[Bryan[_2_]]

Can anyone here give me some recommendations for audio software? I've
been using Audacity for over a month now to rip my record collection
to CD's and I like the fact that it's free. But I'm finding the
program somewhat limiting as far as equalization and adding reverb is
concerned. It simply doesn't work in realtime. So you must first make
the edit THEN see how it sounds. I did this nearly a dozen times and
still couldn't get the sound I wanted. What I need is an "equalizer"
and reverb that I can adjust while listening to the track. Any
software recomendations? I'm using Windows XP.
Bryan

[Edmund[_2_]]

On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:20:39 -0700, Bryan wrote:

Can anyone here give me some recommendations for audio software? I've
been using Audacity for over a month now to rip my record collection to
CD's and I like the fact that it's free. But I'm finding the program
somewhat limiting as far as equalization and adding reverb is concerned.
It simply doesn't work in realtime. So you must first make the edit THEN
see how it sounds. I did this nearly a dozen times and still couldn't
get the sound I wanted. What I need is an "equalizer" and reverb that I
can adjust while listening to the track. Any software recomendations?
I'm using Windows XP. Bryan

I wonder why you would need an (d)equalizer, would take
an amplifier with RIAA correction and use that as pure
as possible.
Can't imagine adding stuff an dequalize it would make it
any better.

Edmund

[Bryan[_2_]]

You're not the first person to ask me this. I have a bunch of mp3
tracks with the treble so damn high, it's ear piercing. If you turn
the treble almost all the way down on your media player, the music
sounds perfect. But that's no good when you're adding these songs to
your existing library. You'd have to adjust the tone every time one of
these tracks plays. Please have a listen to one of the songs and
you'll see what I mean:
"Bonne Suprise" by King Palmer
http://www.mediafire.com/?bixsduqiscj

That's why I need something I can adjust in realtime (while listening
to the track). Does such software exsist? I'm probably asking
questions which may seem obvious to the rest of you. But also I'm a
complete newbie at this. Heck, I still listen to records, that's how
high teck I am!
Bryan

[Arny Krueger]

"Edmund" wrote in message

On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:20:39 -0700, Bryan wrote:

Can anyone here give me some recommendations for audio
software? I've been using Audacity for over a month now
to rip my record collection to CD's and I like the fact
that it's free. But I'm finding the program somewhat
limiting as far as equalization and adding reverb is
concerned. It simply doesn't work in real-time. So you
must first make the edit THEN see how it sounds. I did
this nearly a dozen times and still couldn't get the
sound I wanted. What I need is an "equalizer" and reverb
that I can adjust while listening to the track. Any
software recommendations? I'm using Windows XP. Bryan

I wonder why you would need an equalizer,

Because his taste differs from the people who mastered the CDs.

would take an amplifier with RIAA correction and use that as pure
as possible.

RIAA is irrelevant to CDs and MP3s.

Can't imagine adding stuff an dequalize it would make it
any better.

Some would call that fear of tone controls. And, its not ill-founded, basic
bass and treble controls are pretty blunt instruments. However, with modern
software the most complex and sophisticated as well as some of the most
powerful signal processors are now available for a low price or free. Many
recordings got screwed up with processing like this, and to a limited degree
the same processing can mitigate the situation.

[Bryan[_2_]]

Thanks Anry. I noticed you replied to my post over at "rec.audio.pro"
too. I'm sorry for cross posting. But I was just trying to better my
chances at getting a response. If you listen to that mp3 I uploaded
(my previous post) you can see why I want to lower the amount of
treble. You mentioned "you get what you pay for". I do have a somewhat
limited budget. I suppose $50-$60 wouldn't be too unreasonable. Can
you recommend any progams? Or is that a big stretch for my price
range?
Bryan

P.S. I did tried a Google search: "audio, editing, equalization," but
those keywords are so popular, it really wasn't any help at all.

[Codifus]

On Jun 3, 9:31 am, Bryan wrote:
Thanks Anry. I noticed you replied to my post over at "rec.audio.pro"
too. I'm sorry for cross posting. But I was just trying to better my
chances at getting a response. If you listen to that mp3 I uploaded
(my previous post) you can see why I want to lower the amount of
treble. You mentioned "you get what you pay for". I do have a somewhat
limited budget. I suppose $50-$60 wouldn't be too unreasonable. Can
you recommend any progams? Or is that a big stretch for my price
range?
Bryan

P.S. I did tried a Google search: "audio, editing, equalization," but
those keywords are so popular, it really wasn't any help at all.

I think finding software that edits audio in realtime becomes an
expensive proposition. Not only due to software, but hardware as well.
Audio manipulation can really work a computer and to do it in realtime
exacerbates the computer resources needed. $50 to $60 just won't cut
it.

Rather, I would suggest 1 of 2 things:

1. purchasing a parametric EQ, connect it to your system, then find
your adjustment there. Once done, then create a EQ filter in Audacity
or other audio editing program that closely mimics or improves upon
that EQ setting you find in the mechanical EQ.

2. Optimize your system such that the results after the edit do not
take as long to generate. For example, I use CoolEdit 2K, and to
maximize my editing capability I dedicated an entire hard drive as the
swap space for editing audio. All my audio data is saved to the C
drive, but the "playground" area for CoolEdit is the E drive. The C
and E drive are also on a separate IDE bus. Tweaks such as this go a
considerable way in improving your after-edit response times.

CD

[[email protected]]

On Jun 3, 9:05 am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
"Edmund" wrote in message



On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:20:39 -0700, Bryan wrote:

Can anyone here give me some recommendations for audio
software? I've been using Audacity for over a month now
to rip my record collection to CD's and I like the fact
that it's free. But I'm finding the program somewhat
limiting as far as equalization and adding reverb is
concerned. It simply doesn't work in real-time. So you
must first make the edit THEN see how it sounds. I did
this nearly a dozen times and still couldn't get the
sound I wanted. What I need is an "equalizer" and reverb
that I can adjust while listening to the track. Any
software recommendations? I'm using Windows XP. Bryan
I wonder why you would need an equalizer,

Because his taste differs from the people who mastered the CDs.

would take an amplifier with RIAA correction and use that as pure
as possible.

RIAA is irrelevant to CDs and MP3s.

Not if, as the original poster says:

"I've been using Audacity for over a month now
to rip my record collection to CD's."

If he's not using an RIAA equalized preamp between the
output of his turntable and the input to his computer,
what do we think the result might be:

"a bunch of mp3 tracks with the treble so damn
high, it's ear piercing."

Maybe...

[Edmund[_2_]]

On Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:05:41 -0400, Arny Krueger wrote:

"Edmund" wrote in message

On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:20:39 -0700, Bryan wrote:

Can anyone here give me some recommendations for audio software? I've
been using Audacity for over a month now to rip my record collection
to CD's and I like the fact that it's free. But I'm finding the
program somewhat limiting as far as equalization and adding reverb is
concerned. It simply doesn't work in real-time. So you must first make
the edit THEN see how it sounds. I did this nearly a dozen times and
still couldn't get the sound I wanted. What I need is an "equalizer"
and reverb that I can adjust while listening to the track. Any
software recommendations? I'm using Windows XP. Bryan

I wonder why you would need an equalizer,

Because his taste differs from the people who mastered the CDs.

I want to rip his records to CD so there is no CD mastering
involved.

would take an amplifier with RIAA correction and use that as pure as
possible.

RIAA is irrelevant to CDs and MP3s.

Yep but again he wants to rip his records.

Edmund

[Michael Black[_2_]]

On Tue, 3 Jun 2008, wrote:

On Jun 3, 9:05 am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
"Edmund" wrote in message



On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:20:39 -0700, Bryan wrote:

Can anyone here give me some recommendations for audio
software? I've been using Audacity for over a month now
to rip my record collection to CD's and I like the fact
that it's free. But I'm finding the program somewhat
limiting as far as equalization and adding reverb is
concerned. It simply doesn't work in real-time. So you
must first make the edit THEN see how it sounds. I did
this nearly a dozen times and still couldn't get the
sound I wanted. What I need is an "equalizer" and reverb
that I can adjust while listening to the track. Any
software recommendations? I'm using Windows XP. Bryan
I wonder why you would need an equalizer,

Because his taste differs from the people who mastered the CDs.

would take an amplifier with RIAA correction and use that as pure
as possible.

RIAA is irrelevant to CDs and MP3s.

Not if, as the original poster says:

"I've been using Audacity for over a month now
to rip my record collection to CD's."

If he's not using an RIAA equalized preamp between the
output of his turntable and the input to his computer,
what do we think the result might be:

"a bunch of mp3 tracks with the treble so damn
high, it's ear piercing."

Maybe...

And his wording is kind of vague there, since when I read it
it wasn't clear if they were his MP3s after he converted from
records, or odd MP3s he'd gotten from somewhere. If the latter,
you really can't be sure of anything, so the person who made them
might have forgotten the phono preamp or tampered with the sound
"because I like treble".

People can do whatever they want when they listen to things, but
I think it's a mistake to start tampering with things before a main
archive is made. The real fuss is in digitizing the records, since
you have to wait for the side to play out and then turn it over, and
that often gives little time to go off and do something but too much
time to merely sit there and wait. Get a good copy of the records
into the digital domain, and then one can always go back and "reprocess"
the masters, but tamper before making that "master" and you'll have
to go back and redigitize the record if you don't like the results.

Michael

[Edmund[_2_]]

On Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:05:31 -0700, Bryan wrote:

You're not the first person to ask me this. I have a bunch of mp3 tracks
with the treble so damn high, it's ear piercing. If you turn the treble
almost all the way down on your media player, the music sounds perfect.
But that's no good when you're adding these songs to your existing
library. You'd have to adjust the tone every time one of these tracks
plays. Please have a listen to one of the songs and you'll see what I
mean:
"Bonne Suprise" by King Palmer
http://www.mediafire.com/?bixsduqiscj

At the moment I only have build in speakers from my monitor and anything
sounds awful here so I can't really judge this. :-) ( I will listen to it
later )
As I understand things you are ripping your record collection, so why on
earth is there so much treble? Are you sure you used a RIAA correction in
the system? Is it with all the records or one particular?

Anyway one thing I can think of is -if you have pre amplifier- ( with a
pick up in! )
use the line out which is after the tone control and put that line into
your computer. that way you can simply use the tone control to adjust
things as you like. On the other hand, if you need that I would say there
is something wrong in the setup.


Edmund

[Arny Krueger]

wrote in message


Not if, as the original poster says:

"I've been using Audacity for over a month now
to rip my record collection to CD's."

Someone removed that text from the post I was responding to, which was not
the OP.

If he's not using an RIAA equalized preamp between the
output of his turntable and the input to his computer,
what do we think the result might be:

"a bunch of mp3 tracks with the treble so damn
high, it's ear piercing."

Agreed.

If so, then we need to audit the signal chain for digitizing LPs, before we
spend a lot of effort fixing the recordings in the digital domain.

[Bryan[_2_]]

The tracks with that "ear piercing" treble were not ripped by me. I
got them from somebody over a year ago whom I'm no longer in contact
with. They were already in MP3 format. The thing is, I want to put
them onto a disc with other songs from my collection (which sound fine
in comparison). So I really need to somehow "adjust" the tracks in
question first. I already know that simply normalizing won't fix the
problem.

[Geoff]

codifus wrote:

I think finding software that edits audio in realtime becomes an
expensive proposition. Not only due to software, but hardware as well.
Audio manipulation can really work a computer and to do it in realtime
exacerbates the computer resources needed. $50 to $60 just won't cut
it.


Define what you mean by "edits in realtime". The last thing you'd want is
the source file being changed on the fl while you fiddle with controls.

Many (most) audio editor applications offer realtime preview of effects. The
actual changes aren't made until saving. Can't see how you could improve on
that scenario....

Try Sound Forge Audio Studio - they have a free demo:
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...ls/audiostudio
.... and if you buy it just unlocks.

geoff

[Geoff]

Bryan wrote:
The tracks with that "ear piercing" treble were not ripped by me. I
got them from somebody over a year ago whom I'm no longer in contact
with. They were already in MP3 format. The thing is, I want to put
them onto a disc with other songs from my collection (which sound fine
in comparison). So I really need to somehow "adjust" the tracks in
question first. I already know that simply normalizing won't fix the
problem.

If they are in fact non-RIAAed vinyl audio, they will sound terrible with
40dB inbalance between what should be the extremes eof the treble and bass
levels.

If that is the case, then there is really nothing you can do to save these
files. If you do EQ them, the resultant bass-thru-upper-mids will likely be
noisy and distorted. Chances are also that he had his turntable going
directly into a Line Input, which would further mess things up with the
impedence mismatch and input poor level.

Pick a cleverer acquaintance next time.

geoff

[Mr.T]

"Edmund" wrote in message
...
Anyway one thing I can think of is -if you have pre amplifier- ( with a
pick up in! )
use the line out which is after the tone control and put that line into
your computer. that way you can simply use the tone control to adjust
things as you like.

Yes, but why on earth would you think that will be any better than using an
EQ plug-in on his recording software?

To OP : most recording software programs have a preview button if they have
no real time monitoring of plug-ins.
(and that will often depend on processing power available and the plug-in
itself.)
If Audacity does not, you can still easily select a small portion of the
wave file, process that, listen, undo etc.
Sure it may take a few seconds longer, but one setting should be sufficient
for the whole album surely?

MrT.

[Mr.T]

"codifus" wrote in message
...
On Jun 3, 9:31 am, Bryan wrote:
Thanks Anry. I noticed you replied to my post over at "rec.audio.pro"
too. I'm sorry for cross posting. But I was just trying to better my
chances at getting a response. If you listen to that mp3 I uploaded
(my previous post) you can see why I want to lower the amount of
treble. You mentioned "you get what you pay for". I do have a somewhat
limited budget. I suppose $50-$60 wouldn't be too unreasonable. Can
you recommend any progams? Or is that a big stretch for my price
range?

Try the Voxengo free EQ plug-in, may be all you need.
Maybe learning to properly use what you have, will even do the job.


P.S. I did tried a Google search: "audio, editing, equalization," but
those keywords are so popular, it really wasn't any help at all.

I think finding software that edits audio in realtime becomes an
expensive proposition. Not only due to software, but hardware as well.
Audio manipulation can really work a computer and to do it in realtime
exacerbates the computer resources needed. $50 to $60 just won't cut
it.

Rather, I would suggest 1 of 2 things:

1. purchasing a parametric EQ, connect it to your system, then find
your adjustment there. Once done, then create a EQ filter in Audacity
or other audio editing program that closely mimics or improves upon
that EQ setting you find in the mechanical EQ.

And you think you can get a hardware parametric EQ for $50-$60?
A cheap graphic EQ may be possible, but he really doesn't need one in any
case.


2. Optimize your system such that the results after the edit do not
take as long to generate. For example, I use CoolEdit 2K, and to
maximize my editing capability I dedicated an entire hard drive as the
swap space for editing audio. All my audio data is saved to the C
drive, but the "playground" area for CoolEdit is the E drive. The C
and E drive are also on a separate IDE bus. Tweaks such as this go a
considerable way in improving your after-edit response times.

And selecting only a small part of the wave file to process/preview goes a
lot further.

MrT.

[Mr.T]

"Bryan" wrote in message
...
The tracks with that "ear piercing" treble were not ripped by me. I
got them from somebody over a year ago whom I'm no longer in contact
with. They were already in MP3 format. The thing is, I want to put
them onto a disc with other songs from my collection (which sound fine
in comparison). So I really need to somehow "adjust" the tracks in
question first. I already know that simply normalizing won't fix the
problem.

Post processing compressed MP3 files is a sure way to end up with bigger
crap.
Why not try to source the originals instead?

MrT.

[Edmund[_2_]]

On Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:10:16 +1000, Mr.T wrote:

"Edmund" wrote in message
...
Anyway one thing I can think of is -if you have pre amplifier- ( with a
pick up in! )
use the line out which is after the tone control and put that line into
your computer. that way you can simply use the tone control to adjust
things as you like.

Yes, but why on earth would you think that will be any better than using
an EQ plug-in on his recording software?

That can be done in real time as he asked for.

BTW it would not be my solution because there must be
something wrong in his setup. In the meantime he told that
one of the MP3's was not even ripped by him, but he got it
from a friend. I would trow it away :-)

MrT.

Edmund

[Stephan Gipp]

Bryan wrote:
Can anyone here give me some recommendations for audio software? I've
been using Audacity for over a month now to rip my record collection
to CD's and I like the fact that it's free. But I'm finding the
program somewhat limiting as far as equalization and adding reverb is
concerned. It simply doesn't work in realtime. So you must first make
the edit THEN see how it sounds. I did this nearly a dozen times and
still couldn't get the sound I wanted. What I need is an "equalizer"
and reverb that I can adjust while listening to the track. Any
software recomendations? I'm using Windows XP.
Bryan

Somehow nobody seems to be willing to answer your question.

So, regardless on WHY you want to do this ....

I'm using LogicExpress. This would be on a Mac, no clue if this is
available for Windows. This one does allow you to play with more knobs
than you can imagine WHILE listening to the track; before you modify the
original. Oh yes, it's not free.

Stephan