C. Recording, saving,
and
protecting digital master
tracks
These instructions are for use with the audio workstations in the
CyberCenter:
- L14-AUVY2 (Windows XP); sound recording and editing
program is Acoustica 3.10.
- L10-JOAN (G4 PowerBook Mac OS X); sound recording and
editing program is Amadeus II 3.7.2.
If you are using your own equipment and software, the procedures will,
in general, be much the same although some details will differ.
Before starting, be sure that we all understand the following terms the
same way:
Track: a section of a recording, such as a
song, movement, or aria; a section that would typically be labeled as a
track on a CD, or spaced with a narrow ungrooved section on an LP
record so you can see where to drop the needle.
Master tracks from a tape or LP recording: the master
tracks you record from these sources will usually contain all of the
songs, movements, etc on
one side of the original record or
tape. It is a lot easier to get the whole side into digital form as a
master track, and then select out and edit the individual songs,
movements, etc. that you want as individual tracks on your final
CD.
Channel: A stereo recording, or any recording
made or played back on stereo equipment, will have a left and
right stereo channel. Both channels are part of one track. The
words
track and
channel should not be confused. Since
we are using stereo equipment for playback, all of the digital
conversions will have left and right channels, even if each channel was
recorded as an independent monophoonic channel.
Digital master tracks you create for your project,
before any editing, are the best and only original copies you will ever
have of the source from which you are working. You must assume that the
originial source (tape, record, etc.) will be lost or destroyed during
or after the master tracks are recorded -- if you do not save and
protect the digital master tracks you may lose the best and only copy
you have. It is
very important that you save the
digital
master tracks you create for your project so that you
can always find them and go back to the originals.
Organizing the files and folders for your audio project:
To properly protect and separate your digital master tracks from your
working copies and from the tracks on the final audio CD you
produce, it is
strongly recommended that, before you
begin your project, you set up the following hierarchy of folders and
rigorously adhere to the indicated rules for the contents of each
folder:
Project folder: myaudioprojectname,
contaning the following three subfolders:
mastertracks: contains only and
all of the original digital master tracks; this folder should be
considered write-protected -- you should never change the contents of
any files placed here, though you may copy them and work on copies to
your heart's content.
- never do a Save command on any file in this
folder;
- when you open a file from this folder to work on it,
immediately (and always) execute a Save as ... command, saving
the file
under a working name in the workingtracks folder to avoid
accidentally
hitting the Save command and destroying the original.
workingtracks: contains all working
copies of files related to the project; you might want to have
subfolders in this folder for segments or stages of your project.
projectnameCD: contains all of the
final, edited tracks you want to go on the CD you burn containing the
final, best results of your project.