posting audio files

Alan Michael · From: Winston-Salem North Carolina U.S.A.

I'm a new player but feel like I have made some really good progress since I took up playing this contraption last summer. I have mixed down some practice tracks to cassette and would like to share them with some more experience players and maybe get some feedback on improving my playing. I think I can record these to my computer by plugging my cassette recorder directly into my sound card, but I get lost after that. Do I need to build a website to load these files onto or convert them in some way. If I need to buy special software for this or if there is free software that can be downloaded I would like to hear about it. Maybe just attaching them to emails would be the simplest way to do this. Anybody got any information they can share with me.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

Song files can be fairly big. A typical .wav file (usually what the PC records it in) for a song can be 25-35MB. You can convert it to an MP3 file (what is generally used on the internet) and it will bring it down to 3-4 MB. The most considerate thing to do is put these on a web page and then just send messages with the hyperlink to the MP3 file. You don't want to send an e-mail with a 2 or 3 Mb attachment and some e-mail servers will not even accept that large a message and will reject it.

To do what you want to do, you can "record" the songs to a wav file on the PC. But then you need the necessary software to convert the file to an MP3 file. Check your various audio files and you may already have a program that will convert wav to MP3. If not many of the download sites have free converters. You will then have to set up a web page (check with your ISP, you may already have space for a web page but if you want to put several 2 to 3 Meg files on it you may exceed what the ISP allows for a personal web page). An alternative is some of the "free" web hosting sites that will allow you to set up a web page and give you a substantial amount of storage space. I don't use those but some of the other forumites do and will probably post info on those for you.

David Pennybaker · From: Conroe, TX USA

If you use the right codecs for making MP3's (I'll have to check to see which one I'm using that's pretty good), and you convert to Mono, and you use a low bit-rate, you can get a 3-minute song down to about 600 kb.

I use AudioGrabber to convert to MP3. One of the codec's is TERRIBLE at low bit-rate, but one is very good.

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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons

Alan Michael · From: Winston-Salem North Carolina U.S.A.

Jack, thanks for the info. That will surely get me off on the right track.

David, I've downloaded the free version of audiograbber and will see if I can convert to MP3 using this version.

Anybody using a free web hosting service?

Many thanks.

David Pennybaker · From: Conroe, TX USA

Alan,

You'll have to download the MP3 encoding codecs before Audiograbber will convert to MP3.

I'm not sure if the non-registered version will convert a .wav file or not. I know it used to be limited to only a few (random) tracks from a CD.

There are quite a few free web-hosts out there. I'm using www.nbci.com -- don't know how much longer it'll be around, though.

Also, that server (and many others, I think) won't allow you to upload .mp3 files (in an effort to stop people from distributing pirated music, I assume).

I just fool it by renaming the files to .mus -- then the person downloading has to save to hard-drive and rename it to .mp3 to play it.

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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

Alan, I have Audiograbber, which I use for ripping audio CD's and I think it needs a plug in MP3 program to work. You would be better off downloading the free version of GoldWave and an MP3 encoder to do what you want. GoldWave would do everything you want. It will record, allow you to clean up the file and then allow you to save it as an MP3. www.goldwave.com

Bill Nauman · From: Cresco,Pa,USA

Just for the record, I use Music Match to encode wav to Mp3...I have found it quick and easy to do ...and have walked many folks through the encoding process by chatting on line step by step...contact me anytime...Bill in Vegas

Tommy Mc · From: Middlesex VT

I also use MusicMatch for conversion between .wav and MP3. Works fine for me.

Alan Michael · From: Winston-Salem North Carolina U.S.A.

Well, after taking a look at some of your suggestions I've decided that Goldwave has all the neccessary tools to help me accomplish my mission. I began by recording onto my computer from my cd-rom drive and then converting from .wav formate to mp3. After fooling around with volume, balance, etc., I was able to playback my recording and it was just as good as the original. But the real test came when I recorded from my cassette recorder plugged directly into my sound card. The tracks were recorded but during playback I only got sound from one speaker and the on screen led's indicate sound coming from one channel only. My connection from my cassette deck to my sound card is a y adapter that, I assume, combines the signal from both channels. Shouldn't I be getting playback through both speakers even if it is mono rather than stereo? Also, I've visited some web hosting sites like Anglefire, Yahoo Geocities, Tripod, etc. Can anyone suggest any more. How about using Microsoft Frontpage to design a website. Thanks, Alan

Graham · From: Marmora, Ontario, Canada

Alan:
Try using a "Y" connector with two RCA plugs (for your Cassette) going to a Stereo mini plug (for your soundcard).

Your friendly neighborhood Radio Shack should have the proper adapter for you.

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