USB Mic and Audacity Help

Tech
1

So this is what I’ve got, a Blue Snowball USB Mic from 4 or 5 years ago
and I’ve just down loaded Audacity.
I managed to record a couple of tunes and save the files to my computer.
They’re in wav.
Do I need to convert them to mp3 before I put them in a dropbox file or are they ok like they are?
Any help with this would be much appreciated.

2

Wav files are probably way too large for internet purposes. You don’t need to convert them anyway, you can directly export your tunes as mp3s with audacity.

3

I’m sure Dropbox will accept either WAV or MP3. Just keep in mind that typical MP3 compression is 2x-10x. So the WAV file may be much larger and a bigger bandwidth hog for whomever downloads it. Whether your recording really needs the fidelity of uncompressed WAV is up to you.

Of course, this has nothing to do directly with your mic and Audacity (but I’m glad your set-up is working!). :wink:

4

Thanks for that.
I’ll have to have a look this evening as to how I
I convert to MP3, I didn’t have Dropbox when I done the first couple of recordings so maybe it’s a little more straightforward.

5

To enable Audacity to export in MP3 format you have to add the LAME plugin - because of software patents it can’t be distributed with Audacity.

Very straightforward, go to this page in the Audacity help and follow the instructions. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq_i18n?s=install&i=lame-mp3

6

Yes I had a look at that but was a bit worried about Malware.
If you think it’s ok then I’ll give it a go.

Thanks

7

Sourceforge is the official developers’ repository for all kinds of Open Source software (including both Lame and Audacity), and is about as safe as you’ll find anywhere on the internet. In fact, I wouldn’t download it from anywhere but Sourceforge or one of the binaries links listed on Sourceforge (including the buanzo.org site).

Of course, in addition to the plugin you can run the Lame executable on existing WAV files directly from the command line, which is very simple.

8

MT Guru,thanks for the reassurance.
I’ll have another look.

9

Ok I’ve sorted the Lame MP3 converter and put a file into dropbox
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pdy851u77ujwj9m/Bantry%20Bay.mp3
Is this right or do I need to do something different?
Thanks again for all the help.

10

Your MP3 downloaded just fine. The recording sounds clean, and nice playing. :slight_smile: