Iako koristim Audacity već nekoliko godina bez ikakvih problema, znam da postoji mnogo značajki koje nikad nisam istražio, a želio sam proširiti svoje vještine. Zato sam se rado dočepao knjige smjelosti^{(The Book of Audacity)} , knjige Carle Schroder^{(Carla Schroder)} . Je li^(Did) ova knjiga obavila posao? Pogledajmo u ovoj recenziji.

Montaža zvuka - na stari školski način

Prije mnogo godina, dok sam radio na radio stanici, postao sam prilično vješt u snimanju i montaži audio vrpce. Osim kasetofona i mikrofona, trebao vam je blok za spajanje i beskrajna zaliha žiletova ili posebna jedinica za rezanje/spajanje sve u jednoj vrpci. Da biste uređivali traku, morali biste je fizički razrezati (bilo ravno preko vrpce ili pod kutom, ovisno o situaciji), a zatim je ponovno zalijepiti trakom za spajanje. Čini se dovoljno jednostavnim, ali da bi se to ispravno radilo zahtijevalo je vještinu, puno prakse i određeni stupanj sreće. A ako ste zabrljali, sretno u popravljanju! Sva ta oprema koštala je mnogo novca i većina ljudi nikada nije imala potrebu naučiti kako to učiniti. Danas^(Nowadays) svatko može biti snimatelj i montažer zvuka, a neki od najboljih softvera za to su apsolutno besplatni—npr.Smjelost^(Audacity) . Nije mi trebalo dugo da naučim kako koristiti Audacity , ali njegova je dokumentacija isporučena u obliku internetskog wikija, poglavlja po poglavlje online popisa ili priručnika koji je dostupan kroz program, sve formate za koje nikad nisam mario . Više volim dobar, solidan samostalni priručnik sve u jednom, po mogućnosti tiskan, ali znam da je to stvarno stav stare škole. 🙂 NAPOMENA^(NOTE) : Ako želite vidjeti kako je montaža zvuka napravljena "stara škola", evo poveznice koja bi mogla biti zanimljiva: Kako spojiti traku^{(How To Splice A Tape)} .

Što je Audacity?

Ako još niste čuli za Audacity , dostupan je besplatno (i otvorenog koda) za Windows , Mac OS i Linux . To je snimač zvuka, montažer i mikser. Možete pronaći softver za sve platforme i pročitati sve o njemu na web stranici Audacity^{(Audacity website)} . Stranica bi trebala otkriti koju platformu koristite i ponuditi vam odgovarajuću verziju programa.

Što program može učiniti? Ono što je nekad davno zahtijevalo sobu punu skupe opreme, plus opsežne vještine. Evo popisa iz knjige.

Možda ne znate što te stvari znače ili vam trebaju specijalizirane značajke, ali možete početi snimati i reproducirati u kratkom roku, uz samo mikrofon i Audacity . Mikrofon ugrađen u prijenosno računalo ili web kameru, ili jeftin mikrofon ili slušalice, trebao bi biti dovoljno dobar da započnete. A ako snimka koju napravite ne prođe kako treba prvi put, Audacity iznimno olakšava početak ispočetka. Nema više traka za rezanje i bacanje. 🙂

Poduzimajući to korak po korak

Book of Audacity^{(The Book of Audacity)} ima najbolji mogući pristup učenju korištenja programa. Počevši od samih osnova snimanja, montaže i reprodukcije, autor vodi čitatelja kroz uvodne projekte, naglašavajući praktični pristup svakoj značajci. Ovo mi se jako svidjelo, jer, kao i mnogi ljudi, najbolje radim kada mogu pročitati upute i onda isprobati stvari da vidim kako funkcioniraju. Prvo poglavlje zove se Audacity od početka do kraja^{(Audacity from Start to Finish)} i pruža upravo to. Prođite kroz ovo poglavlje i imat ćete osnove i samopouzdanje za nastavak tehničkih projekata. Mnoge tehničke knjige mogu se čitati gotovo bilo kojim redoslijedom, ali ja bih preporučio čitanje The Book of Audacityizravno, jer će vještine koje naučite u jednom poglavlju olakšati stjecanje i razumijevanje vještina koje kasnije naučite. Prvo^(First) vas autor vodi kroz postavljanje vaše opreme. Možda ste vidjeli naš vodič o snimaču zvuka^{(Sound Recorder)} ili prvi vodič o prepoznavanju govora^{(speech recognition)} , a ako jeste, ovo će vam biti poznato područje. Slijedite upute i moći ćete krenuti. Postoji brzi početak^{(Quick Start)}odjeljak na početku knjige koji bi gotovo sve trebao pokrenuti sa svojim prvim snimkom u trenu. Sve je objašnjeno i ilustrirano, a autor jasno zna pisati za početnike, uz samo jednu zafrkanciju. Ona koristi tehničke pojmove uobičajene za zvučnu snimku, a da ih ne objašnjava. Na kraju knjige nalazi se opsežan pojmovnik koji se o tome brine, ali neki čitatelji to možda neće odmah primijetiti. Odjeljak Brzi početak^{(Quick Start)} dugačak je samo pet stranica, ali autor je u njega ugurao mnoštvo korisnih informacija. A onda nastavlja graditi na tim temeljima.

Izvan osnova

Nakon što je čitatelj upoznat s načinom rada Audacity , vrijeme je da prijeđemo na detaljniji uvod u program u odjeljku koji se, prikladno, zove Audacity u pojedinostima^{(Audacity in detail)} . Postoji opsežna ilustracija i objašnjenje svih tipki i kontrola koje ćete vidjeti na zaslonu Audacity . Za mene je ovo bio jedan od najboljih dijelova knjige, jer čak i nakon što sam nekoliko godina snimao s Audacityom^(Audacity) , još uvijek nisam znao što neke od tih stvari rade.

Svidjelo mi se objašnjenje kako Audacity čuva vaše podatke. Čitanje tog odjeljka svima bi trebalo biti vrlo umirujuće - gotovo je nemoguće zabrljati projekt bez povratka. Ne postoji mnogo drugih programa koji to mogu tvrditi. Jedna od najnevjerojatnijih stvari u vezi s ovom knjigom je da u rasponu od samo 30 stranica, autor daje čitatelju potpunu edukaciju za Audacity . Ne samo " ABC " početnik, ili minimalni, već uputa o tome što se može učiniti s Audacityom^(Audacity) i kako to učiniti. Naravno, nije sve detaljno objašnjeno, ali tome služi ostatak knjige. Jednom^(Once)pročitali ste tih prvih 30 stranica, možete nastaviti istraživati ​​bilo koji aspekt procesa koji vas zanima mnogo detaljnije (nešto što bih svakako preporučio). Ovaj odjeljak počinje uvjerljivom činjenicom da Audacity "podržava gotovo neograničeno poništavanje, tako da je sigurno eksperimentirati". Budući da je eksperimentiranje jedan od najboljih načina da naučite kako koristiti novi softver, znati unaprijed da ako zabrljate možete se vratiti jednim klikom trebala bi biti dobrodošla vijest. A onda, odlazi. Evo pogleda na teme koje su obrađene na tih 30 stranica.

Čini se da je užasno puno strpati u mali prostor, ali autorica jasno zna o čemu govori i kako izvući maksimum iz svake rečenice, a gotovo svaki čitatelj bi trebao razumjeti kako Audacity funkcionira nakon čitanja ovog odjeljka.

Više složenosti

Većina ostatka knjige posvećena je detaljnijem istraživanju aspekata snimanja i miksanja zvuka, a 2. dio^{(Section 2)} je pomalo odvratan. Odjeljak 2^{(Section 2)} naziva se Izgradnja dobrog digitalnog zvučnog studija na jeftinom^{(Building a Good Digital Sound Studio on the Cheap)} . Za mnoge ljude, "digitalni zvučni studio" može se sastojati od zvučne kartice, mikrofona i kopije Audacityja^(Audacity). Nažalost, autor to ne objašnjava. Bavi se ozbiljnim snimanjem, pa ima dosta audio opreme, koju detaljno opisuje (uz fotografije). To bi moglo zastrašiti neke pridošlice ili ljude koji ne namjeravaju snimati bendove ili druge nastupe uživo. Međutim, mislim da bi objašnjenje različitih vrsta konektora trebalo biti zanimljivo gotovo svima. Imam audiofila i inženjera emitiranja i hodajuću enciklopediju konektora, kabela i priključaka u svojoj kući (aka moj muž), ali nisu svi tako sretni. 🙂

Također je dobro znati o različitim vrstama mikrofona i zvučnih kartica, čak i ako ti tehnički detalji zapravo ne ulaze u najjednostavnije postavljanje "zvučnog studija". Knjiga odvažnosti^{(The Book of Audacity)} objavljena je 2011. godine i u jednom pogledu doista pokazuje svoju starost. Autor inzistira da je Windows XP najbolji! Nadam se da se od tada predomislila. Otkrio sam da Audacity radi daleko, daleko bolje na Windows 7 i Windows 8 nego ikad na Windows XP . Osim toga, Microsoft će uskoro ukinuti Windows ^(Microsoft)XP^{(Windows XP)} . Autor također smatra da je potrebno snažno računalo i ogromna količina skladišnog prostora. Možda je to bila istina uWindows XP era. Danas nije tako, osim ako ne planirate stvoriti i uštedjeti PUNO^(LOT) materijala. Ne bih koristio minimalističko računalo, ali sigurno nemam računala s ogromnim procesorima i petabajtima za pohranu, a s Audacityjem^(Audacity) sam se sasvim dobro slagao. Međutim, kada čitatelj prođe to poglavlje, može se pronaći mnogo sjajnih informacija. Ostatak knjige posvećen je vrstama projekata kojima će se mnogi ljudi poželjeti pozabaviti i vodi čitatelja kroz svaku vrstu projekta korak po korak s obiljem ilustracija. Evo što je pokriveno:

Knjiga Audacity^{(The Book of Audacity)} navodi pripreme koje će čitatelj trebati obaviti za svaku vrstu snimanja, postavke koje autor preporučuje i kompletan postupak od početka do kraja (uključujući stvari kao što su kako očistiti LP četkom za pranje diska^(Diskwasher) i kako se čiste vintage ploče od 78 okretaja u minuti bez oštećenja). Mislim da nitko ne može pogriješiti s bilo kojim od ovih specijaliziranih projekata ako obrate pozornost i iskoriste prednosti te značajke "neograničeno Poništi^(Undo) " onoliko često koliko je potrebno.

Zaključci

Book of Audacity^{(The Book of Audacity)} izvrstan je vodič s uputama i referenca na softver koji je dovoljno jednostavan za početnike, ali dovoljno sofisticiran za ozbiljnu upotrebu. Posjedovanje detaljnih uputa za svaku vrstu projekta svakome bi trebalo uliti povjerenje. A prvi dio knjige je samo po sebi sve u jednom Audacity tutorialu. Nije često da se u malom prostoru dobije tako dobro obrazovanje. Knjiga pokazuje svoju starost ( Windows je definitivno krenuo dalje), ali to ne umanjuje kvalitetu informacija.

Presuda

Ne žele ili trebaju svi snimati zvučne snimke, ali postoji dovoljno kreativnih načina za korištenje Audacityja^(Audacity) kako bi bio privlačan za mnoge ljude. Koristio sam ga da prebacim majčinu omiljenu ploču (nikad objavljenu u digitalnom formatu) na CD, da pretvorim neke stvarno stare kazete s glasovima moje djece kada su bili maleni u digitalni format i da snimim retke za podcast audio dramu. Nemam vrhunsku postavu ili nešto više u smislu opreme osim mikrofona, dobre, ali ne spektakularne zvučne kartice i USB gramofona. Book of Audacity^{(The Book of Audacity)} je sjajna knjiga za svakoga tko želi naučiti kako u potpunosti iskoristiti Audacity . Nadam se da će autor izaći s novim revidiranim izdanjem kako bi pratio promjeneWindows i Audacity otkako je ova knjiga objavljena, ali čak i takva kakva jest, isplati se nabaviti.

Book Review - The Book of Audacity, by Carla Schroder

Although I've 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.

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