From our tech guru Aquaclay. :meditate
This explains copying sound from your recorder to your PC using an audio cable connected to your sound card instead of a PC link connection.
In order to copy EVP from your recorder to your computer you will need a patch cable with 1/8" male stereo plugs on each end,like the the one pictured below. Make sure your EVP recorder does in fact have an 1/8" headphone jack or get the appropriate size. Radio shack should have it.
And should be able to assist you in making sure you have the right size.
You will need to connect one end of the cable to the headphone output of your tape or digital recorder. Then connect the other end to the LINE IN (usually blue) of your computers sound card.
Then set your volume levels by turning the computers recording sofware's input volume all the way up(if this is an option). Then set your recording level by djusting the volume on the playback device.
You want to set this as loud as you can without any clipping or distortion.
To record, press record on your computers recording software and press play on your playback device(EVP recorder).
-------------------------------------------------------------
Here I'll now go over setting up and recording with Audacity.
First you'll have to download it here:
audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows
Ok once installed, start Audacity.
Select "Line-in" as your input source.
Next go to File> and then Preferences
Then Click on the "Audio I/O" Tab
Set your playback device as> VIA Audio (Wave)
Then select how many channels you want to record. If you have a stereo tape or digital recorder then select stereo, otherwise select mono.
Then click OK
You are now ready to record.
First you'll have to set your volume levels though. Click the record
button on Audacity and then press play on the device you are recording from.
Turn Audacity's INPUT volume all the way up.
Then turn up the headphone volume as high as possible without the top of the wave patterns going beyond the top of the track.
Once you have the volume levels set where you want them, press stop on Audacity and clear what you just recorded, by clicking on the X in the upper left hand corner of the track.
Rewind your tape recorder back to the beginning and repeat the above
sequence. But this time you'll want to listen to what you just recorded to Audacity, to make sure the volumes levels were set properly and everything sounds good.
Adjust your output volume about halfway for starters. This is so you know it's on but doesn't blow you away during initial playback. Adjust your actual speaker volume to accomodate Audacity's volume settings.
To get rid of the space at the beginning and/or end of the recording you can use the "selection tool" to highlight and then press the "delete" key just like a word processor.
Below I'll go over some of the features of Audacity.
If you click "Record" again while you still have a recorded track present, it will start a new track. And when you click "Play" with two tracks present, it will play both tracks simultaniously.
There is an option under File>Preferences>Audio I/O that will make it so you can listen to the original track or tracks AS you record a new track. But this is something we probably wont' use much.
To delete the track you just recorded just click the "X"
in the upper lefthand corner of the track itself.
http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v299/aquaclay/audacity/clear_track.jpg
If you didn't mean to do that, then there is an Undo button.
And if you change your mind again there is also a Redo button.
The Zoom In button allows you to zoom all the way in to make precision adjustments.
The Zoom out button allows you to zoom further and further out so you can see more of the recorded track at one time.
If you have used the Selction Tool to highlight a section of your recording, the "Fit Selection In Window" button will do just that, and zoom in or out, to show the entire selection, in the window.
The "Fit Project In Window" button will zoom you all of the way out so you can view the entire recording in the window.
If you use the Selection Tool to highlight a piece of recorded audio, you can do a number of things with it.
One I'd like to point out is less obvious and may be a valuable tool for paranormal work. This is the "Split" command.
Using the Selection Tool, hightlight the part you want to separate.
Then click Edit> and select "Split"
Then the selection will drop down to a track of it's own. But will remain in sync with the previous track.
The Split command allows you to separate parts of an audio file, for future editing. Everytime you do this it will create a new track for the separated part. If you press "Play" Audacity will mix all tracks and play them all as if they were one.
Another way to isolate parts of the recording is to highlight and click File menu> then select either "Export Selection As WAV..." or Export
Selection As MP3...". If you select "Export As WAV"... or "Export As
MP3"..., EVERYTHING(all tracks) will be saved as one audio file. (MP3 encoder installation explained at the bottom)
Somethings that could possibly come in handy are the Cut, Copy, and Paste options. And they work similar to a text editor or word precessor.
To copy a selection to a new track, highlight what you want to copy and click "Copy" or press ctrl+c
Then click the open space below the current track or tracks and click the "Paste" button or press ctrl+v to paste to a new track. Note: This method places copied sound at the beginning of the track and will playback along with the other track(s) unless you click the mute button at the left of the track. But if you export this way muted tracks will NOT remain muted.
The "Cut" button works like you'd expect and removes the highlighted area for placement somewhere else. You can also press ctrl+x.
Just like a text editor, if you paste a cut or copied area onto a highlighted area, the highlighted area will be replaced by what you pasted in.
The "Trim Outside Selection" button will delete everything on a track except what is highlighted.
The "Silence Selection" button will mute or remove any sound from a highlighted area. This area will remain open and the space will not "close up" like if you did a "cut" or delete.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the six different tool modes you can select at the upper lefthand corner. These are use for different types of editing.
Here is a way to adjust volume levels in your recording later on. (This takes a little practice though)
Select the envelope tool.
Then click on the waveform where you want to create a reference point that will act like a "hinge" from where you can "bend" the outer "shell" of the track. If you just click one spot and drag it up or down, it can adjust the entire track. This adjustment allows you to expand the waveform, which directly affects the volume. It's best to select two reference points, or nodes as they call them. This will leave a set of markers in place. Click an area between them that has a "soft" or "loud" spot in the waveform. Then drag it up or down and watch what happens. You may need to create more nodes for more accurate adjustment. In the background of the waveform you'll notice a light colored center area and a dark colored outer area above and below it.
The "line" where they meet, is the adjustment line that will move to the center of your Envelope Tool everywhere you click, inside the waveform area. This will also leave a new mark or node(reference or adjustment point) if one isn't already in that exact spot. You can then click on each node to make adjustments at that position. If it is a short burst of sounds that you want to reduce the volume of, then
you'll want to create two nodes close together, just on either side of the visible burst, in the waveform. Then create another node, at the peak of the sound burst, in between the nodes you just created. Then you can click and drag that center node up or down to adjust the peak volume, in that spot. This can take some getting used to. So I recommend playing around with it.
The Time Shift Tool is for sliding a track to syncronize it with other tracks. This really only used when working with multiple tracks like when recording a song with multiple instruments and vocals and such. If you are working with stereo tracks, it will move both tracks as one. It also moves the entire track. You can't select part of a track to move.
Audacity also comes with a number of EFFECTS to enhance your recordings. But I'll just go over one or two of them for now, to get you started.
If you need to increase the overall volume of your recording you can use the amplify effect.
First select the track by clicking the area to the far left, around the gain and pan controls.
Then click on Effect menu> and select Amplify...>
Click and drag the slide control to select the amount of amplification you want. The maximum amount is usually already selected.
Notice that if the "Don't allow clipping" is checked, then the OK button will not be accessable, if you have selected more amplification, than the program thinks it can handle without clipping. Simply reduce the amount of amplification or uncheck the "Dont' allow clipping" box to regain use of the "OK" button.
After selecting the amount of amplification you want then click OK.
Another handy effect is Equalization.
Access this just as above except by selecting "Equalization..." instead of "Amplify...".
But before going to the equalizer though, if you click on the Selection Tool and highlight the part that you would like to make changes to, that will also help when previewing, so you hear the changes to a specific part. This could take some getting used to also, depending on the application. You might even do a highlight, copy, and paste to another track. Or use the "split" function, to isoloate that part of the recording.
When adjusting the equalizer keep in mind the adjustment works similar to the Envelope Tool. And you'll have to "break" it up or "hinge" it with nodes or adjustment points first. Just play with it. And keep in
mind that bass is on the left and treble is on the right. And if you don't like what you heard in the preview, then don't click "OK" because it will process and add that setting to your sound file. Click cancel unless you are sure that you adjusted it the way you want it because it make take some time to process. But if you do click "OK" and don't like the change, you can just click "Undo".
Here is an example of a simple eq "curve" you can try. Maybe it will make it a little easier to adjust.
There are many other effects that I haven't really tried yet. But hopefully this will get you going.
When it comes to saving your files by selecting Save As, it naturally does this as an Audacity project file (.aup)
To save as a .wav file click File> and select "Export to WAV". You can
also hightlight part of your recording using the Selection Tool, and then click File> and select "Export Selection As WAV", to save the highlight section to a file.
In order to save as an MP3 you'll have to download an encoder. This is a free download. The encoder file is called lame_enc.dll I would download it right into your C:\ Pragram Files\Audacity\Plug-Ins folder, if that is where it is installed. Then unzip it in there.
Here is a link to download the MP3 encoder:
mitiok.free.fr
Here is a SECONDARY site for downloading Audacity and the encoder. This is where I got a lot of info from. But seemed slow for download.
audacity.sourceforge.net/windows.php
Choose one of the lame files from the list. A few of the links may not work. Just pick another one. Version 3.96 is aparently most stable.
You'll have to unzip the file. Try to unzip it to C:\ Pragram Files\Audacity\Plug-Ins or anywhere you can find it later.
Once you have the lame_enc.dll file in place. Whether you you put in C:\ Pragram Files\Audacity\Plug-Ins or not, you'll have to tell Audacity where it is when you export.
When you click File> and select "Export to MP3" then name the file and and click save, a popup message will come up asking "Would you like to locate lame_enc.dll now?
Click Yes, and a new window will come up asking you to locate lame_enc.dll. After locating the folder it's in, select the file and click Save. You will only have to do this the first time.
Then a box will pop up to put in info on the song or recording you are saving. Put in whatever info you want and click OK.
You now have your audio saved as an MP3.
A big thank you to Aquaclay. Drop him a line if you used one of his tutorials and found them helpful.
This explains copying sound from your recorder to your PC using an audio cable connected to your sound card instead of a PC link connection.
In order to copy EVP from your recorder to your computer you will need a patch cable with 1/8" male stereo plugs on each end,like the the one pictured below. Make sure your EVP recorder does in fact have an 1/8" headphone jack or get the appropriate size. Radio shack should have it.
And should be able to assist you in making sure you have the right size.
You will need to connect one end of the cable to the headphone output of your tape or digital recorder. Then connect the other end to the LINE IN (usually blue) of your computers sound card.
Then set your volume levels by turning the computers recording sofware's input volume all the way up(if this is an option). Then set your recording level by djusting the volume on the playback device.
You want to set this as loud as you can without any clipping or distortion.
To record, press record on your computers recording software and press play on your playback device(EVP recorder).
-------------------------------------------------------------
Here I'll now go over setting up and recording with Audacity.
First you'll have to download it here:
audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows
Ok once installed, start Audacity.
Select "Line-in" as your input source.
Next go to File> and then Preferences
Then Click on the "Audio I/O" Tab
Set your playback device as> VIA Audio (Wave)
Then select how many channels you want to record. If you have a stereo tape or digital recorder then select stereo, otherwise select mono.
Then click OK
You are now ready to record.
First you'll have to set your volume levels though. Click the record
button on Audacity and then press play on the device you are recording from.
Turn Audacity's INPUT volume all the way up.
Then turn up the headphone volume as high as possible without the top of the wave patterns going beyond the top of the track.
Once you have the volume levels set where you want them, press stop on Audacity and clear what you just recorded, by clicking on the X in the upper left hand corner of the track.
Rewind your tape recorder back to the beginning and repeat the above
sequence. But this time you'll want to listen to what you just recorded to Audacity, to make sure the volumes levels were set properly and everything sounds good.
Adjust your output volume about halfway for starters. This is so you know it's on but doesn't blow you away during initial playback. Adjust your actual speaker volume to accomodate Audacity's volume settings.
To get rid of the space at the beginning and/or end of the recording you can use the "selection tool" to highlight and then press the "delete" key just like a word processor.
Below I'll go over some of the features of Audacity.
If you click "Record" again while you still have a recorded track present, it will start a new track. And when you click "Play" with two tracks present, it will play both tracks simultaniously.
There is an option under File>Preferences>Audio I/O that will make it so you can listen to the original track or tracks AS you record a new track. But this is something we probably wont' use much.
To delete the track you just recorded just click the "X"
in the upper lefthand corner of the track itself.
http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v299/aquaclay/audacity/clear_track.jpg
If you didn't mean to do that, then there is an Undo button.
And if you change your mind again there is also a Redo button.
The Zoom In button allows you to zoom all the way in to make precision adjustments.
The Zoom out button allows you to zoom further and further out so you can see more of the recorded track at one time.
If you have used the Selction Tool to highlight a section of your recording, the "Fit Selection In Window" button will do just that, and zoom in or out, to show the entire selection, in the window.
The "Fit Project In Window" button will zoom you all of the way out so you can view the entire recording in the window.
If you use the Selection Tool to highlight a piece of recorded audio, you can do a number of things with it.
One I'd like to point out is less obvious and may be a valuable tool for paranormal work. This is the "Split" command.
Using the Selection Tool, hightlight the part you want to separate.
Then click Edit> and select "Split"
Then the selection will drop down to a track of it's own. But will remain in sync with the previous track.
The Split command allows you to separate parts of an audio file, for future editing. Everytime you do this it will create a new track for the separated part. If you press "Play" Audacity will mix all tracks and play them all as if they were one.
Another way to isolate parts of the recording is to highlight and click File menu> then select either "Export Selection As WAV..." or Export
Selection As MP3...". If you select "Export As WAV"... or "Export As
MP3"..., EVERYTHING(all tracks) will be saved as one audio file. (MP3 encoder installation explained at the bottom)
Somethings that could possibly come in handy are the Cut, Copy, and Paste options. And they work similar to a text editor or word precessor.
To copy a selection to a new track, highlight what you want to copy and click "Copy" or press ctrl+c
Then click the open space below the current track or tracks and click the "Paste" button or press ctrl+v to paste to a new track. Note: This method places copied sound at the beginning of the track and will playback along with the other track(s) unless you click the mute button at the left of the track. But if you export this way muted tracks will NOT remain muted.
The "Cut" button works like you'd expect and removes the highlighted area for placement somewhere else. You can also press ctrl+x.
Just like a text editor, if you paste a cut or copied area onto a highlighted area, the highlighted area will be replaced by what you pasted in.
The "Trim Outside Selection" button will delete everything on a track except what is highlighted.
The "Silence Selection" button will mute or remove any sound from a highlighted area. This area will remain open and the space will not "close up" like if you did a "cut" or delete.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the six different tool modes you can select at the upper lefthand corner. These are use for different types of editing.
Here is a way to adjust volume levels in your recording later on. (This takes a little practice though)
Select the envelope tool.
Then click on the waveform where you want to create a reference point that will act like a "hinge" from where you can "bend" the outer "shell" of the track. If you just click one spot and drag it up or down, it can adjust the entire track. This adjustment allows you to expand the waveform, which directly affects the volume. It's best to select two reference points, or nodes as they call them. This will leave a set of markers in place. Click an area between them that has a "soft" or "loud" spot in the waveform. Then drag it up or down and watch what happens. You may need to create more nodes for more accurate adjustment. In the background of the waveform you'll notice a light colored center area and a dark colored outer area above and below it.
The "line" where they meet, is the adjustment line that will move to the center of your Envelope Tool everywhere you click, inside the waveform area. This will also leave a new mark or node(reference or adjustment point) if one isn't already in that exact spot. You can then click on each node to make adjustments at that position. If it is a short burst of sounds that you want to reduce the volume of, then
you'll want to create two nodes close together, just on either side of the visible burst, in the waveform. Then create another node, at the peak of the sound burst, in between the nodes you just created. Then you can click and drag that center node up or down to adjust the peak volume, in that spot. This can take some getting used to. So I recommend playing around with it.
The Time Shift Tool is for sliding a track to syncronize it with other tracks. This really only used when working with multiple tracks like when recording a song with multiple instruments and vocals and such. If you are working with stereo tracks, it will move both tracks as one. It also moves the entire track. You can't select part of a track to move.
Audacity also comes with a number of EFFECTS to enhance your recordings. But I'll just go over one or two of them for now, to get you started.
If you need to increase the overall volume of your recording you can use the amplify effect.
First select the track by clicking the area to the far left, around the gain and pan controls.
Then click on Effect menu> and select Amplify...>
Click and drag the slide control to select the amount of amplification you want. The maximum amount is usually already selected.
Notice that if the "Don't allow clipping" is checked, then the OK button will not be accessable, if you have selected more amplification, than the program thinks it can handle without clipping. Simply reduce the amount of amplification or uncheck the "Dont' allow clipping" box to regain use of the "OK" button.
After selecting the amount of amplification you want then click OK.
Another handy effect is Equalization.
Access this just as above except by selecting "Equalization..." instead of "Amplify...".
But before going to the equalizer though, if you click on the Selection Tool and highlight the part that you would like to make changes to, that will also help when previewing, so you hear the changes to a specific part. This could take some getting used to also, depending on the application. You might even do a highlight, copy, and paste to another track. Or use the "split" function, to isoloate that part of the recording.
When adjusting the equalizer keep in mind the adjustment works similar to the Envelope Tool. And you'll have to "break" it up or "hinge" it with nodes or adjustment points first. Just play with it. And keep in
mind that bass is on the left and treble is on the right. And if you don't like what you heard in the preview, then don't click "OK" because it will process and add that setting to your sound file. Click cancel unless you are sure that you adjusted it the way you want it because it make take some time to process. But if you do click "OK" and don't like the change, you can just click "Undo".
Here is an example of a simple eq "curve" you can try. Maybe it will make it a little easier to adjust.
There are many other effects that I haven't really tried yet. But hopefully this will get you going.
When it comes to saving your files by selecting Save As, it naturally does this as an Audacity project file (.aup)
To save as a .wav file click File> and select "Export to WAV". You can
also hightlight part of your recording using the Selection Tool, and then click File> and select "Export Selection As WAV", to save the highlight section to a file.
In order to save as an MP3 you'll have to download an encoder. This is a free download. The encoder file is called lame_enc.dll I would download it right into your C:\ Pragram Files\Audacity\Plug-Ins folder, if that is where it is installed. Then unzip it in there.
Here is a link to download the MP3 encoder:
mitiok.free.fr
Here is a SECONDARY site for downloading Audacity and the encoder. This is where I got a lot of info from. But seemed slow for download.
audacity.sourceforge.net/windows.php
Choose one of the lame files from the list. A few of the links may not work. Just pick another one. Version 3.96 is aparently most stable.
You'll have to unzip the file. Try to unzip it to C:\ Pragram Files\Audacity\Plug-Ins or anywhere you can find it later.
Once you have the lame_enc.dll file in place. Whether you you put in C:\ Pragram Files\Audacity\Plug-Ins or not, you'll have to tell Audacity where it is when you export.
When you click File> and select "Export to MP3" then name the file and and click save, a popup message will come up asking "Would you like to locate lame_enc.dll now?
Click Yes, and a new window will come up asking you to locate lame_enc.dll. After locating the folder it's in, select the file and click Save. You will only have to do this the first time.
Then a box will pop up to put in info on the song or recording you are saving. Put in whatever info you want and click OK.
You now have your audio saved as an MP3.
A big thank you to Aquaclay. Drop him a line if you used one of his tutorials and found them helpful.
