(debated if this should be here or notebooks & linux)

I don't know if what I want to do is practical or not, I'm hoping you guys can help with that.

what I want to do is set up a computer, preferably running some version of *nix, to record sermons etc from the podium mic at church directly to CD (no need to store a copy on the hdd first). That is the only task it needs to perform, and can even be headless once set up. We have an el cheapo mixer (doesn't even have a line out jack, just speaker wire connections - willing to upgrade if necesary), and the mics and that's about it.

What I'd like to know is:

1) is this feasible?
2) what additional equipment would we need (if any)?
3) what hardware would the computer need (ie second sound card? etc)?

Thanks,

Louis

Heh several different topics in that one there

Ok your mixer, when you say it only has speaker wire connections, are these powered connections(Meaning they do not run to an amp, only your speakers, and your speakers do not plug into 110V AC)?

As far as recording on Linux, that isn't to difficult. In fact if you search either the LAU or LAD lists, I forget which, you will come across at least one somewhat recent thread that covers automated recording very similar to what oyu just described.

Recording direct to CD however is a bit more tricky. I would suggest having it record to disk first, and then automatically burn the CD from the disk myself. Of course on the other hand, just doing a standalone CD recorder may be all you need as well, instead of bothering with setting up a linux distro to do this, in fact I might look at this option first.

Seablade

I do not believe the speakers plug into AC or an amp and the bare speaker wire is "clipped" in to the clips on the back of the mixer just like the speakers all my friends hooked up to their stereos in high school. (sorry, I am clueless about audio technology)

I wont be the one running this little set up once its going, and the guy who will is ....eh not the most computer savvy, so simpler is definitely better. Can you point me toward a standalone CD recorder that should work in a set up like this?

Thanks

What budget?

I think, of the top of my head, some of the consumer TEAC decks are about $300 or so, up to some of the better decks for professional use which run up to about $1000. The mid-line pro decks are about $600.

But more importantly at the moment would be ensuring you would be able to hook it up. Can you get me the make and model of your audio console?

Seablade

Budget... yeah, that's why I was thinking pc with *nix. I can come up with the hardware for $0 and the OS & software $0...

So budget is as low as we can get away with.

It's a radio shack something (couldn't see a model # when I looked.) I'll look more closely, and post back. Also, though I'm pushing for them to return it (just bought it and it doesn't even have a line out) and get a slightly better unit.

Ahh "Realistic" brand... or RCA... doesn't really matter. Its about the only thing I would consider worse than Behringer possibly(Would have to think on it)

Yea in that case don't bother with make and model as I doubt I could get any useful info on it off the net. It is the old triangle of time, money, and quality. You can have two of the three but not all three. Unfortunately Rat Shack gives you one of the three, fast. It is neither low cost, nor high quality.

Ok honestly, I would say some budget is going to be needed. If you took the rat shack stuff back, what would you need, and how much would be availiable. I can point towards powered mixers if you have speakers, that are much more dependable than anything at rat shack, and likely more capable as well. Note they aren't really pro level, but they are better than crap shack.

Otherwise if you wouldn't have speakers if you took everything back, there are small portable systems that you could look at, depending on how large a space you are filling. It all depends on the needs and budget.

Seablade

By the way, if you went with a computer, would you be providing the computer and all components(AKA would it be free) or would you be spending money on some components?

Seablade

how do you feel about radio shack?

taking it back would not affect the speakers. They were separate and are already installed, and cable has been run. Space: small. real small. no more than 2, 3 sq feet max. We're talking about a small outfit here with minimal needs. just want to be able to record for people who are home bound basically. That and be able to amplify for those with poor hearing.

yes all parts of the PC would be supplied by my from my spare parts box, and would be "free". unless of course there is something we need which I don't have.

Thanks,
Louis

Can you check on the speakers themselves and see what the power handling and impedance are? Likely they are 8 ohm but it is always better to check. Also can you give me the make and model if you can find them, as well as how many there are?

I can put together a basic system to run that and record onto CD based off that. Also check with your home bound folks, I have found that sometimes those folks may not have a CD player and may only be able to play cassette, so it is worth checking.

Seablade

I'll see if I can find out tomorrow...

good point on the CD vs Cassette tape thing. I'll have to check that out too.

ok, really old thread by now, but we have purchased a sound board, and I have the model etc. it's a Behringer Xeryx 2442 FX 24bit. It came with a usb adapter (UCA 200). It has 2 speakers, but all I'm really interested in is the signal to the computer, and the software to record/edit/burn the sound file.

So I guess the main questions would be what software would you suggest (windows or Linux) Free strongly preferred. And do we need any special hardware in the computer (ie a second sound card)?

Since alsa-project.org seems to be down, for right now I will assume you already have the Xenyx working correctly under Linux?

Well I can tell you my typical workflow, which is to run the Jack sound system, and then run Ardour on top of it to record and mix audio. I will do my mixdown in Ardour, and export to a single .wav file with a CUE or TOC file that I burn with cdrecord.

You could probably use Audacity instead of Jack and Ardour if you wanted to, I think that will export a bin/cue/toc setup as well, but haven't ever tried.

Under Windows, I would probably look at either Audacity, or Kristal, for doing the recording and mixing. You could also try using REAPER for this as well, while not free it is not to expensive for non-commercial use($50) and the author is willing to support it running on Linux via WINE apparently, obviously it runs native in Windows. Never used it myself but I hear it highly spoken of in various places. Obviously to burn the files you will need an external burner software of some sort, I can't help you to much with that anymore on Windows myself, sorry.

Seablade

no, but it should just be a signal as far as the computer is concerned right? or am I missing something? I mean we're just running a line in from the Xenyx. right now we have win 2k on it with "wavepad". It works, but I'd like something better.
I'll look at audacity again, the last time I played with it it wasn't very clear to me how it worked, but I wasn't really motivated, it was just 'to check it out'.

I'll also check out Jack and Ardour, but I'd like to be able to do this with ONE app if possible. Once I have an .mp3 or .wav file there are a couple of us that can handle the burning. not even sure what you're refering to when you say: "CUE" "TOC" and bin.

Thanks for the help,
Louis

Ahh, I had thought you were using the USB capability of that mixer(If I am thinking of the right one). If you are just running out of a send of the board to the internal line in on your computer, yea you just need your internal card working and it is just another signal.


Do you have any experience at all working with audio on a computer? Don't take this as me being patronizing please(You should know me better by now anyways but there is definitely a workflow mentality to get your head around before you will be able to work with ANY audio on a computer for editing purposes. If you already have this, then Audacity should be fairly easy, but specific questions can be answered quickly to get you up to speed.


The following is lots of info that will likely not be to useful for you, but here it is anyways

Well to be honest, if Audacity was to complex for you, ignore Jack and Ardour. One thing I will say, that you are likely aware of but haven't applied to these types of tasks. Linux tends to go for modularity where it can, this means there is more than a few times where to get the workflow you want, you are tying together several different programs to create this workflow. Obviously if you are good on the command line and fully taking advantage of Linux this can create an extremely streamlined process, but isn't for everyone. The same thing applies however in Audio on Linux, so don't be surprised if it seems like there are a lot of apps that could be combined in functionality to create a single. This applies in particular to Pro-Audio on Linux, and those apps that work with Jack, because it is built very strongly from the ground up to allow this and allows for an easier development process for the ecosystem when people can work on individual programs instead of one giant program.

At any rate, Jack is an audio subsystem, not necessarily a program in itself, though programs like QJackCTL can be used to control it and route audio from various pieces of software to hardware and vice versa. It is definitely designed for pro-audio though, so it is very confusing for those coming into it, but it helps to think of it like a patchbay, though in reality it is much more.

Ardour on the other hand is a multi-track audio editor. Again very good at what it does, but can be very intimidating to those not used to working in audio as it is also designed for pro work.

That is why Audacity should be easiest for you. Gimme a shout on what problems in particular you are having. Worst case scenario I can get off my butt and finish rebuilding a Jabber server over here and get on it to give you a hand.

Seablade

alright. thank you, I understand now what you were talking about.

Audacity wasn't too hard for me, I just didn't dig into it. after my last post I installed it on my debian system and started playing with it. (last time I was really just trying to figure out how to get it to "normalize" a whole folder full of mp3's to the same volume - a task mp3gain did much more efficiently) It's a really slick program, and I think it will fit the bill for us nicely. 2 reasons I want an all in one solution: 1) it makes it simpler for us (not all the people who might have to step in and do this are "computer people", so K.I.S.S. definitely applies here) and 2) we just don't need the features added by those more professional grade programs (I'm a fan of K.I.S.S. if you couldn't tell).

to answer your question: no, I have pretty much zero experience with this. I know computers so I got the job. But, pretty much the only manipulating I plan on us doing is to cut the dead air/junk from the beginning and end of the files, and convert to whatever format (sounds like .wav is the best bet for burned CDs to be played on standalone players (??)) then save the file, and burn multiple copies for our shut-ins etc. Once we have a couple guys who are comfortable with the process I'd like to start doing things like cutting out coughs, normalizing sound volume when the speaker steps away from the mike etc, but definitely not for now.

the sound board we have has a seperate ....'box' that takes a couple of output wires, and converts to usb, but we're not using it. we did get it working under windows, but we dont need it so it's not a factor at this point.

here's another question for you: would we need a second sound card if we wanted to have music files that reside on the computer piped out to the sound board->speakers while recording from the sound board?

thanks again, this is helping more than you know.