practice sound files, "The Simpsons"

http://www.clayloomis.com/simsong.html

username 1password 1

This is a pretty thorough collection of songs from "The Simpsons" TV show. I've chosen them because, with the possible exception of "Canyonero" (a personal favorite of mine), none of them is extremely popular nor a "favorite" song.

You really don't want to practice audio on a favorite song; you have to listen to it so many times, you'll get sick of it.

Anyway, right click on a song; select "save target as" and put it in a folder. I'd suggest setting up a new folder, labeled "Audio."

Also, remember you can rename files, too. "Mediocre Presidents" saved as "simsg268." I'll never remember later what the hell that meant, so I'm renaming it, "MediocrePresidents" and saving it as a .wav file.

Audacity User's Manual

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/documentation
You can either view it online or save it into your Audacity folder, once you've loaded Audacity on your computer.

For those of you who don't know anything about audio, please skim over the first tutorial:
"Tutorial − I.BasicsPart 1 − Digital Audio − Part 1"

I don't expect you to memorize the technical aspects of sound. Just get an idea of what we're working with.

Also, look over the second tutorial:
"Tutorial − I.BasicsPart 2 − Rules of Audacity − Part 2"

"If you'd like to get straight playing an imported file or recording something, you can skip this section and come back later.Whenever you work with Audacity, there are some rules you should remember:

1. One clip per track
A clip is simply a piece of audio material. Imported, recorded, split or duplicated from another track,one track can only carry one piece of audio at a time. You can extend it by pasting material or inserting silence in to it, or cut a piece away, but it will always be one continuous piece of audio.

2. Audacity always records to a new track
This new track is opened at the bottom. You'll have to zoom out and then resize the track view of the bottom most track to see what is recorded. You can actually use the window sliders at the bottom and right to do this after starting to record, but this way no performance will be lost to the windowing system.I suggest hitting CTRL+F to get an overview of the entire project as well. This only affects the horizontal zoom by the way(left−right zoom). There is no way to zoom out vertically without using the mouse yet.

3. Edit/Duplicate will not create a new audio file
This may not seem a big deal, but it is if you're editing a large live recording.

What Audacity does is reference the original audio material until you actually perform some kind of edit on it, such as cutting a piece away, or using any effect on it. One thing to remember is the UNDO function. You can undo/redo stuff as many times as you like, and yes, even after you have saved your project.

You may ask what happens if you do, for example, cut away a piece or mark off a 30 minute piece and split it to a new track. It only writes changed data to disk. Since Audacity works with chunk of audio data of around one megabyte in size, this happens quite fast. Rest assured that the only big waiting period might be the importing of large audio files."

-- Rogi Riverstone

Audacity audio editing

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

This is a free download. It's easy to operate. It looks like a big tape recorder.

There are several versions. I couldn't get 1.2...version to work on my computer, so I uninstalled that and downloaded the 1.3..... version, instead.

I'm suggesting this because the Production dept. at KUNM recommended it over SAW32, as it's free and it's going to become the standard for the journalism & communications dept. at UNM. Both Elaine Bomgartle and Tristan Clum will be teaching universtity classes on Audacity in the fall.

It has an excellent tutorial & help menu and is user friendly.

This is the audio editing program I first suggested PWD Radio use.

Download it and fool around with it.

Don't "Save As." just open it. It'll put a shortcut icon on your desktop.

Find a .wav format sound file you can fool with.

After Audacity opens, go to "file" and press "open"

Load your sound file and play around with it.

Make it a small sound file -- not an hour or so -- so it'll load quickly.
--
Rogi Riverstone

Audio Editing Workshop

Hi,

I believe it's important for us to begin learning to write, edit and
voice audio as soon as possible. We need to build our confidence &
enthusiasm for PWD radio. As I said in our last meeting, I KNOW we can
do this. We can't afford to psyche ourselves out. The ONLY obstacle
we're facing is lack of confidence. That will come with practice. So,
let's start practicing, OK?

True, participants in PWD radio must be certified through training
classes (each Saturday in July & August -- contact operations at kunm.org
for info) before handling equipment.

But I can tutor participants, right now, in how to edit audio. I can
guide you, step by step, through recording an interview, editing it,
writing "copy" for it and producing it. We can do a group project, to
test it out, ok?

Since I'll be moving to Ft. Sumner in late August, we need to work
while we can. I doubt I'll be able to afford gas $ to come to
Albuquerque more than one weekend a month after that.

Classes will be held on Saturday mornings from 9 -11 am in Studio C at KUNMfm.

I'll also provide a copy of SAW32 to anyone who wants one, so you can
load it onto your computers at home. The great news is that, because
it's an old audio program, nobody cares anymore who uses it.

While it produces perfect radio, SAW32 is no longer "state of the
art." Adobe Audition is; it's even used by the film industry. I highly
recommend, at whatever point you're feeling confident about your
editing abilities on SAW32, that you begin learning Audition. KUNM's
production dept. knows about us & what we're doing, and is offering to
teach us Audition.

I don't use Audition because it costs several hundred dollars, I
mostly work from home and I don't have much opportunity to use it at
the station. I can't retain how to operate it. Doesn't mean it's
difficult; it means my memory doesn't work very well.

I can put you in touch with the Production Dept., once you've been
through the training, if you'd prefer to only learn Audition.

Just remember: studio production space at KUNM is at a premium; it's
difficult to schedule times for individual projects there. That's one
reason I work from home as much as possible. So, if you choose Adobe
Audition, you'll have to figure out scheduling studio time. And I
won't be able to tutor you on it very much, technically, although I
can help you with editorial & production decisions.

If you are interested in attending the Saturday morning tutorials,
please RSVP me, Rogi. Space is limited. Please be
willing to commit to at least a month

We have permission to use SAW32 audio editing

Someone at KUNM questioned my right to give PWD radio people copies of SAW32 audio editing software. Here's my reply:

SAW32 & Bob, the guy who made it
Thursday, June 5, 2008 12:57 PM
From:
"Rogi Riverstone"
To:
KUNMIDEAS-L@LIST

Well, I just telephoned

RML Labs
2550 E Desert Inn Rd #438
Las Vegas NV 89121

That's Bob, the SAW guy.

I explained everything to him, personally. (I'd already sent an email
& received a reply, but didn't save it, so could't publish it to the
list.)

He said we have full permission to use it, and thought the People With
Disabilities radio group was an interesting idea.

I told Bob how grateful I am for SAW32, how I'm clawing my way out of
poverty by independently producing radio, how I always use SAW, cuz I
can use it so easily.

He's happy to know I can link him to some of my productions, so he can
hear them.

He says he's pretty busy, working on his current products, and doesn't
mind who uses any of the old SAW stuff. He even gave me some tips on
how to copy it!

So, unless someone feels the need to contact Bob, long distance, in
Las Vegas NV, his or her self, I think I've pretty much proven I get
to copy SAW32 to the members of PWD radio.

I KNOW it's "outdated," but I can use it so easily. And the audio
quality is indistinguishable from Audition or anything else fancier.

Look, I still own & operate a webtv. I'm not exactly a luddite, but
I'm not very fast or fierce with software/hardware or underwear.

I just want to get these people trained and producing, so they can
experience the thrilling satisfaction, like I have, of knowing you
don't have to be UNable, just cuz you're DISabled.

I KNOW these people can produce radio; I just have to give them a
chance, before they lose confidence.