New and clueless

[wheel]

Hi ,
New here, need help please.
I would like to record a CD of my son playing the piano for grandparents gifts.
I have a Dell laptop Inspiron 600m. It will only let me record 60 sec. intervals. How do I record to my computer or a CD then make copies? Your help is much appreciated. I would like to spend less than $100 to do this. Am I realisticly able to do this with limited dollars, computer and knowledge of this topic.

Your reply is much appreciated.

 

[Newbie dude]

60 second intervals? You're using Microsoft sound recorder, right? Well, assuming you are, I can help you. Let's just say the song your son is going to record is two and a half minutes. Record sixty seconds of anything on the computer. Then, once it stops recording........hit the recorder button again and it will start recording from the sixty second mark. When it gets to 120 seconds, it's gonna stop again. Press the recording button one more time until it gets to 180 seconds and stops. Then, take that little bar thing that moves when you're recording and bring it all the way to the beginning. Then you'll have 180 seconds to record the two and a half minute song. The new recording will take the place of whatever silence or anything you just recorded for 180 seconds.

 

[Newbie dude]

Oh yeah. To make copies, first save the song you've recorded to your comp. Then get something like Sonicstage, Itunes, or windows Media player. All three of those programs will allow you to burn your son's song to the CD. Then, just get a blank CD into the comp, select the program, and burn the CD. It should be pretty self explainatory. If not you can im or email me at Audioaddicted1@aol.com. [ Of course, you have to have a cd Burner on your comp. If you don't, but an external device to save the song to. They don't cost a whole bunch. Just got to a computer store and ask the people working there for something to save data too and transfer to other comps. Then, load the song into one of your comp's computers who has a cd burner on it.]

 

[wheel]

Thanks

Newbie dude,

Thanks, I will try. I was wondering if that would work.

Have you heard of Cakewalk software program? Is it going to be too detailed and intense for my simple needs? I would like to record around 9-10 songs he plays, one being; The Intertainer, it is rather long. Will all of this take too much memory space in my computer?

I appreciate your patience with a novice.

 

[Nalencer]

I've never used Cakewalk, but I believe I have a better recommendation if you aren't all that serious about recording. It offers a lot of editing and such, but is more user0friendly than Cakewalk. You can just pick it up and start editing. Plus, you can record with it, and it gives you unlimited time

http://audacity.sourceforge.net

 

[Newbie dude]

Lol. Don't worry. I'm no expert myself[ hence the name]
Yes, I have heard of Cakewalk software. I would say this. If your son if really interested in home recording becoming a hobby, buying Cakewalk software would be a nice investment.[ though there's TONS of other accesories he should buy if he wants to make good quality recodings]. However, if this is just a onetime , nice present for the grandparents type thing, i wouldn't go out and buy software.
Now, something you may be interested in is some Freeware that can be downloaded off the internet called Audacity. It allows you to record an unlimited amount of tracks[ if you don't know what tracks are, this basically means you could record drums for a song on a track, and then record guitar for a song on a track, both tracks being in the same project, and it would all be played together. Meaning one person could play every single instrument and make it sound like a hole band is playing on the song.], and also audacity has tons of effects you can use, like Reverb, Echo, Equalizer, and Bassboost. It's an amazing product for being free. Go tohttp://audacity.sourceforge.net/ for more info.
As for room on your computer, it really depends on what bit you record at. In audacity, you can select from three different rates to record at. 16 bit, 24 bit, and 32 bit. The higher the bit rate, the better the quality, but the more room the songs will take up on your comp. Usually, you want to record at atleast 24 bit for quality sake. I record at 32 bit most of the time, but you should record at whatever your comp can handle.
An, of course, Once you record the songs to to a cd or put them on a thumb drive[ that external device that you can record data to that I was talking about earlier.], you can always delete the songs off your computer to free up some space.

 

[wheel]

Hey you both are awesome.
Thanks for the information.
Tonight we recorded by using the extending record time on the installed programs on the Dell. We had great success except for a hum. I finally used battery power and disconneted the ac adapter which got it down to a quite hum. We could not discover the source.( checked all logical, heater/ac noise, vibration on mic, other outside noises) Could it be the fan in the computer or the mic is too sensitive which picks up noise from the computer as it enters ? It seems to match the hum of the fan as it cools the computer. As I said , very new and just learning. I was able to burn to CD and copy . I recorded it , saved it as a wav file in the music folder and then used sonic to burn to a CD-R. I was wondering if the type of Cd makes a difference on quality and the hum?
The grandparents will just enjoy having the opportunity to hear the grandson playing. I guess quality is not that big of a deal , but if he continues to play ( he's 14, 9th grade, lord knows what will become more important than baseball and basketball..oh yea, girls) as we hope he does for the next few years and the next son plays as well, I guess I may want to save a disk or two for when I am a grandmom.

Could the quality of the mic be an issue?

Thanks

 

[wheel]

Can I use this software to edit out ( ok, I might just get creative and try to learn how to do something computerish) the hum or if It is part of the recording is it in there forever unless I find the source? I assume that with editing It may be possible to get rid of the hum but technically doubtfull with my lack of experience/knowledge on this topic.
Thanks again, you may make an bunch of grandparents happy for the holidays and a mom not pull out her hair.

 

[fuzzyhair]

Can I use this software to edit out ( ok, I might just get creative and try to learn how to do something computerish) the hum or if It is part of the recording is it in there forever unless I find the source? I assume that with editing It may be possible to get rid of the hum but technically doubtfull with my lack of experience/knowledge on this topic.
Thanks again, you may make an bunch of grandparents happy for the holidays and a mom not pull out her hair.

the mic is proboably the source of the hum. either that or your soundcard. look on your sound thing on the bottom and see if that boost for the microphone is unchecked. it could be causing the hum.

 

[wheel]

The boost thing was unchecked. I checked it, what does this do ( in laymens or dumb mom terms) when I check it? I will have to check tomorrow on a new recording. Thanks for the information.

 

[XLR]

We had great success except for a hum... Could the quality of the mic be an issue?

What kind of mic is it? Are you getting a strong enough signal with the soudcard's level controls? (for instance...are the waveform peaks getting to around 0.5 or greater on Audacity's vertical ruler at the left of the waveform?)

I've noticed a tendency for a laptop's internal soundcard to be noisy unless the computer's running on its battery. Also, the cooling fan on my Dell is very noisy and if the laptop's in the same room as the mic's it'll be audible - not a hum though - more of a hiss.

You can determine the frequency range of the hum and process the recorded file with EQ to reduce the hum, but it'll also be detrimental to the sound of the piano. Best to deal with the source of the hum.

Tim

 

[jaykeMURD]

The "Boost" function for the microphone connection is used to basically make the signal louder. It usually makes a big difference in volume, yet will also make any hiss, pops, humming, etc. louder too! If you record with the boost on, you'll pick up more sound (breathing, walking ,etc. depeding on the mic) so you have to be carful. Somtimes boosting the microphone and backing the mic volume down can provide good results. If you boost the microphone AFTER something is recorded, it'll have no effect. The boost is only applied to the singal going in, not out! Good luck!

Oh, I was just wondering, are you recording electric piano or a regular piano? I think I missed that!

 

[Richard Monroe]

Wheel, let me suggest a radical solution. Go to a recording studio. For $25 to $50 per hour, they'll use thousands of dollars worth of gear and professional knowhow. That'll get you a lot more bang for your buck than trying to build a recording studio for $100 or less.-Richie

 

[wheel]

You guys are great!

Tim, Richard and JaykeMurd,
All great information.
Richard, like yours the best as it is the most simple solution, except DH ( darling (or damn) husband) would like to figure this out for future songs to record. SO why am I on the chat and not him??? Good question.Married 21 years..old dog new trick thing. But I am sure there must be recording rooms here in DFW. Just never thought of it..Duh.

I will check in to the mic thing, JaykeMurd. To answer your question, it is a traditional upright piano. Just recording his 9-10 songs that he has memorized for the competition. We did note tonight that the recording has made him significantly aware of mistakes and timing...( bonus ), he is actually concerned about perfection here! Now if that only transfered that concern to Algebra and Honors English.

Tim, Glad to know someone else noticed the dell noise thing. The mic is a generic that came with a phone answering machine in the old dell desk top ( I mean old...7 years?) I did not record with the audacity (spelling) as of yet, plan to download and re-record tomorrow after more studying of this process. Son would like to redo a couple of the songs that he felt were not good enough . I will check into these suggestions at that time and update you all then.

Thanks to you all and goodnight. Terrific site and tons of help.

 

[Richard Monroe]

Well, after the kid has been terrorized by the reality of recording into really polishing up those songs, maybe that'll be the right time to visit a real studio. Best of luck. You may also find someone on this board in your area who would be willing to help you out on the fairly cheap. Of course, they will have to have a piano. Many studios do. Best of luck.-Richie

 

[XLR]

The mic is a generic that came with a phone answering machine in the old dell desk top

The mic is probably pretty noisy (better mic's don't add noticeable noise to the signal), so it'd be smart to get a very strong level coming from the piano that masks the mic's self-noise. Since the mic cable needs to be very short for an unbalanced mic of that type, the computer's going to be pretty close to it. You might need to rig a sound barrier between mic and computer... even something like an inverted box covered with blankets put over the computer. Shouldn't cause any heat buildup problem w/ a laptop for a few minutes at a time.

Anyway, good luck with it. Your husband sounds though like he's doomed to become an audio gear addict like the rest of us poor souls on the board here. The only gear he really needs is just a good mic or two... and cables... and stands with shockmounts… and a good mic preamp... and a firewire computer interface... and.... and… heh-heh.

Tim