Selvom jeg har brugt Audacity i et par år nu uden problemer, ved jeg, at der er masser af funktioner, jeg aldrig har udforsket, og jeg var ivrig efter at udvide mine færdigheder. Derfor var jeg glad for at få fingrene i The Book of Audacity , en bog af Carla Schroder . Gjorde^(Did) denne bog arbejdet? Lad os tage et kig i denne anmeldelse.

Lydredigering - Den gamle skolemåde

For mange år siden, da jeg arbejdede på en radiostation, blev jeg ret dygtig til at optage og redigere lydbånd. Udover båndoptageren og mikrofonerne havde du brug for en splejsningsklods og en endeløs forsyning af barberblade eller en speciel alt-i-et-båndskære-/splejsningsenhed. For at redigere et bånd skal du fysisk klippe det fra hinanden (enten lige over båndet eller på en vinkel, afhængigt af situationen) og derefter tape det sammen igen med splejsebånd. Det virker simpelt nok, men at gøre det rigtigt krævede dygtighed, en masse øvelse og en vis grad af held. Og hvis du har rodet, held og lykke med at rette det! Alt det udstyr kostede mange penge, og de fleste mennesker har aldrig haft behov for at lære, hvordan man gør det. I dag^(Nowadays) kan enhver være lydoptager og redaktør, og noget af det bedste software til at gøre dette er helt gratis – som f.eks.Audacity . Det tog mig ikke lang tid at lære at bruge Audacity , men dens dokumentation leveres i form af en online wiki, en online oversigt over kapitel for kapitel eller en manual, der er tilgængelig via programmet, alle formater jeg aldrig har været interesseret i . Jeg foretrækker en god solid alt-i-en selvstændig manual, helst trykt, men jeg ved, at det er en rigtig gammeldags holdning. 🙂 BEMÆRK^(NOTE) : Hvis du gerne vil se, hvordan lydredigering blev udført "old school", er her et link, der kunne være af interesse: How To Splice A Tape .

Hvad er Audacity?

Hvis du endnu ikke har hørt om Audacity , er den tilgængelig gratis (også open source) til Windows , Mac OS og Linux . Det er en lydoptager, editor og mixer. Du kan finde softwaren til alle platforme og læse alt om det på Audacitys hjemmeside^{(Audacity website)} . Siden skal opdage, hvilken platform du bruger, og tilbyde dig den passende version af programmet.

Hvad kan programmet? Den slags ting, der engang krævede et rum fyldt med dyrt udstyr, plus omfattende kompetencer. Her er en liste fra bogen.

Du ved måske ikke, hvad disse ting betyder, eller har noget behov for de specialiserede funktioner, men du kan komme i gang med at optage og afspille på ingen tid overhovedet, med blot en mikrofon og Audacity . Mikrofonen indbygget i en bærbar computer eller webcam, eller en billig mikrofon eller headset, burde være god nok til at komme i gang. Og hvis den optagelse, du laver, ikke går rigtigt første gang, gør Audacity det ekstremt nemt at starte forfra. Ikke flere tape at klippe op og smide væk. 🙂

At tage det trin for trin

The Book of Audacity tager den bedst mulige tilgang til at lære at bruge programmet. Begyndende med det helt basale i at lave en optagelse, redigering og afspilning, leder forfatteren læseren gennem introduktionsprojekter og lægger vægt på en praktisk tilgang til hver funktion. Jeg kunne virkelig godt lide dette, for ligesom mange mennesker har jeg det bedst, når jeg kan læse vejledningen og derefter prøve tingene for at se, hvordan de fungerer. Det første kapitel hedder Audacity fra start til slut^{(Audacity from Start to Finish)} , og det leverer netop det. Arbejd gennem dette kapitel, og du vil have det grundlæggende og selvtillid til at gå videre til mere teknisk involverede projekter. Mange tekniske bøger kan læses i stort set enhver rækkefølge, men jeg vil anbefale at læse The Book of Audacitylige igennem, fordi de færdigheder, du lærer i et kapitel, vil gøre de færdigheder, du lærer senere, nemmere at tilegne sig og forstå. Først^(First) guider forfatteren dig gennem opsætningen af ​​dit udstyr. Du har måske set vores vejledning om lydoptageren^{(Sound Recorder)} eller den første vejledning om talegenkendelse^{(speech recognition)} , og hvis det er tilfældet, vil dette være et velkendt område. Følg anvisningerne, og du vil være god til at gå. Der er en hurtig start^{(Quick Start)}afsnit i begyndelsen af ​​bogen, der burde have næsten alle i gang med deres første optagelse på ingen tid. Alt er forklaret og illustreret, og forfatteren ved tydeligvis, hvordan man skriver til begyndere, med kun et skænderi. Hun bruger tekniske udtryk, der er fælles for lydoptagelser uden at forklare dem. Der er en omfattende ordliste i slutningen af ​​bogen, som tager sig af dette, men nogle læsere bemærker det måske ikke med det samme. Quick Start- sektionen er kun fem sider lang, men forfatteren har proppet et væld af nyttig information ind i den. Og så bygger hun videre på det fundament.

Ud over det grundlæggende

Når læseren er bekendt med, hvordan Audacity fungerer, er det tid til at gå videre til en mere detaljeret introduktion til programmet i et afsnit, der passende kaldes Audacity in detail . Der er en omfattende illustration og forklaring af alle de knapper og kontroller, du vil se på Audacity -skærmen. For mig var dette en af ​​de bedste dele af bogen, for selv efter at have lavet optagelser med Audacity i et par år vidste jeg stadig ikke, hvad nogle af de ting gjorde.

Jeg kunne godt lide forklaringen på, hvordan Audacity holder dine data sikre. At læse det afsnit burde være meget betryggende for alle – det er næsten umuligt at ødelægge et projekt uden at blive bedt om det. Der er ikke mange andre programmer, der kan gøre denne påstand. En af de mest fantastiske ting ved denne bog er, at forfatteren inden for et spænd på kun 30 sider giver læseren en komplet Audacity- uddannelse. Ikke bare en " ABC " primer, eller det absolutte minimum, men en gennemgang af, hvad man kan gøre med Audacity , og hvordan man gør det. Alt er selvfølgelig ikke forklaret i detaljer, men det er det, resten af ​​bogen er til. Enkelt gang^(Once)du har læst de første 30 sider, kan du fortsætte med at udforske ethvert aspekt af processen, der interesserer dig mere detaljeret (noget jeg helt klart vil anbefale). Dette afsnit begynder med det betryggende faktum, at Audacity "understøtter næsten ubegrænset fortrydelse, så det er sikkert at eksperimentere." Da eksperimentering er en af ​​de bedste måder at lære at bruge ny software på, bør det være en meget velkommen nyhed at vide, at hvis du roder, kan du gå tilbage med et enkelt klik. Og så går du væk. Her er et kig på de emner, der er dækket på disse 30 sider.

Det virker som en frygtelig masse at proppe ind på et lille rum, men forfatteren ved tydeligvis, hvad hun taler om, og hvordan man får mest muligt ud af hver sætning, og næsten enhver læser burde forstå, hvordan Audacity fungerer efter at have læst dette afsnit.

Mere kompleksitet

Det meste af resten af ​​bogen er afsat til at udforske aspekter af lydoptagelse og mixning mere detaljeret, og afsnit 2^{(Section 2)} er noget afskrækkende. Afsnit 2^{(Section 2)} hedder Building a Good Digital Sound Studio on the Cheap . For mange mennesker kan et "digitalt lydstudie" bestå af et lydkort, en mikrofon og en kopi af Audacity. Desværre forklarer forfatteren ikke dette. Hun laver seriøs optagelse, så hun har en masse lydudstyr, som hun beskriver detaljeret (med fotos). Det kan skræmme nogle nytilkomne eller folk, der ikke har til hensigt at indspille bands eller andre live-optrædener. Jeg tror dog, at forklaringen på de forskellige slags stik burde være interessant for stort set alle. Jeg har en audiofil og en broadcast-tekniker og et omvandrende leksikon med stik og kabler og forbindelser i mit hus (alias min mand), men ikke alle er så heldige. 🙂

Det er også godt at vide om de forskellige slags mikrofoner og lydkort, selvom de tekniske detaljer ikke rigtig indgår i det enkleste "lydstudie"-setup. The Book of Audacity udkom i 2011, og på én måde viser den virkelig sin alder. Forfatteren insisterer på, at Windows XP er det bedste! Jeg håber, hun har ændret mening siden da. Jeg har fundet ud af, at Audacity fungerer langt, langt bedre på Windows 7 og Windows 8, end det nogensinde har gjort på Windows XP . Plus, Windows XP vil snart blive udfaset af Microsoft . Forfatteren er også af den opfattelse, at man har brug for en kraftig computer og en enorm mængde lagerplads. Måske var dette sandt iWindows XP æra. Ikke sådan i dag, medmindre du planlægger at skabe og gemme en masse^(LOT) materiale. Jeg ville ikke bruge en minimalistisk computer, men jeg har bestemt ikke computere med store processorer og petabytes lagerplads, og jeg har haft det fint med Audacity . Men når først læseren kommer forbi det kapitel, er der masser af god information at finde. Resten af ​​bogen er helliget den slags projekter, mange mennesker gerne vil tage fat på, og leder læseren gennem hver type projekt trin for trin med masser af illustrationer. Her er, hvad der er dækket:

The Book of Audacity lister de forberedelser, læseren skal gøre for hver type optagelse, de indstillinger, forfatteren anbefaler, og den komplette procedure fra start til slut (inklusive ting som, hvordan man rengør en LP med en opvaskemaskine^(Diskwasher) , og hvordan man rengør vintage 78 rpm plader uden at beskadige dem). Jeg tror ikke, at nogen kan gå galt med nogen af ​​disse specialiserede projekter, hvis de er opmærksomme og drager fordel af den "ubegrænsede Fortryd^(Undo) "-funktion så ofte som nødvendigt.

Konklusioner

The Book of Audacity er en fremragende instruktionsguide og reference til software, der er let nok for begyndere, men sofistikeret nok til seriøs brug. At have detaljerede instruktioner for hver type projekt burde give enhver tillid. Og den første del af bogen er en alt-i-et Audacity- tutorial helt for sig selv. Det er ikke tit, man får så god en uddannelse på et lille sted. Bogen viser dens alder ( Windows er helt sikkert kommet videre), men det forringer ikke kvaliteten af ​​informationen.

Dom

Ikke alle ønsker eller har brug for at lave lydoptagelser, men der er nok kreative måder at bruge Audacity til at gøre det tiltalende for mange mennesker. Jeg brugte den til at overføre min mors yndlingsplade (aldrig udgivet i digitalt format) til en cd, til at konvertere nogle rigtig gamle kassetter med mine børns stemmer, da de var små, til digitalt format, og til at optage linjer til et podcast-lyddrama. Jeg har ikke et high-end setup eller andet i form af udstyr end en mikrofon, et godt, men ikke spektakulært lydkort og en USB - pladespiller. The Book of Audacity er en fantastisk bog for alle, der ønsker at lære at udnytte Audacity fuldt ud . Jeg håber, at forfatteren vil udkomme med en ny revideret udgave for at følge med ændringerne iWindows og Audacity siden denne bog blev udgivet, men selv som den er, er den værd at få.

Book Review - The Book of Audacity, by Carla Schroder

Although I'vе been using Audacity for a couple years now with no problems, I know there are plenty of features I have never explored, and I was eager to expand my skills. That's why I was happy to get my hands on The Book of Audacity, a book by Carla Schroder. Did this book do the job? Let's take a look in this review.

Sound editing - The old school way

Many years ago, when I worked at a radio station, I became quite adept at recording and editing audio tape. Besides the tape recorder and microphones, you needed a splicing block and an endless supply of razor blades, or a special all-in one-tape cutting/splicing unit. To edit a tape you'd have to physically cut it apart (either straight across the tape or on an angle, depending on the situation) and then tape it back together with splicing tape. It seems simple enough, but doing it right required skill, a lot of practice and a certain degree of luck. And if you messed up, good luck on fixing it! All that equipment cost a lot of money and most people never had any need to learn how to do it. Nowadays, anyone can be a sound recorder and editor, and some of the best software to do this is absolutely free—like Audacity. It didn't take me long to learn how to use Audacity, but its documentation is supplied in the form of an online wiki, a chapter by chapter online listing, or a manual that's accessible through the program, all formats I have never cared for. I prefer a good solid all-in-one standalone manual, preferably printed, but I know that's a really old-school attitude. 🙂 NOTE: If you'd like to see how sound editing was done "old school," here's a link that might be of interest: How To Splice A Tape.

What is Audacity?

If you haven't yet heard about Audacity, it is available free of charge (open source, too) for Windows, Mac OS and Linux. It's a sound recorder, editor and mixer. You can find the software for all platforms, and read all about it, at the Audacity website. The site should detect which platform you are using and offer you the appropriate version of the program.

What can the program do? The kinds of things that once upon a time required a room full of expensive equipment, plus extensive skills. Here's a list, from the book.

You may not know what those things mean, or have any need of the specialized features, but you can get started recording and playing back in no time at all, with just a microphone and Audacity. The microphone built into a laptop computer or webcam, or an inexpensive microphone or headset, should be good enough to get you started. And if the recording you make doesn't go right the first time, Audacity makes it extremely easy to start over again. No more tapes to cut up and throw away. 🙂

Taking it step by step

The Book of Audacity takes the best possible approach to learning how to use the program. Beginning with the very basics of making a recording, editing, and playback, the author walks the reader through introductory projects, emphasizing a hands-on approach to each feature. I really liked this, because, like a lot of people, I do best when I can read the directions and then try things out to see how they work. The first chapter is called Audacity from Start to Finish, and it delivers just that. Work through this chapter and you'll have the basics and the confidence to go on to more technically involved projects. Many technical books can be read in pretty much any order, but I'd recommend reading The Book of Audacity straight through, because the skills you learn in one chapter will make the skills you learn later easier to acquire and understand. First, the author walks you through setting up your equipment. You may have seen our tutorial on the Sound Recorder, or the first tutorial on speech recognition, and if so, this will be familiar territory. Follow the directions and you'll be good to go. There's a Quick Start section at the beginning of the book that should have nearly everyone up and running with their first recording in no time. Everything is explained and illustrated and the author clearly knows how to write for beginners, with just one quibble. She uses technical terms common to sound recording without explaining them. There is an extensive glossary at the end of the book, which takes care of this, but some readers may not notice this right away. The Quick Start section is only five pages long, but the author crammed a wealth of useful information into it. And then she goes on to build on that foundation.

Beyond the basics

Once the reader is familiar with how Audacity works, it's time to move on to a more detailed introduction to the program in a section called, appropriately, Audacity in detail. There is an extensive illustration and explanation of all the buttons and controls you'll see on the Audacity screen. To me, this was one of the best parts of the book, because even after making recordings with Audacity for a couple of years I still didn't know what some of those things did.

I liked the explanation of how Audacity keeps your data safe. Reading that section should be very reassuring to everyone—it's almost impossible to mess a project up beyond recovery. There aren't many other programs that can make this claim. One of the most amazing things about this book is that within the span of only 30 pages, the author gives the reader a complete Audacity education. Not just an "ABC" primer, or the bare minimum, but a walk-through of what one can do with Audacity, and how to do it. Of course, not everything is explained in full detail, but that's what the rest of the book is for. Once you've read those first 30 pages, you can go on to explore any aspect of the process that interests you in much more detail (something I would definitely recommend). This section begins with the reassuring fact that Audacity "supports almost unlimited undo, so it is safe to experiment." Since experimentation is one of the best ways to learn how to use new software, knowing in advance that if you mess up you can go back with one click should be very welcome news. And then, away you go. Here's a look at the topics that are covered in those 30 pages.

It seems like an awful lot to cram into a small space, but the author clearly knows what she's talking about and how to get the most out of every sentence, and just about any reader should understand how Audacity works after reading this section.

More complexity

Most of the rest of the book is devoted to exploring aspects of sound recording and mixing in greater detail, and Section 2 is somewhat off-putting. Section 2 is called Building a Good Digital Sound Studio on the Cheap. For many people, a "digital sound studio" can consist of a sound card, a microphone, and a copy of Audacity. Unfortunately, the author doesn't explain this. She does serious recording, so she has a lot of audio equipment, which she describes in detail (with photos). That may intimidate some newcomers or people who don't intend to record bands or other live performances. However, I think the explanation of the various kinds of connectors should be of interest to just about everyone. I have an audiophile and a broadcast engineer and a walking encyclopedia of connectors and cables and connections in my house (aka my husband) but not everyone is so fortunate. 🙂

It's also good to know about the different kinds of microphones and sound cards, even if those technical details don't really enter into the simplest "sound studio" setup. The Book of Audacity was published in 2011, and in one respect it really shows its age. The author insists that Windows XP is the best! I do hope she's changed her mind since then. I have found Audacity to work far, far better on Windows 7 and Windows 8 than it ever did on Windows XP. Plus, Windows XP will soon be phased out by Microsoft. The author is also of the opinion that one needs a high powered computer and a huge amount of storage space. Perhaps this was true in the Windows XP era. Not so today, unless you plan to create and save a LOT of material. I wouldn't use a minimalist computer, but I certainly don't have computers with huge processors and petabytes of storage and I've gotten along with Audacity just fine. However, once the reader gets past that chapter, there is plenty of great information to be found. The rest of the book is devoted to the kinds of projects many people will want to tackle, and walks the reader through each kind of project step by step with plenty of illustrations. Here's what is covered:

The Book of Audacity lists the preparations the reader will need to make for each kind of recording, the settings the author recommends, and the complete procedure from beginning to end (including such things as how to clean an LP with a Diskwasher brush and how to clean vintage 78rpm records without damaging them). I don't think anyone can go wrong with any of these specialized projects if they pay attention and take advantage of that "unlimited Undo" feature as often as necessary.

Conclusions

The Book of Audacity is an excellent instruction guide and reference to software that's easy enough for beginners but sophisticated enough for serious use. Having detailed instructions for each kind of project should give anyone confidence. And the first part of the book is an all in one Audacity tutorial all by itself. It's not often that you get that good an education in a small space. The book does show its age (Windows has definitely moved on) but that does not diminish the quality of the information.

Verdict

Not everyone wants or needs to make sound recordings, but there are enough creative ways to use Audacity to make it appealing for a lot of people. I used it to transfer my mother's favorite record (never released in digital format) to a CD, to convert some really old cassettes of my children's voices when they were tiny into digital format, and to record lines for a podcast audio drama. I don't have a high end setup or anything more in the way of equipment than a microphone, a good but not spectacular sound card, and a USB turntable. The Book of Audacity is a great book for anyone that wants to learn how to make full use of Audacity. I'm hoping the author will come out with a new revised edition to keep up with the changes in Windows and Audacity since this book was published, but even as it is, it's worth getting.

Related posts

• Boganmeldelse - Windows 8.1 The Missing Manual, af David Pogue

• Boganmeldelse - Windows 8 Inside Out, af Tony Northrup

• Boganmeldelse - Windows 8 ud af æsken, af Mike Halsey

• Boganmeldelse - Windows 8 Step By Step, af Ciprian Rusen & Joli Ballew

• Boganmeldelse - Netværk dine computere og enheder, trin for trin

• Boganmeldelse - Windows 7 irritationer

• Boganmeldelse - Google+ The Missing Manual

• Boganmeldelse - Microsoft Office 2010 Inside Out

• Boganmeldelse - Microsoft Excel 2010 Trin for Trin

• Boganmeldelse - Microsoft Office 2010 Plain & Simple

• ASUS Transformer Book Flip TP300LA anmeldelse - En kraftfuld Windows 8.1 Cabriolet

• Boganmeldelse: Byg din egen hjemmeside: En tegneserieguide til HTML, CSS og Wordpress

• Boganmeldelse - Lær dig selv visuelt Windows 8

• Boganmeldelse - Windows 8-hemmeligheder

• Boganmeldelse - Microsoft Office Professional 2013 Trin for Trin

• Boganmeldelse - Teamsamarbejde, brug af Microsoft Office til mere effektivt teamarbejde

• Boganmeldelse - Windows 7 Visual Quick Tips

• Boganmeldelse - Windows 7 og Office 2010 For Dummies, Bog + DVD-pakke

• Boganmeldelse - Microsoft Office 2010 for Dummies

• Boganmeldelse - Windows 8 Plain & Simple, af Nancy Muir