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minidisk to MP3?

Posted: 03 Dec 2007, 17:37
by biggy
Hello gang

I might be recording this Saturday on to minidisk.

I used to transfer my recordings straight onto cd via my stand alone cd recorder but that's gone to make way for a nice new shiny system.

So, does anyone know how I can transfer my minidisk recordings onto my laptop with the intent of putting it on cd? I'll need to cut it into seperate tracks too.

Are there any free programs I can download?

Thanks in advance you wonderful people you.
:kiss:

Posted: 03 Dec 2007, 17:46
by limur
I use Audacity, recommended by someone from around here a while ago.

It does the job nicely.

clicky

Posted: 04 Dec 2007, 08:42
by Pista
Does your recorder have the ability to record as WAV at all (you might need more discs though (unless you can lay your mits on a HD recorder like an iriver or similar))?
Just that MD is possibly just as lossy (if not more so) than mp3.

But, audacity is a good freebie for converting most formats & chopping into tracks too.
You can also tinker with the EQ if need be.
:D

Posted: 05 Dec 2007, 08:27
by Dark
I thought MD recorded at a higher rate than CD (48KHz as opposed to 44.1KHz)? Oh well. :lol:

Aye, Audacity's good when it behaves. ;)

Posted: 05 Dec 2007, 09:50
by Pista
Dark wrote:I thought MD recorded at a higher rate than CD (48KHz as opposed to 44.1KHz)? Oh well. :lol:

Aye, Audacity's good when it behaves. ;)
Atrac3 maybe, but the initial MD machines were not that "hi-def"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrac
MD is actually (these days) better than mp3, but it is still lossy. The thing to do is get the master onto a CD to eliminate any further loss down the chain. Then just issue copies from the CD.
That is, if you are concerned about lossy/ lossless formats.
If not, then just ignore me :wink: ;D
@biggy. What's the recorder?

Posted: 05 Dec 2007, 14:04
by undertow
I've got audacity and is good BUT how do you seperate live concert tracks without interuppting the actual 'flow' of the gig.
At presnet marking up the tracks just leaves me with little silent breaks betweenm each song.

Is there a way of being able to separate live tracks so you can still id them and skip from track 1 -9 if you want, but without getting your moments of silence in between?

Posted: 05 Dec 2007, 15:17
by limur
I assume you mean you want to skip tracks once you've burnt it to CD?

If so, then you have to put the selection marker where you want to split the track, click project|Add label at selection, repeat for each split you want to make, then File|Export multiple.

This'll give you a track for each "label".

:wink:

I've never worked out how to name the labels though... :roll:

Posted: 05 Dec 2007, 16:32
by Pista
I never really had the gap problem.
But if you are doing mp3 splitting, then you can get microgaps.
You can try somthing else though.
If you can't get audacity to play ball.
CD WAV editor IIRC opens flacs & wavs.
You can set a threshold based on noise level where to split & hit the autosplit function.
It chops it into tracks for you in 1 hit.
With gigs featuring noisy crowds, it can be a little "hit & miss" though.
But the beauty of both softwares is that you can see where the levels go "quiet" & put manual splits in.
As to where to put them in for gigs, it's entirely a preference thing.
I have Cure gigs where some "clever" herbert has decided to put the splits in after the "this one's called whatever the song is" .
That's really annoying. :roll:
I would typically wait until the last sounds of instruments has faded to almost nothing & put the split in.
Then, to ensure no gaps on the CD, use Nero & check the "no gaps" feature, or itunes can be configured to record without gaps.
Just don't use WiMP,, as it is hopeless.

Posted: 05 Dec 2007, 16:39
by James Blast
"Mind the gap"

Posted: 05 Dec 2007, 16:53
by undertow
Thanks for all your help I shall try some of these.
I actaully have been able to label , perhaps this is what causes the mini break?
I may experiment and put in a split but not label it.
An exciting evening in prospect..........

Except I'm off to see The Damned! :D