1. Steps in Transferring Audio to CDs
1. Recording Source Material into the Computer
- Analog sources such as records or tapes
- Digital sources such as standard CDs
2. Editing and Cleaning the Sound Files
- Removing noise (tape hiss, 60 cycle hum)
- Removing clicks, pops and scratches
- Trimming starts and ends
3. “Burning” the files to CD-R or CD-RW
Alan Hansen July 2004

2. Transferring Audio Into Your Computer
Stereo Amp
or Receiver
INPUTS
Tape
Out
AUX
Turntable
Computer
Line In
Mic In
Line Out
Speaker Out
MIDI/Joystick
Tape Recorder
Y Cables
(see below)
Stereo Y Cable (from Radio Shack)
3 connections
(like Walkman headphone plug)

3. Transferring Audio Into Your Computer
Phono Pre-Amp
Turntable
Computer
Line In
Mic In
Line Out
Speaker Out
MIDI/Joystick
OUTPUT
INPUT
Computer Speakers

4. Setting Up Computer for New Audio Source
Ensure this
Slider is on,
and not muted
Wave
Sounds
from Disk
Master Volume
Speaker Icon in Taskbar
accesses Sound functions
Right-Click on Speaker Icon
to Open Volume Control Panel
Left-Click on Speaker Icon to open Master Volume
Control Slider (same as Volume Control on panel above).
Can also Mute sound by clicking Mute box.

5. Recording Audio - Windows provides a basic Sound
Recorder utility. It will record
to the computer hard disk whatever
sound the computer is playing.
- These files are written in .wav format.
- Sound Recorder can be used to play
back .wav files of any length.
- Sound Recorder will only record files
up to 1 minute long.

6. Recording Audio .wav files can be recorded with a wide
variety of formats...
Highest quality (CD equivalent) is 44,100 Hz,
16 bit samples, in stereo.
To save file space, these parameters can be
changed - the sound quality will start to
suffer.

7. Standard CD and Digital Audio Recording
+32768
-32768
16 Bit sample (= total steps)
44,100 times per second
(~ 1 sample every 25 uSecond)
172 kBytes / per sec (for stereo)
~ 10 Mbytes / min (for stereo)

8. “Degraded” Digital Audio Recording
+16384
-16384
8 Bit sample (= total steps)
22,050 times per second
43 kBytes / per sec (for stereo)
~ 2.5 Mbytes / min (for stereo)

9. Recording Audio Most sound cards come with software to record sound.
This is Creative Wave
Studio, bundled with
Creative Labs’
AWE32 Sound Card.
Allows setting of .wav
file parameters; volume
meters; ability to edit
the sound files.
Note that you still use
the Volume Control
Panel to set levels.

10. Recording Audio Sound editing programs (like WaveStudio) allow
basic editing and sound
modification, such as
volume level, adding
echo, fade-in and -out.
If the sound files to be
transferred are “clean”,
this level of program
may be all you need.
If you intend to transfer
old, scratchy records, or
hissy tapes, a more
sophisticated program
will be needed.
Some CD Burning
software includes basic
functions for cleaning up
record clicks and scratches.

11. Editing Audio Sound Forge (now from Sony) is a sophisticated
editing program.
Includes extensive editing
functions; Equalization,
time expand/compress;
pitch shifting, etc.
More importantly, it has
optional plug-ins for
Click Removal, Noise
Reduction, and Vinyl
Restoration.
Does an excellent job of
cleaning up old audio -
HOWEVER, it can also
remove wanted sound if
not used carefully.
And no program can repair
sound that has been too
badly damaged.

12. Editing Audio Sound Forge has an optional feature
called Click Removal, that can be
set to automatically detect and remove
clicks and scratches (see left) in sound
files.
You can also manually overwrite the
scratch.
Depending on the quality of the
sound file, you may use either method,
or both if needed.

13. Editing Audio Sound Forge optional plug-in for Noise Reduction takes a
sample of the noise
in a quiet spot (for
example in the groove
between songs on a
record), and then
subtracts that noiseprint
from the music.
This can also be used to
remove hiss from a
tape, or 60 cycle hum.
Includes the ability to
listen to what’s being
removed, to ensure no
wanted signal is
included.

14. Burning the CD Roxio’s Easy CD Creator often
comes bundled with a CD-R (CD Read
Once) or CD-RW (CD Re-Writable)
drive.
Controls burning of either audio disks
(for playback in normal CD players)
or data disks (for high-volume storage
of PC data).
Blank CD will hold approx. 75 minutes
of audio or 650 MegaBytes of data
(newer disks now offering 80 minutes).
A CD-RW disk can’t be read by
audio CD players - but a CD-RW drive
can burn a normal CD-R blank.
Easy CD Creator has a “wizard” to
guide you through the steps of
burning either Data or Audio CDs.

15. Burning the CD Upper half of screen shows File System and Directory
contents for source material.
Simple “click and drag”
to lower panel to assemble
list of tracks.
Color bar at bottom shows
accumulated time, estimate
of remaining time on disk.

16. Burning the CD Typical problem on older/slower PCs is
called “buffer under-run”, when the
hard disk cannot supply data to the CD
burner as fast as needed - CD blank will
be wasted. Easy CD Creator allows you
to run a test first, and to adjust the write
speed down from the fastest, to ensure
the hard disk can keep up.
Disks can be written all at once, or additional
tracks can be added later. In order to play
an audio disk on a standard CD player, you
must “close” the disk, which writes a
directory of all tracks and prepares the disk
for play.

17. Burning the CD Easy CD Creator provides information on the
status of the burn - how many tracks written,
how many bytes remaining on the track being
written and % completed.
A full CD (i.e. 74 minutes of audio, or 650
megabytes of data) takes about 19 minutes to
burn at a 4X speed.
CD-R drives are spec’d (for example) 4X / 20 X, for Write at 4x normal speed (writes a 74 minute CD in 19 minutes) and 20X maximum read.
CD-RW drives (for example) are spec’d
8X / 4X / 32X, meaning 8X write once mode / 4X re-writable mode / 32X read max.

18. A Few General Thoughts
- Simply copying records to the computer and burning CDs can be a relatively simple and inexpensive
process. Doing extensive cleanup of the files can become expensive and time-consuming (but very
rewarding).
- Costs involved (for system demo’d today):
- CD-R drive - < $100
- Roxio (Adaptec) Easy CD Creator software – (included with drive) - purchase price < $79
- Creative Labs AWE32 Sound Card - approx. $90 (newer models now available)
- WaveStudio software for recording to computer - bundled with sound card
- Sound Forge sound editing software - $ 399
- Sound Forge noise reduction option - $ 279
- Blank CD-R disks - << $1 each
- Check E-Bay for used/discounted/down-rev products
- System Requirements:
- any reasonably current Pentium machine should be able to handle the process.
Demo machine used today is nearly 3 years old, Pentium 1.3 GHz, with 256 Meg of RAM
- Best to have large disk space in which to prepare all files prior to burning disk - at
least 750 MegaBytes
- Turn off all background processes, especially screen saver - best to devote full
processor resources to the burn process
- Avoid computers with on-the-motherboard sound functions - cheap design that can
introduce noise into your files. Look for mid-range or better cards, like Creative
Labs SoundBlaster Live 5.1, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, etc.

19. A Few General Thoughts
- There are other software products available to do the same thing, for example:
- Dart XP ($99) or Dart XP Pro ($199) can record, clean and burn direct to CD
- Look for “Lite” versions of software – they may have fewer features, but may
fit your needs and budget
- Many companies also offer evaluation copies over the web - eval versions will be
limited, and usually won’t let you save the edited file, but are a good way to try out
functionality
- Good resources available on the Internet:
- for links to eval software, other resources
- for purchase, eval copies, links
- for Sound Forge software
- for Dart Pro software
- (to Support, Dowloads) for free 8 track audio mixer s/w
- for sound cards
- and/or for Turtle Beach sound cards
- for on-line version of Electronic Musician magazine
- do a general search on ‘recording sound to a computer” or similar phrases