Editing Recording Vinyl (Mac OS) (section)

=== Audacity ===

<div class="alert alert-warning">After installing Mac OS Catalina, I was having difficulty hearing any audio in Audacity. See Troubleshooting. I did not locate a specific issue with Catalina. That was just the major difference in the environment since the last successful recording. I ended up switching to Adobe Audition, which successfully recorded from the USB turntable.</div>

==== Recording ====

If playing through USB headphones, first power on the headphones and make sure they are connected to the Mac before opening the Audacity app.

* Connect the turntable to the Mac via USB.
* Launch Audacity ''after'' the turntable is connected in order to have USB available as an input. <ref>[http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/usb_recording.html USB Recording], Audacity User's Manual</ref>
** In the '''Device Toolbar''' or '''Preferences''' > '''Devices''' <ref>[http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/device_toolbar.html Device Toolbar], Audacity User's Manual</ref> 
*** '''Audio Host''': `Core Audio`
*** '''Recording Device''' (Input): `USB Audio CODEC`
*** '''Recording Channels''': `2 (stereo) Recording Channels`
*** '''Playback Device''': `Built-In Output` or the name of the USB device if playing through USB, e.g. `Bose QuietComfort`
** '''Main Menu''' > '''Transport''' > '''Transport Options''' > '''Software Playthrough''' > ''checked''
* Clean the record.
* Cue and play the record.
* To record in Audacity simply click the '''Record''' button in the '''Transom''' toolbar. 
** To create a new audio recording in Audacity, '''Main Menu''' > '''File''' > '''New''' ( <kbd>&#8984;+N</kbd> )

It looks like maybe Audacity handles the levels in software. If so, there's no need to check the levels prior to recording, but this would need to be confirmed.

===== Appending to a track =====

By default Audacity assumes that you're recording voice tracks, and recording after a pause in recording, it will start recording on a new track. 

This comes into play if recording is paused while flipping a record over. 

In order to resume recording on the same track '''Main Menu''' > '''Transport''' > '''Append Record''' ( <kbd>&#8679;+R</kbd> ). <ref>[https://www.packtpub.com/books/content/creating-voice-track-audacity-13 Creating Voice Tracks], Audacity User's Manual</ref>

==== Isolating songs ====

* Zoom out <kbd>&#8984;</kbd> + <kbd>3</kbd> far enough to see entire songs. 
* Roughly select the region defining a song.
* <kbd>&#8984;+B</kbd> ('''Main Menu''' > '''Tracks''' > '''Add Label at Selection''') to create a label that corresponds to the selected region.
* Enter a name to identify the song. ''(This will ultimately be used as the name of the mp3 files, so something like track # + track title.)''
* Repeat for all the songs on the album.
* Place the playhead at the start of the first song. 
* <kbd>&#8984;</kbd> + <kbd>2</kbd> to zoom in for fine control.
* Put the playhead there the song should start. 
* The label in-point should be visible. It will be a ball with a skinny line wrapped around its right side. Grab the skinny line (it will turn white when selected) and pull it over to the playhead position. 
* Select the track by clicking on the track name in the labeled region.
* Now skip to the selection end (the rough end of the song) with <kbd>&#8984;</kbd> + <kbd>]</kbd> ('''View''' > '''Skip To''' > '''Selection End''')
* Repeat fine tuning the in and out points of all the songs on the album.

==== Exporting/saving audio tracks ====

===== Maximize volume =====

* Select all: <kbd>&#8984;+A</kbd>
* '''Effect''' > '''Normalize...'''

===== Set album metadata =====

* '''Edit''' > '''Metadata...'''
* Enter Artist, Album, Album Artist, Year, Genre, etc.

===== Export audio tracks =====

Exporting multiple tracks will export separate audio files for each label in the timeline. 

* '''Main Menu''' > '''File''' > '''Export Multiple...'''
* Set save location, format [[#Audio_file_formats|see below]] and bitrate options in the following dialog (AAC and MP3 formats requires the [[#FFMpeg_library_not_found|FFMpeg library to be installed]].)
** '''Split files based on:''' Labels
** '''Name files:''' Using Label/Track Name
* After clicking '''Export''' another dialog will prompt for artist, track name, track number, and album details.

==== Troubleshooting ====

===== FFMpeg library not found =====

* '''Audacity''' main menu > '''Preferences''' 
* '''Libraries''' > FFMpeg Library: '''Download''' button
* Sends you to a link with instructions for downloading and installing the library.
* Restart Audacity.