Sound recording and producing CDs

[Steve D]

On Friday 26 March 2004 12:18 pm, Ben H. wrote:

> My real question is are they the best tools available for
> the job or should I consider different ports? [...]
> But... a sound recording box...  I need some Multimedia
> Expert opinions before I get started...
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There are a number of ways to get digital or analog audio into the 
computer and stored as a digital file, depending on what type of 
soundcard or hardware you have.

For opening the digital audio files in a graphical environment and 
editing them, a lot of people seem to like audacity:

/usr/ports/audio/audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net

I've tried it a little on Linux and FreeBSD and I like it a lot, 
although I am no expert.

You might want to save a copy of the digital audio file as a .wav 
(Windows audio file format) file on the hard disk, as many 
audio-oriented programs understand and can work with WAV (.wav) 
files.

To burn the audio file(s) to CD, you might want to use burncd (for 
ATAPI CD drives) or cdrecord (for ATAPI CD drives using SCSI 
emulation--documentation available in FreeBSD Handbook and many 
places on the 'net--or using SCSI CD-R(W) drives).

K3B is a graphical CD-burning application that uses the common 
command-line CD and audio related tools in the background, but is 
less intimidating to some because of its mouse-oriented 
point-and-click and click-and-drag interface.

BUT, if you are burning .wav files to audio CD, remember that .wav 
files have header information in the file format that exists for 
programs to identify the file and its characteristics, but which 
produce an audible, fairly loud click when played on a CD player. 
This header information is automatically stripped by some 
CD-recording programs (I believe that cdrecord automatically strips 
it) but not by others (my preferred CD-recording program, burncd, 
does not automatically strip the header information from .wav files.

Instead, prepare a copy of your .wav files, converting them into .cdr 
files using the command-line program sox. Sox not only strips the 
non-audio header information from the .wav files, it also pads the 
resulting .cdr file so that it is exactly a size that can be evenly 
divided by the standard block size of an audio CD. This is important, 
and can mean the difference between audio that plays back perfectly 
once it is recorded to CD, and a CD that produces nothing but hiss 
when played (I know, since I made several bad CDs before I discovered 
this important detail).

Like I said, I'm no expert, but I come from a professional musician 
background and have maintained a hobbyist's level of interest in 
audio, CDs and DVDs, and Linux and FreeBSD.

The 'net is full of good Linux/FreeBSD audio information. Here's a 
couple URls:

http://www.bsdsearch.com/dir/applications/multimedia/audiosound.php
http://mixonline.com/ar/audio_free_beer_2/

Good luck, and best wishes,

Steve D
New Mexico US

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