Recording Technology Exploring New Ways to Record and Distribute Your Music

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 2 Introductions Sue Melvin –Director, Rochester Chorus –RMT Co-Educational Coordinator Debbie Stellrecht –Lake Effect Harmony Chorus

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 3 The Basic Process 1. Record 2. Transfer recording to PC 3. Edit 4. Save edited music in desired format 5. Make copies for mass distribution and/or 6. Make available for download from web site or to members

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 4 Choosing a Recording Method Directors want –quality recording to fine tune each part’s performance Singers want –acceptable quality rehearsal/learning recording to practice interpretation & tempo, correct notes PR & Marketing –highest quality ‘mastered’ recording for distribution and/or sale to consumer (beyond the scope of today’s workshop)

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 5 Recording Your Music Recording devices: –Cassette Tape Recorder –MiniDisc (MD) Recorder portable and deck models –Digital Recorder Edirol WAVE Recorder

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 6 Cassette Tape Recorder Fair to poor sound quality Tapes jam, break, deteriorate in quality Not easy to download/upload music from/to PC Cannot edit/move tracks, or jump from track to track - REW or FFWD only Everyone knows how to use one $10-? US Cassette Tape Recorder

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 7 MiniDisc (MD) Recorder Quality sound, especially with external microphone Discs have high storage capacity, are very durable Easy to download music from PC, if USB equipped Not so easy to upload files to PC, but can be done Easy to edit/move tracks on MiniDisc MiniDisc Portable

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 8 MiniDisc (MD) Recorder, cont’d Plenty of online support and resources Jump from track to track quickly Complex to learn to use Blank media is inexpensive $ US Be sure the unit you purchase is a recorder and player MiniDisc Portable

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 9 MiniDisc (MD) Deck Same benefits as portable, plus Finer editing precision when dividing tracks Decks often have digital (USB) output, but may not have microphone inputs Often have built-in speakers for playback without headphones $ US MiniDisc Deck

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 10 Digital Recorder Quality sound, improved with external microphone High storage capacity, durable Easy to download music from PC Easy to edit/move/switch tracks Easy to upload files to PC on USB-equipped models $ US Digital Recorder

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 11 Edirol WAVE Recorder High-quality recording Record/play in WAVE or MP3 format USB transfer from recorder to computer Includes two high quality microphones for stereo recording Inputs for line and microphone level recording ~$500 US Edirol R-1 Wave Recorder

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 12 Transfer/Upload Recording USB connection –fast file transfer: seconds or minutes Line-in transfer with male-to-male stereo plug –real-time transfer: 1 hour of recorded music will take 1 hour to transfer

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 13 Transfer/Upload Recording Note: No matter which device you choose to record with, if it has an output jack (e.g. headphone jack), you can transfer that recording to your computer Use the line-in transfer method Need male/male stereo cable to transfer the file from the recorder to the PC

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 14 Editing Your Recording Simple to sophisticated programs –Shareware or commercial program? –Depends on how much you have to spend & desired result Editing tasks may include : –Cut, Copy, Delete, Paste, Mix –Applying various effects Amplify, Compress, Delay, Equalize, Fade In, Fade Out, Invert, Normalize, Reverb, Reverse, Silence, Shrink, Stretch, Vibrato, etc

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 15 Editing Your Recording, cont’d Editing tasks may include: –Applying filters to any selected portion of audio files –Breaking into tracks, inserting information (Titles, credits, etc.) –Complete, multi-level undo and redo capabilities –Inserting silence or noise Examples of Programs to Edit Recordings –MusicMatch Jukebox Plus - $20 US –Adobe Audition $300 US –PolderbitS Sound recorder - $36 US

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 16 Digital Audio Formats Waveform (WAVE -.wav) –superior quality, very large file sizes –widely supported MPEG-1 Level 3 (MP3 -.mp3) –high quality, 1/10th of the file size of.wav –very popular, widely supported

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 17 Digital Audio Formats ATRAC™, ATRAC3™ –Sony’s proprietary MD compression format for copyright protection, makes it difficult to share files –HiMD: even better sound quality, fit more music on a HiMD disc Windows Media Audio (WMA -.wma) –Though not as popular as MP3, WMA tends to outperform MP3 in the area of sound quality

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 18 Distributing Your Recording CD-R, CD-R/W –CD-R allows you to copy to it only once –CD-R/W permits rewriting & erasing files –need CD player (some players won’t play CD-R/Ws), device to make mass copies DVD-R, DVD-/R+W –copy video and audio files (See handout on copying video tapes to DVD) –need DVD player, device to make mass copies

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 19 Distributing Your Recording, cont’d MiniDisc –can fit a CD's worth of high-quality music on a 2-1/2" disc –need an MD player to playback – device to make multiple copies Cassette tape –almost everyone has a cassette player & knows how to use it

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 20 Distributing Your Recording, cont’d Audio file uploaded to web site –members must have a device or software capable of playing the downloaded file –Time to download file depends on Internet connection (Cable, DSL, Dial-up) attachment –Time to download file (same as above) –Large files size may exceed inbox limit

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 21 Uploading Files to the Web FTP (File Transfer Protocol) –Transfer files (upload or download) between two computers on the Internet Must have username/password to upload files to the web server Need FTP software - inexpensive or free –see Uploading resource web page at Region 16 web site

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 22 Download/Play Audio Sound file –can be played live from web site –can be downloaded from web site, attachment –can be played on any device capable of playing the format it was saved in

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 23 Additional Resources Resources – –will be available at Region 16 site soon Uploading Help – –will be available at Region 16 site soon Handouts

Leadership Conference June 2005 Region 16 Sweet Adelines International 24 Questions?