the book of audacity - no starch press · authoring in audacity, 104–111 one track per song...

I N D E X

Numbers.3gp files, 2033-to-1 rule, for microphone placement, 455.1 surround, creating, 126–12816/44.1, 27, 9816-bit depth, exporting recording to, 12924/96, 2724/192, for DVD-Audio, 12124-bit depth, 32532-bit float, 14, 28, 57, 12364 Studio, 227, 260

AAAC (Advanced Audio Coding) files, 145,

146, 152, 192, 203–204, 293ABBA, “Dancing Queen,” 201AC3 files, channel mapping for, 192active processes, top command for viewing,

287–288ADC/DAC (analog-to-digital/digital-to-

analog converter), 26, 32, 68, 321, 323

Adobe Flash Player music player, 263Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) files, 145,

146, 152, 192, 203–204, 293Advanced Linux Sound Architecture

(ALSA). See ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture)

Advanced Systems Format (ASF) con-tainer, 204

AEA R84 ribbon mic, 41AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format)

files, 120, 192alcohol, risk as cleaner for records, 55Alerter, 297aligning tracks, 175–180all-pass filter, 230

ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architec-ture), 263, 264–268, 289

applications, 274–275format for naming devices, 270

alsamixer (Linux), 4, 264master vs. PCM, 267multiple sound cards and, 267recording and playback settings,

266–267volume level adjustments, 268

alsa-utils, for hardware testing, 269–275Amarok, 6, 117

metadata display in, 115Amazon.com, 161ambience, 324ambient sounds, 252, 324ambisonic microphone, 43AMD, vs. Intel, 47amplifiers, 70

tube vs. solid-state, 44, 344–245Amplify effect, 22, 61, 89, 91, 94, 107, 112,

114, 138, 139, 190, 221, 235, 241amplitude, 19, 323

adjusting, 190fine-tuning levels, 21maximum, 6

amps, 34amradio curve, 248–249analog hole, 117, 324analog media, converting to digital, 53analog Real time synthesizer (aRts), 263analog superiority, myths about, 335analog-to-digital/digital-to-analog con-

verter (ADC/DAC), 26, 32, 68, 321, 323

Analyze menu, 252–255angle handle, for point label, 173antistatic brush, 54antivirus software, 51

The Book of Audacity© 2011 by Carla Schroder

INDEX 345

aplay command, 269–271, 274–275Apogee DA16X, 321appending to existing track, 5Apple, 120, 152archiving studio masters, 125Arch Linux, 259Ardour, 166arecord command, 273–274aRts (KDE), 289ART USB Phono Plus V2, 69ASF (Advanced Systems Format) con-

tainer, 204ASIO (Audio Streaming Input/Output)

driver, 294Asunder, 130asynchronous mode, 39attack, 62, 92, 95, 235, 244, 245–247Audacity

customizing, 303–316default options, 303

high-quality recordings from, 122–130quick-start, 2–7support for multiple tracks, 38system requirements, 48window on Windows PC, 2

audience noise, recording, 80audio CDs, 102–103audio components, 32–36

configuration in Windows, 301–302example studio, 33–35special effects, 46

audio filesadding, 12vs. data project, 99formats, 25–26

lossy formats, 145–146resampling, 114secret of recording, 50–52storage requirements, 8

Audio Grabber, 117Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF)

files, 120, 192audio sample, 27Audio Streaming Input/Output (ASIO)

driver, 294audio tape, 72Audio-Technica headphones, 46Audio-Technica stereo condenser mic,

40, 41Audio-Technica AT-PL120, 70–71Audiograbber, 130audiophiles, myth about, 336AudioScience ASI564I sound card, 318

.au files, 7, 12–15

.aup files, 7, 12, 125Auto Duck effect, 148–150, 222–223Automatic Updates, 297, 300autosave interval, 8Average bitrate setting, for MP3, 143

BBach, Johann Sebastian, “Toccata and

Fugue in D Minor,” 75background music track

adding, 148–150dynamic range compression, 240

backups, 13, 47balanced cables, 44bandwidth, for self-hosting, 160Beats per Minute (BPM), 239Behringer ADA8000, 321Behringer dynamic mic, 37, 40Behringer mixers, 33, 34–35, 37, 38,

85, 319Behringer UCA222, 319Bell, Alexander Graham, 326B&H Photo Video, 317bidirectional polar pattern, 42, 43.bin files, 103, 110–111bit depth, 14, 19, 26–27, 28–29, 84,

324–325default for recording, 28for DVD-Audio, 121and file size, 29for high-quality recording, 123–125

BitPim, 206bitrate, 28–29, 143, 199black-and-white broadcast frame rate, 186blank label tracks, inserting, 176blue noise, 213Bluetooth, 205–206Blumlein pair, 42boom stands, 45BPM (Beats per Minute), 239Brasero, 103, 104, 108–110, 130breaks, creating

in songs, 96–97, 112–114in track, 179–180

brown noise, 211–212bulk CD duplication, 158business of recording artist, 155–156

copyrights and legal issues, 162–163online music distribution, 158–159online presence development, 156–158self-hosting, 160–161

busses, for mixer, 82


346 INDEX

Ccables

for microphones, 44–45myths about, 335

Campcaster, 160Cannon Electric, 36cannon plug, 36Capel, Chris, 245CAPS (C* Audio Plugin Suite), 180, 229

C* Click Metronome plug-in, 181Captchas, 157Cardbus, 32cardioid polar pattern, 42cassette recorders, 72cassette tapes, 72cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, radia-

tion and noise from, 51C* Audio Plugin Suite (CAPS), 180, 229

C* Click Metronome plug-in, 181CD Baby, 158–159CDDA (Compact Disk Digital Audio)

frame rate, 187CDDA frames, 104, 107, 187CD frames, timing for, 90CD players, 76

problems reading discs, 102CD-quality audio, 27, 325

vs. DVD-Audio, 120storage requirements, 47

CD-R, vs. CD-RW, 77, 99CD-ready files, exporting single track to, 64cdrecord, 77CD ripper, 117, 130CD-RW, vs. CD-R, 77, 99CDRWin, 104, 108CDs

copying vinyl LPs to, 34, 53–77basic steps in process, 56–57fixing defects, 58–62recording, 58settings, 57

custom-mix, 75dynamic range for, 241mass duplication, 99, 158purchasing blank, 66ripping, 117–118technical advantages, 74vs. vinyl LPs or tape, 71–77writing songs, 99

CD settings, 90CD text, 98CD writers, 103–104

cell phones. See also ringtonestransferring files to, 204–206

Change Pitch effect, 12, 224, 239Change Speed effect, 12, 177, 240Change Tempo effect, 12, 139, 177, 185,

217, 239channel coupling, in Ogg Vorbis, 116channels, 167, 325

assigning tracks to, 188mapping, 25, 191–193

Chris’s dynamic compressor, 245–247Cirago USB Bluetooth interface, 206circle handle, 173Cirlinca, 129classical music, compressing, 245cleaning up recording for voicecast,

136–139CleanSpeech mode, 309–310Click Removal effect, 60clicks, 44, 187

removing, 9, 60–61, 236–237click track, 180Click Track effect, 182, 215–216clipboard, 10ClipBook, 297clipped segments, finding, 124clipping, 5, 190–191, 325

finding and repairing, 61fixing, 91–92viewing, 58

clips, 168, 178–179CMS (content management system), 160CMT (Computer Music Toolkit), 229collapsing track, 19combining tracks, and volume

increase, 114commercial CDs, longevity, 77Commodore-Amiga, 120Compact Disk Digital Audio (CDDA)

frame rate, 187Compact Flash card, 87compilation CD, 101–118

authoring in Audacity, 104–111one track per song project, 104–106single Audacity track and CD-

mastering program, 108–110single Audacity track compilation

project, 104, 106–108fixes and cleanups, 111–114

compression. See dynamic range compression

Compressor effect, 94, 243computer media players, 116–117


INDEX 347

Computer Music Toolkit (CMT), 229computers, 47

connecting legacy devices to, 67–71connecting tape deck to, 71connecting turntable to, 69–71dedicated to recording, 51operating systems, 47–48

computer tape for audio, 72condenser mics, 40–41

cables for, 44–45connecting legacy devices to computers,

67–71connectors, 33, 36

gold-plated, 335for legacy components, 67

constant bitrate, for MP3, 116, 143, 152content management systems (CMS), 160control nodes, 59Control Panel (Windows), Sound

module, 4Control toolbar, 8converting

analog media to digital, 53MP3 files to Red Book standard, 103

Copy button (Edit toolbar), 8, 10copying

vintage 78s, 66–67vinyl LPs to CDs, 34, 53–77

basic steps in process, 56–57fixing defects, 58–62preparation, 54–56recording, 58settings, 57

copy protection, 118, 324copyrights, 162–163Cowboy Junkies, Trinity Session, 43CPU, 47

for high-resolution recording, 122crash recovery mechanism, 8Creative Commons license, 158, 163credit card payments, processing

online, 161Credit Card Swiper Program, 158–159crossed figure eight, 42cross-fades, 113–114, 208, 325CRT (cathode ray tube) monitor, radia-

tion and noise from, 51.cue file, 103cue sheets, 110–111customer service, 161custom-mix CDs, 75, 101–118Cut button (Edit toolbar), 8, 10Cut Preview, 305

Ddamping, 180

for reverberation, 219DAO (disc-at-once) support, 103data CDs, 102, 114

vs. audio CDs, 99DAW (digital audio workstation), 325dBFS (decibels relative to full scale), 326DC offset, 22, 63, 236decay, 62, 92, 95, 230, 235, 244, 246Decay value (Risset Drum effect), 217decibels, 19, 326decibel scale, in Track panel, 140decibels relative to full scale (dBFS), 326default bit depth, 28default noise reduction level, 62defects in recording, fixing, 58–62delay, 230DELETE key, 21, 58deleting tracks, 19depth, for phaser, 226deselecting, all tracks with Ctrl-A, 16device drivers, audio for Windows,

293–294Devices dialog, 304–305Device toolbar, 2, 12, 183dial-up Internet users, 153Digigram sound cards, 81, 318, 319digital audio, quality of copies, 74digital audio decibel scale, 6digital audio myths, 333–336digital audio workstation (DAW), 325digital rights management (DRM), 119,

161, 326digital-to-analog conversion, 26, 32, 68,

321, 323Directories dialog, 315Direct Stream Digital (DSD), 131disc-at-once (DAO) support, 103discovery mode, for Bluetooth, 205discrete playback channels, 326discrete tracks, 165Discwasher brushes, 54discWelder for Windows, 120, 129diskDVD Identifier, 77disk ID, reading, 77distortion, 5, 6distributing recordings. See online music

distributiondithering, 129, 307.dll file extension, 230domain name, registering, 156Dotster, 156


348 INDEX

downmixing, 326multichannel recording, 89multitrack recordings, 88–89

downsampling, 114, 326Draw button (Tools toolbar), 8, 9, 237DRM (digital rights management), 119,

161, 326drop frame rate, 186dropouts, from CPU overload, 124drums, compression for, 93drum synthesizer, Hydrogen, 278–280drum track, 217Drupal, 160dry signal, 232Dry signal level (Gverb plug-in), 219DSD (Direct Stream Digital), 131DTMF tones effect, 210DTS files, channel mapping for, 192dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF), 210dust cover, for turntables, 76DVD-Audio format, 54, 120

authoring software, 129–130channel mapping for, 192overview, 121–122

DVD-AUDIO Solo Plus, 120, 129DVD Audio Tools for Linux, 120, 129DVD Media Inspector for Mac, 77DVDFab, 118DVDFab Platinum, 130DVDInfo for Windows, 77dvd::rip, 118, 130dvd+rw-mediainfo for Linux, 77DVDs

ripping, 118super high-fidelity audio, 119–131

dynamic compression, 246dynamic expansion, 246dynamic mics, 41

cables for, 44–45dynamic range, 27–28, 123dynamic range compression, 54, 93–95,

240–247Chris’s dynamic compressor, 245–247customizing, 62–63recommendations, 241–243for ringtones, 200settings, 243–244

dyne:bolic, 227, 260–261

EEAC algorithm, 20Early reflection level, for reverber-

ation, 220Echo effect, 213

Echo AudioFire 2, 320Edirol FA-101, 166, 320Edit menu

Cut, 174Join, 175Preferences. See Preferences dialogRedo, 170Silence, 92Silence Audio, 21Split, 175Split Cut, 92, 178Split Delete, 138, 178Split New, 178Trim, 21, 196Undo, 139, 170

Edit toolbar, 8Effect menu

Amplify, 22, 61, 89, 91, 94, 107, 112, 114, 138, 139, 190, 221, 235, 241

Auto Duck, 148–150, 222–223Change Pitch, 12, 224, 239Change Speed, 12, 177, 240Change Tempo, 12, 139, 177, 185,

217, 239Click Removal, 60Compressor, 94, 243Echo, 213Equalization. See Equalization effectFade In/Out. See Fade In/Out effectsLeveller, 200, 201, 247Noise Removal, 61, 62, 92, 234Normalize, 6, 22, 63, 89, 97, 114, 141,

201, 235–236Phaser, 224–225Repair, 61, 139, 237Repeat, 187Repeat Last Effect, 218, 234Reverberation, 218–221Reverse, 226Sliding Time Scale/Pitch Shift, 226Truncate Silence, 238WahWah, 227

effects. See Effect menu; Generate menuEffects dialog, 316electrical inteference, and internal sound

cards, 38electric lines, interference from, 45Electronic Arts, 120EMU 1616M PCI, 37eMusic, 159Enhanced Windows Driver Model

(EWDM) drivers, 294Enlightened Sound Daemon (ESD),

263, 289


INDEX 349

Envelope button (Tools toolbar), 8, 9, 21, 59, 92, 94, 96, 112–113, 140, 148

Equalization effect, 62, 70, 248–251Draw curves view, 198for ringtone, 196

Error Reporting Service, 298ESD (Enlightened Sound Daemon),

263, 289EWDM (Enhanced Windows Driver

Model) drivers, 294Exact Audio Copy, 117expanding track, 19Export dialog, 6–7, 14–15, 125, 142, 145,

152–155, 199, 203, 204exporting recording

to 16-bit, 129to CD-Ready files

multiple tracks, 64–65single long track, 64

to MP3, quality settings, 142–144to MP3 or Ogg, 141–146to Ogg Vorbis, quality settings, 142to playable audio file, 6podcasts, 146to WAV file, 98

Export Multiple, 15, 64–65, 89, 98, 125, 168, 255

ExpressCard sound card, 32

FFacebook, 157Fade In/Out effects, 21, 59, 97, 112, 140,

208, 325Truncate Silence effect and, 238

fades, creating, 9, 96–97, 112–114, 140, 208. See also Auto Duck effect; cross-fades; Fade In/Out effects

fair use, 118, 162feedback, for phaser, 226ffado device driver, 280–281FFADO drivers for FireWire recording

interfaces, 258FFmpeg encoder, 152, 203, 293FFmpeg library, 145field recording, 48file converter application, 203file formats

for online music distribution, 151–155and quality settings, 115–116

File menuEdit Chains, 310Export, 6–7, 14–15, 125, 142, 145,

152–155, 199, 203, 204

Export Labels, 172Export Multiple, 15, 64–65, 89, 98, 125,

168, 255Export Selection, 188Import, 12, 15

Audio, 105, 107, 148, 170–171, 196Open, 12, 87Open Metadata Editor, 24, 64, 97, 106Save, 12Save As, 12Save Project, 83Save Project As, 4, 13, 58, 87

filesbit depth and size, 29sharing across projects, 13

file transfer, to mobile phones, 204–206firewalls, and performance, 295FireWire

future of, 39vs. USB devices, 39–40

FireWire audio interface, 32, 38FireWire recording interfaces, 170, 320

connecting with JACK, 280–282Fit in Window for view, 21Fit Project button (Edit toolbar), 8, 11Fit Selection button (Edit toolbar), 8, 11FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), 26,

102, 115–116, 120, 154for archiving studio masters, 125channel mapping for, 192importing, 170

flanger, 224flexible cables, 45floating decimal point, 28, 123floppy tape drives, 77Fluxbox, 287Focusrite Saffire Pro 26, 45, 170, 320

ffado-mixer for, 281Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, 38formatting SD card, 205frame rate for CD audio, 57, 104frames, 185–187Frampton, Peter, “Do You Feel Like We

Do,” 227Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, 203Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC). See

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)Free Software Foundation, 261Freesound Project, 93Freeverb, 221frequency, 327Frequency smoothing, 62, 235full-speed, 39fundamental frequency, 231, 327


350 INDEX

GGain slider, 19, 24, 188, 190gapless burning, 103Generate menu, 209–218

Chirp, 211Click Track, 182, 215–216DTMF tones, 210Noise, 211–213Silence, 59, 97, 112, 138, 148, 179–180,

212–213Tone, 124, 209, 213–215

genre, choosing distributors by, 159Get Noise Profile button, 62gigahertz (GHz), 327GNOME, 287Gnome CD Master, 103, 104, 108GoDaddy, 156golden ear, myth of, 333–334gold-plated connectors, 335Google Checkout, 161gooseneck stand, 45graphical environment for Linux, 287Graphic EQ view, 197, 250graphics processing unit, 287Grip, 117, 130Grooveshark, 115ground wires, for turntables, 69Guinness World Records, for lowest note

by human voice, 327Gverb plug-in, 218–221

Hhalf-omnidirectional polar pattern, 43HandBrake, 118, 130handles

for dragging toolbars, 8for labels, 96

hard drives, CD-quality audio require-ments, 47

hardware, 317–321basics, 1FireWire recording interfaces, 320sound cards, 318–319USB recording interfaces, 319–320

harmonic frequencies, 74, 125, 231, 327headphones, 46–47

for monitoring live recording, 87hearing ranges, 51hemispherical polar pattern, 43Hempton, Gordon, 51Hendrix, Jimi, Electric Ladyland, 75hertz, 327hh:mm:ss + CDDA frames, 104, 107

high-fidelity audio DVDs, 119–131high frequencies, 125high-pass filter, 62, 231high-quality recordings

from Audacity, 122–130bit depth for, 123–125sampling rate, 125

high-resolution recording, CPU for, 122High-Z, 328hosts, for plug-ins, 207hotplug, 167, 328human hearing, range for, 241human psychoacoustics, 143, 330Hydrogen drum synthesizer, 278–280hyper-cardioid polar pattern, 42

IIBM, 120ICANN (Internet Corporation for

Assigned Names and Numbers), 157Icecast, 160IceWM, 287IFF (Interchange File Format), 120impedance, 328Import/Export dialog, 312–313importing, recording into Audacity, 87Independent Online Distribution Alli-

ance (IODA), 159Indexing Service, 298, 300Infrared Monitor, 298inkjet printable DVD blanks, 130Inner fade, for Auto Duck, 150Input bandwidth setting, for reverbera-

tion, 219input channels, 167Input Level Meter, 4, 5, 86inserting silence, 59integers, 28Intel, vs. AMD, 47intellectual property, 118, 328Interchange File Format (IFF), 120Interface dialog, 308–309Internet Corporation for Assigned Names

and Numbers (ICANN), 157Internet distribution strategy, 156Internet Information Services, 300Internet radio, 75interpolation, for seamless join, 139IODA (Independent Online Distribution

Alliance), 159isynchronous mode, 39iTunes, 159

AAC format for, 203and DRM, 162


INDEX 351

JJACK, 263, 264

connecting FireWire recording inter-face, 280–282

creating persistent configurations, 282–283

Hydrogen configuration to use, 279–280settings, 283–285using with Audacity, 276–285

jacks, 33, 67joint stereo, 143, 144Jones, Rickie Lee, “The Magazine,” 242Joomla, 160jump ahead feature, 305

KK3b (Linux), 103, 104, 117, 118, 130K9copy, 118, 130KAudioCreator, 117, 130KDE, 287Keyboard dialog, 316kilohertz (kHz), 327Kodak, CDs, 102

Llabels

for CDs, 65, 99for DVDs, 130for editing multiple tracks, 174moving, 96for song break, 95–96for song tracks, 63for tracks, 172–174

LADSPA (Linux Audio Developer’s Sim-ple Plugin API), 207, 227–230

ladspa-sdk package, 229LAME MP3 encoder, 142, 145, 292laptops

microphone input, 135for portable recording, 48, 81

large diaphragm (LDM) condenser mics, 41latency, 39, 306, 328

fixing errors, 251–252and Linux, 262–263measuring and fixing, 183–185

legacy devices, connecting to computer, 67–71

legacy media, transferring, 130legal issues, 162–163Leveller effect, 200, 201, 247LFE (low-freqency effects) channel,

122, 192libdvdcss, 130

Libraries dialog, 314licenses, Creative Commons, 158LightScribe disk type, 65, 99LightScribe DVD burner, 130limiter, 201linear phase, 213linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM), 121linear scale, 19Line In port, on sound card, 68line level, 46line matching transformer, 328Link Tracks button (Edit toolbar), 8, 10,

88, 96, 176–177Linn Records, 120Linux, 48, 257–290

audio, 263–264history, 289–290

CD writers, 103and latency, 262–263media players, 6, 116plug-ins, 227–230real-time kernels

building, 261–262distributions with, 258–261

sound device, 3specialized multimedia distributions,

260–261system tweaks, 287–288for USB 2.0 audio devices, 40for web hosting, 160

Linux Audio Developer’s Simple Plugin API (LADSPA), 207, 227–230

live tracks for CD, 79–100Audacity settings for recording, 83–87editing recordings, 87–97making good recordings, 80–83monitoring recording, 87multitrack recording of live perfor-

mance, 82–83logarithmic decibel scale, 20longevity, of recording media, 76–77loopback cable, 184, 251loops, creating, 187lossy channel coupling, in Ogg Vorbis, 142lossy formats, 6–7, 145–146loudness, 326Love, Courtney, 155, 163low-frequency effects (LFE) channel,

122, 192low-frequency oscillation, 224–225low noise floor, 28, 86low-pass filter, 62, 231–232Low-Z, 328LPCM (linear pulse-code modulation), 121LXDE, 287


352 INDEX

M.m4a files, 152, 203, 293. See also AAC

(Advanced Audio Coding) files.m4b files, 203. See also AAC (Advanced

Audio Coding) files.m4p files, 152, 203, 293. See also AAC

(Advanced Audio Coding) files.m4r files, 203. See also AAC (Advanced

Audio Coding) files.m4v files, 203. See also AAC (Advanced

Audio Coding) filesMac support, for USB 2.0 audio devices, 40Magnatune, 115, 120, 158mailing lists, 157–158make oldconfig command, 262Make Stereo Track command, 19, 59MAM-A, 99Mambo, 160mapping tracks to surround channels,

multichannel mixer for, 126–127Marantz PMD digital recorders, 49mass CD duplication, 99masters, saving, 125M-Audio Delta sound cards, 38, 166, 318M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R, 40, 319M-Audio Micro Track II, 50M-Audio MobilePre USB, 34, 35–36, 45,

68, 81, 85, 170, 319and JACK, 277

M-Audio NRV10, 38, 166maximum amplitude, 6Maximum Pause, for Auto Duck, 150Max spike width value, 60megahertz (MHz), 327Menees, Roger, 327Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) lossless

compression, 122, 129Messenger, 298metadata, 64, 97–98, 106, 115, 328Metadata Editor, 24Meter toolbar, 11, 86metronome track, 180–182MHz (megahertz), 327micro-minis, 68microphone preamps, 45–46microphones, 1, 40–45

3-to-1 rule for placement, 45cables, 44–45impedance, 328for live performance recording, 82placement, 45polar patterns, 42–43selecting based on occasion, 43–44for studio recording, 167for voicecast recording, 134–135

microSD card reader, 206microSD cards, 206

for phones, 204–205Microsoft, 120Microsoft.NET Framework, 300Microsoft Visual Studio, 294MIDI note table, for click track, 216mini-jacks, 68miniSD cards, for phones, 204–205Minnetonka Audio Software discWelder,

120, 129mirroring, with RAID 10, 47Mitsui, CDs, 102mixdown, to stereo, 188–191Mixer Board, 23–24, 88, 188

for adjustments to relative volumes of stereo channel, 147

customizing, 189–190Mixer toolbar, 4, 11, 136mixing console, 82–83MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing) lossless

compression, 122, 129MME (Multi-Media Extensions), 2, 293mobile phones. See cell phonesmonitoring live recording, 87mono tracks, 166, 171mono TRS plugs, 36Mouse dialog, 316moving

labels, 96tracks, 19, 175–180

MP3 files, 6, 26, 102, 115, 116converting to Red Book CD, 103enabling Windows support, 292exporting to, 141–146patent conflicts, 153variable bitrate, 152

.mp4 files, 203. See also AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) files

Mplayer, 6, 116multichannel mixer

digital, 83interface, 126–127

multichannel recording, 37–38, 89, 167multichannel surround sound, 141,

191–193multicore CPUs, 47, 122–123Multi-Media Extensions (MME), 2, 293Multi-Tool button (Tools toolbar), 8, 9multitrack recordings, 165–193. See also

recordingsediting and downmixing, 88–89of live performance, 82–83making, 168–171saving, 125


INDEX 353

music CD, creating, 65music track, adding as background to pod-

cast, 148–150Musix, 261Mute button (Mixer Board), 19, 148, 171MySpace, 157

NNational Television System Committee

(NTSC) frames, 186–187ncurses interface, 264Nero, 103, 117netbook, for portable recording, 48Network DDE, 297Neumann KU-81i Dummy Head, 51node control points, 96–97, 112noise, 44

blocking unwanted, 50CDs vs vinyl LPs, 74clicking, 104deliberately adding, 129and internal sound cards, 38recording audience, 80recording before and after music, 58removal, 61–62, 92–93, 234–235

noise floor, 324setting for compression, 94, 243

noise profile, 61–62, 92Noise Removal effect, 61, 62, 92, 234Nokia, 201nondrop frame rate, 186normalization, 97, 115, 141, 235–236

for audio from vinyl LPs, 63and compression, 95to raise volume, 6for setting songs to same volume

level, 112Normalize effect, 6, 22, 63, 89, 97, 114,

141, 201, 235–236NTSC (National Television System Com-

mittee) frames, 186–187.ny files, 230Nyquist, 207, 230Nyquist-Shannon theorem, 28

OOgg Vorbis files, 6, 26, 102, 115, 116,

141–146, 153–154Olympus LS10, 49omnidirectional polar pattern, 42, 43online credit card payments,

processing, 161

online music distribution, 158–159file formats and audio quality, 151–155

Open Sound System (OSS), 263, 289open source streaming servers, 160operating systems, 47–48Orange Book standard, 102, 115

configuring Audacity for, 114–116OSS (Open Sound System), 263, 289OSSwin project, 142Outer Fade, for Auto Duck, 150output channels, 168overdubbing, 168, 182–185, 329

latency and, 183, 251

Ppadding track with silence, 179–180paging file

for Windows Vista/7, 299for Windows XP, 296

pain, threshold of, 331PAL (Phase Alternating Line), 187Pan slider, 19, 24, 188, 190Paste button (Edit toolbar), 8, 10Patchbay, 282–283patents, on file formats, 26, 141, 293Pause button (Control toolbar), 5, 8, 58pausing recording, 87PayPal account, 161PCI-E sound card, 32, 318PCI Express, 38PCI sound card, 32, 37, 38, 318PCMCIA sound card, 81, 319peak level, 6, 329peak ratings, 20peaks, reducing too-tall, 139–140perception of sound, 330performance in Windows, 294–301phantom power, 40, 49, 82, 167phase, 213, 329Phase Alternating Line (PAL), 187Phaser effect, 224–225phase shifting, 214, 329Phillips, CDs, 102phonograph records. See vinyl LPsPhonon, 263

and JACK, 276turning off, 285–286

phono plugs, 68Pink Floyd, “Time,” 75pink noise, 211, 212Pioneer stereo amplifiers, 34, 46piracy, 155pitch, 12, 327, 329–330

and MIDI Note Number values, 181


354 INDEX

Pitch (EAC) view, 19–20Planet CCRMA packages, 227, 228, 258Plantronics USB headset, 46, 135playback

selecting one track for, 19speed of, 12starting, 171starting point, 9tips and tricks, 171–172volume, 4. See also volume level

Playback dialog, 305Play button (Control toolbar), 5, 8play region, 171Plone, 160Pluck plug-in, 216plug-ins, 207–232. See also Generate menuplugs, 33, 67pocket digital recorders, 49podcasts, 133–150

background music track for, 148–150dynamic range compression, 240exporting, 146steps for creating, 134two-person, 146–148voicecasts, 134–141

Audacity settings, 135–136cleaning up recording, 136–139replacing segment, 137

point labels, 173polar patterns, for microphones, 42–43pops, fixing, 60–61portable digital recorder, 80–81portable recording, 48–50preamp, 70preemptive multitasking, and latency, 258prefab storefront, 161Preferences dialog, 8, 83, 303

Devices, 2, 3, 67, 83–84, 105, 107, 114, 126, 135, 167, 304–305

Directories, 315Effects, 316Import/Export, 24, 25, 64, 67, 89, 98,

106, 126, 188, 191, 196, 312–313Interface, 140, 308–309Keyboard, 316Libraries, 293, 314Mouse, 316Playback, 61, 171, 198, 305Projects, 13, 313–314Quality, 14, 57, 121, 129, 135, 307Recording, 85, 105, 107, 114, 136, 183,

184, 251, 262, 306Spectrograms, 315Tracks, 311–312Warnings, 316

Preset bitrate setting, for MP3, 143PreSonus AudioBox 2x2, 320PreSonus StudioLive 16-Channel FireWire

Digital Mixer, 83preview, default length, 61Preview button, changing duration, 198printing CD labels, 99Pristine Classical, 115processes, top command for viewing active,

287–288profile of noise, 61–62, 92, 93project management, 12–15Pro-Ject Phono Box II USB Phono

Preamp, 320projects

.aup files for, 7sharing files across, 13

Projects dialog, 313–314proprietary file formats, for ringtone,

203–204proximity effect, 43psychoacoustics, 143, 330PulseAudio, 263, 289–290

vs. JACK, 264turning off, 285–286

pumping and breathing, compression and, 244

pure:dyne, 261purple noise, 213

QQIC (quarter-inch cartridge) tapes, 72Qjackctl, 277, 283–285Quality dialog, 307quality of recordings, factors affecting, 122quality settings

consistency for recording and editing, 86default export for WAVs, 14and file formats, 115–116

quarter-inch cartridge (QIC) tapes, 72querying sound cards, 275–276

RRademacher function, 214RAID, 47RAM, 47Ratio setting, for compression, 94–95, 243RCA audio connectors, 68Real-time Conversion settings, 307real-time preemption, 258receivers, 70Record button (Control toolbar), 5, 8, 58


INDEX 355

recording, 5. See also multitrack recordingsdefault quality setting, 14new track, during playback, 183portable, 48–50secrets for quality, 50–52session display, 5starting, stopping and pausing, 87testing, 273–274volume level, 4, 86

recording artist, business, 155–156Recording dialog, 306recording engineers, 336Recording Industry Association of Amer-

ica (RIAA), 102recording interfaces

FireWire, 320USB, 319–320

recording media, longevity of, 76–77record production, history, 55rectangular dither, 129, 307Red Book CD Audio standard, 57, 65, 98,

99, 102converting MP3 files to, 103

red noise, 212Redo button (Edit toolbar), 8, 10redo operation, 170reel tapes, 72reflectivity, 102region labels, 96, 173, 174Register.com, 156registering domain name, 156renting snail mailbox, 157Repair effect, 61, 139, 237Repeat Last Effect command, 218, 234replacing segment, in podcast, 137resampling, 114, 326reverberation, 232Reverberation effect, 218–221Reverse effect, 226Rhapsody, 162Rhythmbox, 6, 116RIAA (Recording Industry Association of

America), 102RIAA equalization curve, 69, 70ribbon mics, 41–42Ridata, 99Ring Tone Text Transfer Language

(RTTTL), 201–202ringtones, 195–206

customizing, 196–200dynamic range compression, 200file formats, 199, 201–202

proprietary, 203–204transferring to phones, 204–206

ripping, 130CDs, 117–118DVDs, 118

Risset, Jean Claude, 217, 330Risset Drum effect, 216–218RME Fireface 800, 320RME Hammerfall sound card, 166,

318, 319RMS (root-mean-square), 20, 330Roomsize setting, for reverberation, 219root-mean-square (RMS), 20, 330Routing and Remote Access, 297Roxio, 103, 104, 108rt patch, 261–262RTTTL (Ring Tone Text Transfer Lan-

guage), 201–202runlevel command, 286

SSACD (Super Audio CD), 131sample format, 14, 19, 84, 325sampling rate, 26–27, 86, 325, 330

default, 307for high-quality recordings, 125

SAO (session-at-once), 103satellite radio, 75saving

masters, 125projects, 4, 13–15tracks as separate WAV files, 15

sawtooth waveform, 215, 231SCMS (Serial Copy Management System),

66, 102scratches

fixing, 58removing, 236–237

screensavers, 51SD card, 204–205SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer), 289SDM (small diaphragm) condenser

mics, 41seamless join, interpolation for, 139Seek Time, 305segments of tracks, selecting, 15–19selecting

all tracks with CTRL-A, 16to end of track, 17multiple clips, 178–179nonadjacent tracks, 16track segments across multiple

tracks, 174Selection button (Tools toolbar), 8, 9, 15Selection toolbar, 12, 17, 90, 104, 197


356 INDEX

Select threshold setting, 60self-hosting, 160–161selling online, 161Serial Copy Management System (SCMS),

66, 102services, disabling

in Windows Vista/7, 300in Windows XP, 297

session-at-once (SAO), 103shaped dither, 129, 307sharing files, across projects, 13short-play records, 66shotgun polar pattern, 42, 43Shoutcast, 160Shure M78S Phono Cartridge, 66, 71Shure X2U XLR-to-USB Signal

Adapter, 320signal processing, 208signal-to-noise ratio, 6signed WAV settings, 155silence

creating, 96inserting, 59, 112truncating, 238

Silence button (Edit toolbar), 8, 10, 21, 58Silence Finder, 255Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL), 289sine wave, 209, 213, 214, 225, 231

creating, 124for testing effects, 218

skips, fixing, 60–61Skip to End button (Control toolbar), 8, 18Skip to Start button (Control toolbar),

8, 18Sliding Time Scale/Pitch Shift effect, 226Slinky, 225, 226small diaphragm (SDM) condenser

mics, 41Smart Card, 298smoking, 52snail mailbox, renting, 157Snap Guide, 138, 175, 178sockets, 33software

DVD-Audio authoring, 129–130media players, 116–117

solid-state amplifier, vs. tube, 44, 334–335Solo button (Mixer Board), 19, 148Songbird, 116songs

creating graceful breaks, 96–97, 112–114writing to CDs, 99

sonic cannons, 324Sony BMG, copy protection, 118

Sony PCM-D50, 49Sony’s Creative Software CD Architect,

103, 104, 108sound, perception of, 330Sound Activated Recording, 23, 306Sound Blaster 16, 289sound cards, 170, 318–319

as ADC/DAC, 68problem with internal, 38querying, 275–276

sound chips, and stereo microphone inputs, 168

Sound control panel (Windows 7), 292sound engineers, interacting with, 83SoundJuicer, 130Sound module, 4sound quality

characterizations, 41subjectivity in, 44vinyl LPs vs. CDs, 71

source code, browsing, 208spam, 157speakers, 46–47, 271–272speaker-test command, 271–272Specify Uncompressed Options dialog, 14Spectrograms dialog, 315Spectrum view, 20speed of playback, 12Split Stereo to Mono, 19Split Stereo Track command, 19, 58, 112,

167, 171, 233splitters, 82splitting

stereo track for repairs, 90–91, 111–112tracks, 178

split tracks, rejoining, 175square waveform, 214, 231stands, for microphones, 45starting

playback, 171recording, 87

Steely Dan, “Haitian Divorce,” 227Steinberg, 294

Wavelab, 120, 130Virtual Studio Technology (VST), 230

stereo channel, Mixer Board for adjusting relative volumes, 147

stereo mic, 167stereo recordings, 80

mixdown to, 188–191stereo track, 19, 166

creating, 19DVD-Audio support for, 121–122splitting for repairs, 90–91, 111–112

stereo TRS plugs, 36


INDEX 357

Steve Harris’s plug-ins, 229stiff cables, 45stiffness, 232Stop button (Control toolbar), 5, 8, 58stopping point, for playback, 172stopping recording, 87storage requirements, for bit depth/sam-

pling rate combinations, 124storefront, prefab, 161striping, 47studio, sound reduction for, 50studio recording, microphones for, 167stylus, care of, 55sub-cardioid polar pattern, 42subwoofer channel, 192Super Audio CD (SACD), 131super-cardioid polar pattern, 42surround channel, DVD-Audio support

for, 121–122synchronizing tracks, 9, 88System Properties dialog

Windows Vista/7, 299–301Windows XP, 296–298

System Restore, and performance, 300

TTablet PC, 300Tail level, for reverberation, 220Taiyo Yuden, 77, 99, 102TAO (track-at-once), 103TAP (Tom’s Audio Processing) plug-

ins, 229tape, vs. vinyl LPs or CDs, 71–77tape deck, connecting to computer, 71Task Manager (Windows), Audacity prior-

ity in, 295TDK CDs, 77, 102Telnet, 298, 301tempo, 330

changing, 185Terminal Services, 298testing

channel mappings, 192recording, 273–274sine wave for, 218speakers, 271–272

Themes, 298threshold of pain, 331Threshold setting, for compression, 94, 243timbre, 331timecodes, 186Time Record, 23Time Scale, 5

for playback starting point, 171

Time Shift button (Tools toolbar), 8, 9, 113, 138, 169, 175, 251, 325, 329

for cross-fades, 208inside tracks, 179–180for multiple tracks, 177for track group, 177

timing, fixing, 251–252tip-ring-sleeve (TRS). See TRS (tip-ring-

sleeve).toc file, 103Tom’s Audio Processing (TAP) plug-

ins, 229tone controls, myth of unneeded, 335tones

creating, 209DTMF, 210frequency range of, 209–210

toolbars, handles for dragging, 8too-loud passages, fixing, 91–92Tools toolbar, 8top command, 287–288touch-tone telephones, dual-tone multifre-

quency (DTMF) tones from, 210track-at-once (TAO), 103track focus, vs. track selection, 15–16track groups, 176–177Track menu, 188

Make Stereo Track, 112, 171, 233Move Track Up/Down, 171Split Stereo to Mono, 168, 171, 196Split Stereo Track, 58, 112, 147, 167,

171, 233track names, 14–15

mixer board icons to match, 189–190Track panel, 19–20

decibel scale, 140Solo button, 171

tracks, 58, 134, 166–168, 331aligning and moving, 175–180appending to existing, 5combining, and volume increase, 114cutting single into song tracks, 63, 95–96deleting, 19from DVDs, 118for each song title, 56–57editing two-track as two mono tracks,

147–148editing two-track recording as a single

track, 146–147labels for, 172–174linking, 176–177mapping to channels, 25, 126–127metadata for, 64, 97–98metronome, 180–182recording, during playback, 183


358 INDEX

tracks (continued)removing parts, 21saving each as separate WAV file, 15selecting all with CTRL-A, 16selecting nonadjacent, 16selecting whole, 6, 15–19splitting, 178synchronizing, 9time shift inside, 179–180volume level, 188

Tracks dialog, 311–312track segments, creating, 175Tracks menu, 19

Add Label At Selection, 173Add New

Audio Track, 209Label Track, 172, 176

Align Tracks, 175–176, 251Edit Labels, 173, 174Link Audio and Label Tracks, 176Mix and Render, 88, 113, 150, 188, 191Resample, 98, 199

Transcription toolbar, 12transferring legacy media, 130transient response, 40, 331transitions, smoothing, 92Transport menu

Overdub, 183, 184Sound Activation Level, 23Timer Record, 252

triangle waveform, 231triangular dither, 129, 307Trim button (Edit toolbar), 8, 10, 21trimming, 58, 90TRS (tip-ring-sleeve), 36

adapter, 69plugs, 41, 68

Truncate Silence effect, 238tube amplifier, vs. solid-state, 44, 334–335Tucows, 156TuneCore, 159turntables, connecting to computer,

69–71TweakHound, 297, 300two-person podcasts, 146–148two-track recording

editing as single track, 146–147editing as two mono tracks, 147–148

UUbuntu Linux PC, 2–3, 258–259Ubuntu Studio, 227, 260unbalanced cables, 44Undo button (Edit toolbar), 8, 10

undo operation, 7, 90, 139, 170Unix, for USB 2.0 audio devices, 40unlocked phone, 205upsampling, 85, 114, 331USB devices, 4

and Audacity, 1, 12audio interface, 32cable for file transfer to phone, 206CD/DVD burners, 103vs. FireWire, 39–40mixers, 38phono preamps, 69recording interfaces, 135, 319–320turntable with phono preamp, 70

Vvariable bitrate, 116, 142, 143, 152Variable bitrate setting, for MP3, 116, 143Verbatim CDs, 77, 99, 102video card, for Linux system, 287video time, measurement, 186View menu, 21

Clipping, 89Fit in Window, 90, 91Fit Vertically, 90Mixer Board, 88Show Clipping, 58, 61, 91, 114, 124, 136,

190, 251Toolbars, 8Zoom to Selection, 90

vintage 78s, 66–67, 71vinyl LPs, 66

copying to CD, 34, 53–77basic steps in process, 56–57dividing long track into individual

songs, 63dynamic range compression customi-

zation, 62–63exporting single long track to CD-

ready files, 64exporting to CD-ready files, multiple

tracks, 64–65fixing defects, 58–62normalization, 63recording, 58settings, 57writing songs, 65

damage from use, 73dynamic range for, 241preparing for copying, 54–56vs. tape or CDs, 71–77

Virtual Studio Technology (VST), 207virus checkers, and performance, 295vision-impaired, web design for, 157


INDEX 359

VLC Media Player, 6, 116, 117, 118, 130voicecasts, 134–141

Audacity settings, 135–136two-person, 146–148

volume levelcontrol setting before powering on, 167increasing, 22normalization to raise, 6, 97for recording or playback, 4setting songs for consistency, 107, 112vertical scale for, 19

volume unit (VU) meter, 331VST (Virtual Studio Technology), 207VU (volume unit) meter, 331

WWahWah effect, 227Wal-Mart, DRM servers, 161–162Warnings dialog, 316warps, fixing, 59–60wattage, and amplifier rating, 46WAV (Waveform Audio Format) files, 6,

25, 98, 115, 120, 15532-bit float, 14aplay to play, 269channel mapping for, 191–192exporting tracks to, 64–65, 98importing, 170for Red Book CDs, 102for ringtone, 199saving track as separate file, 15studio masters as, 13, 14, 125

waveform, 20, 231Waveform Audio Format (WAV) files. See

WAV (Waveform Audio Format) filesWaveform (dB) view, 19–20WDM/KS (Windows Driver Model Kern-

ing Streaming), 294WebClient, 298web designer, 157web hosting services, 156–157WebHostingTalk, 157, 160web streaming, frame rates, 187wet/dry balance, 232white noise, 211, 212wide-groove records, 66Winamp, 116, 130Windows

audio devices configuration, 301–302configuring for best audio quality,

291–302MP3 support, 292WMA, M4A/M4P support, 293

low-latency recording and audio driv-ers, 293–294

plug-ins, 230tuning for best performance, 294–301

Windows 7, 48, 292tuning for best performance, 299–301

Windows DirectSound, 3, 83Windows Driver Model Kernel Streaming

(WDM/KS), 294Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. See

WMA (Windows Media Audio) filesWindows Media Player, 6, 116, 117Windows Meeting Space, 301Windows Vista, 47, 291–292

default recording and playback devices, 4tuning for best performance, 299–301

Windows XP, 47–48, 291performance tuning, 296–298

wind sock, 40wireless mics, 43WMA (Windows Media Audio) files, 145,

146, 204Audacity support, 293channel mapping for, 192encoding ringtone in, 205

Work Made for Hire and Copyright Cor-rections Act of 2000, 163

XXfce, 287XLR connectors, 37, 41XLR plugs, 36Xmms, 116

YY-adapter, 69Yahoo!, 162Yamaha Pocketrak 2G, 49

Zzero crossing point, 225Zero Decibels Full Scale, 20Zoom button (Tools toolbar), 8, 9, 11Zoom H2 portable digital recorder, 35,

49, 80Zoom In/Out buttons (Edit toolbar), 8, 61Zoom to Selection for view, 21zZounds, 317


the book of audacity - no starch press · authoring in audacity, 104–111 one track per song...

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