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Recording and saving from external devices in Audacity.

*using 1.3.12 beta version

This is a quick tutorial on how to record from an external device such as a tape cassette player or microphone and then save to a particular format.

1. There are certain ways to record from a device eg headphone socket to PC input or microphone socket or by co-axial to co-axial. Once your external device is setup then you need to tell windows or specifically Audacity what the record device is by opening a new Audacity project (File>New) and click Edit>Preferences>Devices. Here you’ll see your playback and record device options which you can change. All computers are different so you’ll need to experiment what are the right settings but playback shouldn’t need to be changed. If you’re using ‘line-in’ then you should see a line in option or at least your sound card displayed there. See the example below (click to zoom in).

Editing device settings in Audacity

2. Once you’ve setup the record device you can then press the record button to start recording (remember to start the cassette first). You should see the wave format being displayed as it records.

3. It’s important to get the volume level right on your external device. You want to optimize the level so it doesn’t go above zero DB at any point. Any sound that goes above this level cannot be processed by analogue speakers and will come out distorted. You also don’t want it to be too quiet as you’ll get more back ground hiss if the listener has to increase volume to hear it.

Recording and Deleting in Audacity

4. Above shows the record button and viewing window. You can delete the recorded content by pressing the ‘x’ delete button.

5. You may need to edit the wave to tidy it up eg trim the start and ends. You should also normalize the wave by clicking Effect>Normalize. This increases or decreases the volume to the perfect setting (0db).

5. Once you’ve finished you can save your project by clicking ‘File>Save’.

6. You will then need to export your tune as MP3 or other familiar format by clicking File>Export. Then choosing a name and location for your file. See Below.

7. You may need in download the lame_enc.dll to convert to mp3. This can be found on their Audacity or Lame Library website.

Posted by Miskin Web Design on May 18, 2010 at 8:01 pm under Software Tutorials.
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FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a protocol used to exchange files over the internet. The majority of websites can be accessed through an FTP server using special FTP software. This tutorial will explain how to connect to your website using FTP software, in this case the excellent FileZilla FTP. This open-source software is freely available for download from the FileZilla Project website. Choose the win32-setup.exe if you’re using Windows. Other notable free FTP programs are WinSCP and CoreFTP
Why FTP? Setting up to FTP your own website gives you total control and allows you to make on going changes yourself without hiring professionals. Many people and smaller companies don’t realise that changes to pictures and some content on your website is incredibly easy providing you keep the same name and dimensions as the existing picture or pages you edit. Even changing the text or headings of many articles in websites involves simply opening the existing page with a basic text editor such as Notepad (make sure it’s not Word or Works), changing the text and re-uploading. Insure the file extension remains the same (eg HTML, SHTML, PHP etc) when saving. Generally use ‘Ctrl+S’ to save rather than ‘Save As…’. If you’re confident you can even start editing the HTML/CSS code to add new pages to your website and may be worth investing in a HTML/CSS Editor or WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) software.
Using FileZilla to FTP to your website.
1. Once you have downloaded FileZilla double click on the install file and unless you have good reason to then clicking ‘Next’ on every option should see FileZilla install on your default drive (usually C:).

2. Before we open the program we need to make sure we have our host, username and password to our FTP. These can be obtained from your service provider who you bought the website from. There are different ways how the service providers set up your FTP. Some will have sent you your FTP information when you registered the website, others will require you to log on to the control panel and check the FAQ or FTP links while some even require you to create a FTP account in the FTP Management page once logged in to the control panel. If you can’t find the information on your providers control panel or website then ring them or open a chat channel. If there is no option for this then it’s probably recommended you change service provider as their tech support is poor. You will need: Host Address: This is usually something like ‘ftp@mywebsite.com’ or simply ‘mywebsite.com’. However some providers require you to use a username before the @. Username:This may be the username you log on to your control panel with although sometimes can be username@mywebsite.com or something along those lines. It all depends on what the host name is. Some websites require you to make your own username and password in the control panel. Password: Usually the same as your control panel password and sent to you when you created the account or available or setup through the control panel of your website. If the latter is the case do not use words or names in your password and insure it’s longer than 8 characters. Words and names in passwords can be easily hacked and a hacker can gain access to your websites, domains and account details this way.
3. Once you have the details start FileZilla by clicking on the desktop icon or through Start > Programs. First thing we need to do is set up FileZilla so it can see your FTP server using the inforamtion we just obtained. Goto File > Site Manager (or click Ctrl+S) as shown below.

4. On this screen you enter the details for your website. Fill in as:
Host:Host info collected in section 2 Port: Leave blank. Servertype:These days it should be SFTP but may be the standard FTP. FTPS is less common and your service provider will probably let you know if it’s this type. Logontype: Change to normal. User:Username info collected in section 2. Password:Password collected or set up in section 2. Common problems:These are the setups for connecting to an FTP. If they are any different from these your service provider should make it clear in their FAQ or FTP Management pages on your control panel. The biggest problem of course is getting your host, username or password wrong. If you still have problems then try the different SFTP,FTP or FTPS options. Also see if your service provider specifies a special port number; usually it’s 21 for FTP and 22 for SFTP.

5. Press ‘Connect’ and if everything is right your program will connect to the website. You will see the program connecting in the message log window. Once connected you will see the website directories appear on the right. Your computer are the directories on the left as shown below. For security reasons I’ve blacked out many of the directories and info lines as it’s connected to this another server.

Click to Zoom
6. Your website server on the right hand side will usually have a ‘public’ folder or one named after your domain name. If you click on this you will enter the folder for your own public website (the one that visitors will see). There is usually a default index.html file in there or you may have your own there already. By default visitors always get directed to index.html or other index file extensions. You can download your website by first selecting the folder you want to download to on the left window and ‘right clicking’ one of your files on the right window and selecting ‘download’. To go ‘back’ in this window click on the top folder (the one with the .. name).

Click to Zoom
Uploading works in exactly the same principle. Choose the folder to upload to and ‘right click’ the file. You can also simply drag the files over to the windows like you do in Windows.
7. If this the first time you’re editing your web pages it’s strongly recommended you download the whole website into a different folder as backup just in case you mess up the code or accidently delete pictures. Once files are deleted on a web server they cannot be retrieved unlike your own computers that tend to send files to the recycle bin first.