The Easy Guide to Recording an Audio CD 
                        to a Wave file using 
                       Voyetra AudioStation 32


PREPARATION: 

1) Make sure that you can play audio CDs through your soundcard. 
   If not, please check in the soundcard's manual for instructions
   on how to remedy this, or contact the soundcard manufacturer for
   technical support. 

2) Make sure that the CD Audio Input has been enabled as an active 
   recording input in the Windows Volume Control.  Here's how:

   - Open the Windows Volume Control mixer applet by going to
     Start | Programs | Accessories | Entertainment | Volume Control.

 


   - Make sure the Mute box for the CD Audio fader is not checked.

   - Click on Options | Properties, then click on the Recording radio button. 


 


   - Make sure the CD Audio (or CD-ROM) box is checked. 


 


   - Click OK. Close the Volume Control.  


OKAY, HERE WE GO...

1) Open Voyetra AudioStation 32 and make sure the CD Player is visible.
   Insert your audio CD in the CD-ROM drive. Click the play button in  
   the AS32 CD Player and make sure you can hear it playing. 


 


 


2) Now click on the Launch Editor icon in the lower right-hand corner of 
   the AS32 File Player.

 


   This will open Voyetra AudioView.  Click on File and choose New. 
   The Sound Selection dialog box will open.  In the Name: field choose 
   CD Quality.  The Format: field should say PCM and the Attributes: field 
   should say 44,100 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo 172kB/s. Click OK. 

 


3) Now switch to AudioView and click on the big red Record button. 

   - The Record button and the Pause button (light blue double bars) should
     be flashing.  This means AudioView is in Record/Pause mode, where 
     you can monitor the recording level of the audio without actually 
     recording.

   - In AS32 CD Player, start the CD playing.  

   - Switch back to AudioView.  The LED-style level meters to the 
     upper right should be moving side to side, indicating the level of the 
     incoming audio. If not, then go back and check that you have enabled your
     CD-ROM drive as a recordable input (as in step #2).  
     The meters should venture into the yellow region fairly often, but if
     they hit the red area often you will probably find that the final file 
     is distorted.  Go to the AS32 Audio Mixer and adjust the CD-ROM Audio 
     volume fader for best level in AudioView's meters. 

 


4) Once you have found a good level, go back and stop the CD.  

   - Switch to AudioView and press the Record button again.  
     This time the Record button and the Play button (light blue arrow)
     will stay lit and the time display will count the time since 
     recording started. 

   - Switch back to AS32 CD Player and start the CD track playing. 

   - Switch back again to AudioView and listen for the end of the CD track.
     When the song is finished, click the Stop button (black square).  
     The waveform will be displayed in AudioView like this:  

 


   - Switch back to the AudioStation 32 CD Player and stop the CD. 

   - Switch back to AudioView and play your new recording (hit the Play 
     button, a right facing arrowhead).  Make sure that it came out OK.  
     If the level is a little low, don't worry.  We'll fix that in a minute.  

   - Save the file (File | Save, or Ctrl + S). 


POST-PRODUCTION (or "Fun for Tweakers"):

This is where you can edit your new Wave file.  You may want to have exactly
two seconds of silence at the beginning of each file so that there will be
that much silence in between the audio tracks if you burn a CD of your own 
in a CD-Recordable drive.  You may also want to have the audio fade in at the
beginning or fade out at the end.  Here are a few audio processes explained:


1) Normalize

  You may find that your newly recorded Wave file is a little too low in
  volume. To bring the whole file up to its maximum level (without
  distorting), do this: 

  - Select the whole file by double-clicking on the waveform display, by going
    Edit | Select All, or by pressing the Ctrl and A keys on your keyboard. 

  - Choose Normalize from the Tools menu. 

  - This will bring the 'peaks' in the audio file to 0.0 dB, which is 
    the loudest level a digital audio file can be.  The waveform will 
    look 'bigger' in the display.  


2) Crop

  You may have a few seconds too many of silence at the beginning and ending 
  of your audio file.  You can quickly remove these unwanted silent areas
  using the Crop command.  Here's how:

   - Click on the + or - buttons to the lower right in the waveform 
     display to zoom your view in or out.  Make sure you can see the 
     entire desired area of the audio file that you wish to keep. 

   - Using the mouse, click to the left of the area you wish to keep, 
     and drag to the end of the desired area.  The 'selected' area of 
     the Wave file will now be bright yellow on a white background (if 
     you have left the view color settings at the defaults). 

   - Crop to the selected area - in the AudioView menu bar, go 
     Edit | Crop, or press Ctrl + R. 

  Only the selected area will remain.  You may now save this file as a 16 bit,
  44.1 kHz PCM Wave file. 

3) Fade Out / Fade In

  If you are making a compilation for a dance mix to play at a party, you may
  want to fade in at the beginning or fade out at the end of a song. Here's
  how to do it: 

    - Open your song as a Wave file in AudioView.  

    - Select the portion of the waveform that you would like to fade in or
      fade out.  You select an area by clicking on the beginning of the
      desired area and while holding down the left mouse button, swipe the
      area of the file to be selected.  When you get to the end of the desired
      area to be selected, let go of the mouse button.  The selected area will
      be a different color than the original (unselected) area of the
      waveform. Here is what the selected area will look like:

 

    - Now go to the Tools menu and select Fade In (or Fade Out).  The fade 
      will be applied only to the selected portion of the waveform. 


FADE IN:  
  To fade in the beginning of a sound, select from the beginning (left side) 
  of the file to where you want the sound to reach full volume.  Then click on
  Tools | Fade In.  This will make the file start in silence and fade up where
  the selected area ends. 

 

FADE OUT: 
  To fade out the end of a sound, select from the very end and work your way
  back to where you want the fade out to start.  
  Then click on Tools | Fade Out. 

 


There are many ways to enhance your audio files in AudioStation 32 and 
AudioView.  Don't be afraid to explore!

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