Looking for sound recording software.

All;

I have a user who needs to create audio files about an hour long. What kind of software is out there for that?

Close Hauled

 

Hi Close Hauled,

What kind of audio files, voice dictation, CD ripping/editing .mp3, midi files, music looping/creation?

 

We have VHS tape that we want to strip the audio off of and put it on CD.

Close Hauled

 

Okay. If you have the SB Audigy2, the Creative Wave Studio will work (included).
Don't even bother with the built in MS Sound Recorder, it is aweful and featureless. Sonic Foundry Sound Forge is excellent. GoldWave is also good. You will need a big enough hard drive too (audio data gets big quickly) especially if you use a high quality sampling rate like 48kHz 16bit.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the input Devinco. I should have stipulated FREE. It's a one shot deal. Sound quality is not important either.

 

Perhaps you'd like to try Audacity. I like it.

 

Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

I was looking for software similar to this too, so thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll be checking the links out.

 

Damn!.........Beat me to it...I was going to suggest Audacity.....but if you have Nero and go to Wave Editor.....that is brilliant and very easy to use...I've used it to put tape and Albums onto CD......no problem.....

Cochise,

 

dear Close_Hauled, if you want freeware then nothing comes close to Audacity. but if you want to spend some quids then nothing is worth more than Adobe Audition. SoundForge comes second.

 

One word, Audacity! Audition costs an arm and a leg.

 

i presume special cables to the puter are required I have Nero - nice to know i can use it to transfer tape to CD - what about records? Also, does one need special music CD's or I have a cpy of CLEAN for doing record - it removes scratching noise, etc. have yet to try it.

 

you can regular cd's for about any recording.

 

Hi Peaches,

For the cable, you can go to Radio Shack (or other electronics parts store) and get a stereo RCA male to 1/8" stereo male "headphone type" plug cable. That should take care of the physical connection from any line level audio device (with the RCA type plugs) to your sound cards line-in connection. Record players can be trickier. If it is a more recent player and has true line level (1 Volt) RCA connections, then it should work. Otherwise, you may have to go for a fancier setup and hook the phonograph to an amplifier and then hook the cable up to the Tape Monitor connection.
Of course, records have really lousy quality, so unless it is something that you can't get on CD or it is important to you, I would go for a CD version. There are some very good audio clean up filters as you mentioned, but they can't make up for quality that isn't there.

 

Thanks all for all the good info, shall pass it along to the boss as this is supposed to be his winter project.

 

Hi there I would be interested in this.

I often listen to the radio over the net using either Realplayer or Windows Media Player.

Is there a free program with which I could record what I am listening to into a suitable file format and burn it to a CD so that I can play it on a stereo?

Answers on a postcard please........

 

yes there are such softwares but i think it would be illegal if you rip songs from a stream like that.

 

It's not illegal to record the radio on a stereo using a tape so why would it be illegal to record radio from the net onto a CD?

 

I think it would be legal if you are using the CD for personal use and not selling (or redistributing) the copyrighted material.

As far as software to record, the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 (besides having great sound quality) comes with Audio Stream Recorder: a program that lets you tune in to the streams and record them. You can even schedule it to record your favorite programs when you're away. But I don't think it is available separately.

 

Well it's not freeware but there are free versions of it. It's called Magix Audio Studio. The free stuff will do what you want, i use it to burn cd's for the truck. It works pretty good and you can even add your own voice to them if you have a Microphone. Like Devinco said, just as long as it's personal use.

 

in that case my friends are recommending http://www.ratajik.com/StationRipper/