SOUND AND AUDIO IN FAMILY HISTORY:  SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

©2015 by Donald R. Snow
Sections of the Class Notes This page was last updated 2015-03-15.
Return to the  Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page  or  Don's Class Listings Page .

    INTRODUCTION

  1. Instructor is Donald R. Snow ( snowd@math.byu.edu ) of Provo and St. George, Utah.
  2. These notes are more comprehensive than the class notes on Sound and Audio in Family History; both are posted on  http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html .
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  4. Will discuss audio and sound files, digitizing analog sound (phonograph records, tape recordings), editing and transcribing sound files, and other information on sound, e.g. Skype to telephone via your computer and using CD's 

    5. ABOUT SOUND FILES

  5. The main kinds of digital sound files
    1. .cda = CD audio -- the kind of digital sound files on a music CD that you buy at the store - plays in CD players and computers
    2. .wma = Windows media audio -- a kind of digital sound file - plays in computers
    3. .wav = high-quality digital sound file, but very large file size
    4. .mp3 = lower quality sound file, but only 1/10th the size of wav files - plays in mp3 players and computers
    5. .midi = Musical Instrument Digital Interface -- special kind of sound file from musical instruments that have midi output jacks - allows editing, mixing channels, even writes the sheet music for you -- see info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_Instrument_Digital_Interface
  6. High quality sound files are large and take up lots of space on your hard drive, but storage space is cheap these days so you can archive high quality files
  7. CD's are of two kinds -- commercial and homemade -- are made differently, commercial are made by pressing and homemade by burning holes
  8. Sources of sound files
    1. Recording directly to the computer using a microphone plugged into the jack on the sound card
    2. Digital recorders -- small handheld devices that record directly into digital files
    3. Internet "streaming audio and video" -- talks, music, Internet radio stations, recordings online, church and training videos
    4. Internet sound files to download -- can do a Google search for title, artist, or talk
    5. Old reel-to-reel or cassette tapes or phonograph records (analog sound devices) played to record (digitize) on the computer
    6. Sound track from a DVD video
    7. MIDI (= Musical Instrument Digital Interface) -- some musical instruments (keyboards, guitars) have a midi connector to USB -- can record what the instrument plays

    DIGITAL RECORDERS AND DOWNLOADING SOUND FILES

  9. Ideas about buying and using a digital recorder
    1. Many uses for digital recording, e.g. keeping your journal by voice, recording FH interviews, and life stories
    2. Most smartphones can record digitally now
    3. If you buy a digital recorder, get get one with a USB connection so the digital sound files you make can be downloaded to a computer; otherwise you have to play them and record them on the computer to digitize (record) them
    4. Get a recorder that uses regular AA or AAA batteries so you can use standard rechargeable batteries and easily get regular batteries world-wide
    5. Try Internet searches and "price comparison" web sites, since they usually sell them much cheaper, even with the shipping costs.
    6. Whenever you replace the batteries be sure the date and time are set correctly so the metadata included with the sound file is correct
  10. Downloading sound files from your digital recorder to your computer
    1. Windows Explorer is sometimes easier to use to download your sound files, instead of the software that came with the recorder
    2. See the list of files on your recorder by using Windows Explorer
    3. May help to rename the file to include who, what, where, etc., before downloading it from the recorder -- allows searching for key words in the file name later, e.g. person, place, and occasion
    4.  Download your sound files regularly so you don't run the risk of losing them in case the recorder storage card gets filled up or you lose the recorder
    5. Good idea to make periodic backups of your sound file folder (and all important files)

    CAPTURING AUDIO FROM EXTERNAL SOUND SOURCES

  11. Reel-to-reel tape, cassette tape, phonograph records, microphone, midi -- need to transfer your old family history tapes and cassettes to digital format as soon as possible since the tape goes bad after time
  12. Need a machine to play the reel-to-reel tape, cassette tape, vinyl phonograph record, or MIDI -- finding a suitable machine may be the hardest part 
  13. Helpful instructions about this in  Kim Komando's Computer Tips
  14. Connect a cable from player (line-out, speaker, headphone) jack to line-in (or microphone jack with an attenuating cable) on your sound card on back of your computer
  15. Need a good quality player since you will be recording whatever sound it produces
  16. It records in real time, i.e. it takes as long to record as the sound is playing
    17.

    AUDACITY

  17. Audacity -- good OpenSource (free) recording and editing program -- http://audacity.sourceforge.net/-- has many features, but the simple features are easy to use
  18. Tutorials on Audacity -- http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/ -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdtPb1czT-0 
  19. With Audacity you see visual tracks for loudness of input and recording, one track for mono and two parallel tracks for stereo; experiment to set volume on the player and on Audacity so you don't get distortion; Audacity has an amplify feature if the entire recording is too low 
  20. Sequence to use in recording from another device or computer:  (1) Start Audacity, (2) Start player; when done, (3) Stop Audacity, (4) Stop player-- that way you don't miss anything and Audacity has good editing features to delete pauses and clicks at start and end, rearrange parts, fade in or out, etc.
  21. For microphone recording plug mike into the mike jack on your sound card and set the microphone level on Audacity the way you need it
  22. When done editing, save the file with the name and file format type you want -- may be a good idea to save an archive version in wav format and a smaller mp3 version for an mp3 player, or to send or upload; Audacity will also save the entire project in Audacity format, including every step before and after editing, if you will want to work on it again sometime
  23. Use Audacity to make sound narrations with background music for slideshows to use in videos, e.g. with  PhotoFilmStrip

    24. SPEECH RECOGNITION AND TRANSCRIBING SOUND FILES

  24. Automatic conversion of continuous speech into text is still not completely accurate; best tools are commercial, but there are free programs and even smart phones do fairly well
  25. Windows 7 has built-in Speech Recognition -- go to Control Panel > Speech Recognition -- can drag the microphone icon from the address bar at the top to get an icon on your desktop; to begin click on Start Speech Recognition, say "Open Wordpad", and start dictating; helps to go through the tutorial since your computer then learns your voice so you get better accuracy
  26. Dictation -- free website and Chrome app that does speech recognition using features of the Chrome browser -- https://dictation.io/ -- only seems to do a few lines of text and isn't very accurate; website includes a 2-minute video tutorial; can put a bookmark on your browser or desktop for it
  27. You may get better accuracy in converting continuous speech by "echoing", i.e. you listen with earphones and speak the words you hear so the program hears it in your voice; can also transcribe hand written journals, letters, or notes by reading them into the computer 
  28. Due to all the editing needed aftewards it may be easier to transcribe handwriting by scanning the article and using  Transcript , free program where you see the image in a window above and you type what you see in the text box below; image moves up as you press return at the end of lines  
  29. Listen N Write -- https://sites.google.com/site/elefantsoftwarefreeware/listen-n-write-free -- helpful transcription program that plays the audio and you type what you hear; free for private use
    1. 4-min tutorial -- YouTube Listen N Write Tutorial
    2. Has keyboard start and stop keys and even replays a few seconds before going on so you can see that you have transcribed it correctly

    MISCELLANEOUS ON SOUND

  30. Ripping a CD
    1. Ripping a CD means copying it onto your computer -- ripping saves all the CD files without having to play them to record; most ripping programs find the metadata (album title, artist, song title, etc.) online and save it with the file so later you can search your computer for album, song title, artist, etc.
    2. You can make copies of your CD's to use yourself, but not to give away or sell or you violate copyrights
    3. Good free CD rippers are  FairStars CD Ripper  and  Windows Media Player (built into Windows 7)
  31. Burning a CD
    1. Windows 7 has a simple burner in Windows Explorer; info and tutorial -- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/burn-a-cd-or-dvd-in-windows-explorer  
    2. Many good free CD/DVD burners -- http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-cd-dvd-burning-software.htm -- they rate  ImgBurn  the best        
  32. Skpye -- telephoning via your computer and the Internet
    1. Free program -- http://www.skype.com/en/
    2. You talk via a microphone and listen via speakers or earphones plugged into your computer sound card
    3. Can even do conference calls with several people at once
    4. No charge for Skype-to-Skype calls world-wide; small charge for Skype-to-telephone calls world-wide

    FURTHER HELPS

  33. Some tutorials about recording audio -- to find many others do YouTube and Google searches for "audacity tutorials free", "sound recording tutorials free", or similar 
    1. http://www.freeaudacitytutorials.com/
    2. http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/blog/audio-tutorials/
    3. http://www.any-sound-recorder.com/tutorial.html
    4. http://www.free-audio-editor.com/features/Tutorials_Recording_Music_on_LP_Cassettes_Tapes.html
  34. Some sources of online sound and files -- to find many others do Google searches for "free sound files", "free audio files", or similar
    1. Brainy Betty Free Music files -- http://brainybetty.com/soundsforpowerpoint.htm
    2. WavCentral -- http://wavcentral.com/
    3. HsinLin.com Freeware -- http://www.hsinlin.com/software/audio.html
    4. Internet Radio -- http://www.live365.com/index.live
    5. LDS Church -- http://www.lds.org/mp3/newarchive/0,18615,5249-1,00.html 
    6. BYU Radio -- http://byuradio.org/

    CONCLUSIONS

  35. These Sound and Audio Supplementary Notes have more information than the class notes for Sound and Audio in Family History on this web page.
  36. Recording and editing sound files takes time, but makes family history come alive when you hear people's voices
Return to the  Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page  or  Don's Class Listings Page .