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Quick Fixes


crackshot35

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Practical thoughts on using Golden Records:

 

Like many who subscribe to this forum, I am a new user. In the course of four days, I have encountered most

 

of the problems talked about here and solved most of them, and offer pointers and practical concepts that

 

were omitted from the documentation.

 

One of the big considerations is whether to record in mp3 or wav. Mp3 allows the tag information (album,

 

artist, etc.) to be output as part of the file. Editing file names, changing them from untitled # to a

 

meaningful name, works both in wave and mp3; but only mp3 keeps you from the drudgery of rewriting this

 

information in media player's database or creating disk labels. Wav format and its output to disk as a .cda

 

file excels in quality of sound over mp3 (a highly compressed file). The casual listener will probably be

 

happy with mp3, but audiophyles,musicians and critics will demand better quality. About 24 (more or less)

 

cda files will fit on a CD. This is plenty to keep track of and enter label data for at one sitting. About

 

200 or more mp3 songs will fit on a CD which is more than practical to manage. I strive only to convert part

 

of an extensive instrumental library to digital format for inclusion as background music for slide shows. If

 

the same music albums have been re-mastered to disk and you count your time as minimum wage, it is probably

 

cheaper to re-purchase the tunes than convert them. In playing an album listed in an internet database, data

 

is automatically downloaded and you are saved from manually entering song titles, album and artist data into

 

media player.

 

One important item omitted from GR documentation is how to transfer converted files from GR to a computer

 

folder without the need for first writing to disk. The second omission is how to clear files out and start

 

anew. Here's the solution. The command bar in the interface window has "View" First click on this then

 

click on "View Recordings Folder". You may treat the window that appears as any other file folder. Cut and

 

paste to another computer location, copy to another location and delete unwanted files from a previous disk

 

write. I sweated blood writing to disk and back to the hard drive until I found this simple solution.

 

By far the greatest problem I had, and from reading this forum, other people have is recording six or seven

 

tunes and ending up with twenty files. This occurs when very soft passages at or very near the background

 

noise level cause the program to drop out of recording, begin, and drop out again. An occasional short drop

 

out can be repaired by highligting two or three files and joining them with "Control-J" This creates a new

 

file. Source files are left highlighted and can be safely deleted with "Control-Delete", leaving only the

 

joined file in the list of files. Repeated drop outs will effect the overall content length of a passage.

 

When encountering this type of music it is easiest to start over. In the recording menu, click on the

 

toolbox icon, the click on the "current noise floor" On the screen that appears check the "manual setting"

 

box and adjust noise floor to -50db. Restart the recording while carefully monitoring the sound, and click

 

on the "split" button during the silence between songs. It ain't automation, but it's the quickest route to

 

a good transfer. Simularly, when record makers were faced with too much music for a side, they sometimes

 

shorten the silent spaces between cuts resulting in a dropout too short to be detected by GR and causes two

 

songs to be recorded in the same file. If the record side had six songs and you end up with five files, you

 

will know this happened. The solution is to play the file. In the play window, click the pause button when

 

you recognize the space between the end of one song and the start of the next. Click the "add a cursor

 

point" button and then click "split a file at cursor point". By and large, GR does a competent job of

 

automatically separating songs when amplitudes are well above noise threshold levels as found in the bulk of

 

popular music, but for pesky symphonic passages with great dynamic range the solutions above will save much

 

teeth gnashing.

 

Occasionaly, individual selections on a platter, will exceed the amplitude first set by so much as to

 

endanger clipping, or conversely diminished input amplitude. Here's how to set input sound levels on the

 

fly: In the lower right corner of the computer screen (not program screen) there's a speaker icon. Right

 

click on this, then left click on "recording devices". There will be a green checkmark on the input device

 

you are using. Left click on this choice, then click on "properties". Choose the "levels" tab and adjust

 

the device volume up or down as needed. (small changes, please) Click OK and continue recording without

 

interruption.

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  • 1 year later...

I am very green and have tried analogue to WAV using direct cartridge to Mac connection. How do i increase volume from the input so that the program will not skip but not record at sufficient volume for a good seamless analogue recording. Pat. patrickandreww@hotmail.com

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am very green and have tried analogue to WAV using direct cartridge to Mac connection. How do i increase volume from the input so that the program will not skip but not record at sufficient volume for a good seamless analogue recording. Pat. patrickandreww@hotmail.com

 

A magnetic cartridge will not output enough voltage for direct computer input. Route your cartridge output through an amplifier with magnegtic phono in jacks and tape out jacks or use a phono pre-amp from radio shack or others.

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