Song editing software?

Rickster71

Rickster71

Audioholic Spartan
I hope this is the right forum for this question.

song editing software?
I'm saving music to a PC's hard drive. Later I either make compilation CD's, or use the drive as a juke box.
I'd like to edit some songs. For instance, lengthening an instrumental, or sax solo. Does anyone know of software that would do this?
Thanks in advance for any help!
Rick
 
M

MDS

Audioholic Spartan
I prefer Sound Forge: http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/products/soundforgefamily.asp

The Audio Studio version is the 'lite' version and is all you really need. I use it for ripping CDs and editing the songs where necessary (some songs need to be split or combined depending on how the track markers are placed on the CD, faded in or out, etc). Every once in a while there is a glitch on some tracks that needs to be fixed too. It also supports multiple lossy compression formats although I stick to the basic 192 kbps MP3.
 
Rickster71

Rickster71

Audioholic Spartan
Thanks for the help MDS.
Do you have any format recommendations?
I'm using WMA to record.
Is that better than MP3?
 
racquetman

racquetman

Audioholic Chief
Or you could save yourself some money and use Audacity. It should do everything you want.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

By the way, which format you use depends on the bitrate and your own ears. If WMA sounds fine to you then stick with it. If you want to do a comparison, rip a song at the same bitrate using WMA, mp3, AAC, etc . . . and see if you can tell the difference. Go with the one that sounds best to you.
 
M

MDS

Audioholic Spartan
You don't record or rip to any lossy compression format. When recording, the soundcard will do the analog to digital conversion and you will have a WAV file. The program you use may then automatically transcode it to whatever lossy compression format you choose, but it wasn't 'captured' that way. Same thing when you rip tracks from a CD.

If you are going to record say from a turntable or cassette deck you are better off saving the WAV file so you can edit it if needed. If you let the program automatically convert it to WMA, MP3, et al and then go to edit it, the program will have to decode it back to wav and you will be working on a version that is not the same as what was originally captured.

I assume you are going to edit the files as that was the original question, so you should rip tracks from a CD and save the WAV, edit it if necessary and then only when all of your edits are complete do you transcode it to a lossy compression format. The choice of which compression format is entirely up to your own personal preference based on what sounds good to you.
 
WorldLeader

WorldLeader

Full Audioholic
If you're really into this, or just want a better computing experience, get a Mac. Apple includes GarageBand on every new Mac as a part of iLife. I use GarageBand a lot and find it really cool whether you make your own songs from scratch or record live instruments to tweak later.

A step up from GarageBand is Logic Express. Logic Express is a toned-down version of Logic Pro, but it has most of the fundamental features to really dive into musical editing and recording.

Logic Pro is an all-out editing/recording machine. There are tons of features and effects that makes it one of the most comprehensive programs on the market.

Soundtrack Pro is also a program for scoring your movies, and blends perfectly with Final Cut Studio.


You can also use Audacity and other free-ware & shareware apps on the Mac.

If you get a new Intel Mac, you can also boot Windows and/or Linux with OS X.

I made the switch a year ago and never looked back. Working with an iMac is Teh Win! :cool:

[I'm not associated with Apple :p]
 
Rob Babcock

Rob Babcock

Moderator
The tired old "get a Mac" quip is a dumb answer since that's not what he asked. A new computer is obviously an expensive purchase compared to new software. I really like Nero for editing wave files. It's not free, but it's not terribly expensive and it's a terrific peice of software. EAC is excellent & free, but not as intuitive to me. YMMV- you might like it better.
 
jeffsg4mac

jeffsg4mac

Republican Poster Boy
Rob Babcock said:
A new computer is obviously an expensive purchase compared to new software.
Not if your getting that logic pro app, at $999.99 that is a rather pricey app. Quite a few computers I can get for that including a mac or two. :)
 
Rob Babcock

Rob Babcock

Moderator
jeffsg4mac said:
Not if your getting that logic pro app, at $999.99 that is a rather pricey app. Quite a few computers I can get for that including a mac or two. :)
$1k is a lot more expensive than buying Nero for $80.:rolleyes: Presumably s/he already has a computer, or else they wouldn't be asking for a software recommendation, dontcha think?:D

Unless there's a lot more to it than the original post actually said, no one in their right minds would spend a grand on software if all they really want is to trim the length of a song by thirty seconds and fade it out!:eek:
 
Rock&Roll Ninja

Rock&Roll Ninja

Audioholic Field Marshall
Some of us old-timers have Macs that predate GarageBand. Paying $200 for Ocelot (or whatever cat they're on now) also not a real enticing idea.
 
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