |
Normalizing is the effect to increase the volume level of the sound data without distorting it.
This is particulary useful when you want to optimize the volume level of the sound recorded from the analog audio source. |
 |
|
|
1. Select a range of waveform you want to normalize. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
2. Choose Effect - Normalize. The Normalize dialog box appears. Set the value to 100%. |
|
|
 |
|
|
Click the Preview button to preview the effect to selected waveform before you apply it.
When you finish previewing the effect, click OK to apply the effect to the current waveform selection using the settings specified in the dialog. |
 |
|
|
3. Resulting waveform will be corrected to the correct level. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
Uniforming overall volume with Compressor effect |
The Compressor gives an effect to reduce the high levels and increase the low levels of sound waveform by compressing any audio signals that exceed a certain volume level. Use this effect to uniform the overall sound volume. The Compressor is particularly useful when you want to produce dynamic sound or reduce the dynamic range of vocal or narrration.
|
 |
|
|
1. Select entire waveform to which you want to apply the Compressor.
You can quickly select entire sound data by choosing Edit - Select All in the menu. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
2. Choose Effect - Compressor. The Compressor dialog box appears. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
Threshold
-
Set the level of sound above which you want to make compressed. The greater negative values, the less the dynamic range of each audio signal will be.
In the example above, this option is set to -6.00 dB.
Ratio
-
Set how much the sound that exceeds the threshold should be compressed. With the ratio of 1:1, no sound will be compressed. With the ratio of 100:1, Most sound levels over the threshold will be compressed (Limiter effect).
In teh example above, this option is set to 4.0:1(25% compression).
Gain
-
The Compressor attenuates the volume of the waveforms. This option allows you to correct such problem.
Changes you make to the Gain value is reflected to the sample waveform at bottom in the dialog box. Use this as a guide to set the acceptable value which would not clip the waveform.
Click the Preview button to preview the effect to selected waveform before you apply it.
When you finish previewing the effect, click OK to apply the effect to the current waveform selection using the settings specified in the dialog. |
 |
|
|
3. The waveform with the Compressor applied will look like the one shown below. Notice that the amplitudes of resulting waveform are uniformed. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
Removing noise from sound with Noise Reduction |
Noise Reduction removes noise components from sound data by eliminating signals at frequency band where noise components exists.
This effectively removes noise from analog audio source.
|
 |
|
|
1. Select entire waveform to which you want to apply the Noise Reduction effect. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
2. Choose Effect - Noise Reduction. The Noise Reduction dialog box appears. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
Soft - Hard
- Use this slider to set how much the noise signals are removed.
Noise Gate
- This option makes the noise signals below the level specified in the Threshold.
Attack determines how long it takes the noise reduction to apply. Adjust this value to make natural transition of resulting sound.
Click the Preview button to preview the effect to selected waveform before you apply it.
When you finish previewing the effect, click OK to apply the effect to the current waveform selection using the settings specified in the dialog. |
 |
 |
Marking gaps between songs with the Detect Silence feature |
The Detect Silence menu command finds silent parts in the continous waveform and place cue points there.
If you have the sound recorded from an analog record or cassette tape, you can mark the gaps between songs to indicate them as split points by using this feature. |
 |
|
|
Detect Silence splits the waveform with silent parts into blocks of separate waveforms at each silent point. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
1. Choose Tool - Detect Silence. The Detect Silence dialog box appears.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
The sound level that Detect Silence will consider as silent part varies by which type of sound source the sound was recorded from.
If you are working with the sound recorded from analog input such as an analog record or cassette tape, set the Source Type to Analog 1, Analog 2, or Analog 3.
In the Duration of Silence, enter the length of silence between songs in milliseconds. |
 |
|
|
2. Click OK.
Cue points will be inserted in the silent points. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
3. Cue points marked by Detect Silence will be added to the Cue Point/Section/Loop List. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
Exporting blocks of waveforms with the Divide File feature |
The Divide File feature lets you export regions of waveform (s) marked off with cue points as separate WAV/MP3 files.
This is useful when you want to split a series of multiple songs consisting a single waveform individually as separate WAV/MP3 files.
|
 |
|
|
1. Open a sound file in which the waveform is marked off with cue points between songs by Detect Silence. |
 |
|
|
2. Choose Tool - Divide File. The Divide File dialog box appears.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Specify the name of the folder in which you want to store resulting files in the Save Divided Files in.
The Prefix used for divided file names option is set to "sound_(number) by default." Resulting files will have file names with the text specified here followed by the unique number.
File Type allows you to choose either WAV or MP3 file format to save the resulting files. |
 |
|
|
3. Click OK.
Files divided into individual songs will be saved in the location specified in the Save Divided Files in. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
Creating Audio CDs |
Use CD-R/RW writer software to create your original audio CD.
Since most of common CD-R/RW writer products support WAV file format, which is Windows standard audio format, you can write the WAV files generated by using Divide File feature in MySoundStudio directly onto the CD-R/RW without further converting them to the other file format.
|
 |
 |