Recording the Sound Track

• May 25, 2011 - 23:20

I use MuseScore 1.0 on Windows XP and it works terrific. But I have never learned and worked with sounds on the computer, so in that field I am a dummie. My question is: I can listen to the computer playing my score. But I don't know, how to record the sound track on my computer, neither how I can send the recording to someone else. I'd like to enter a contest, but I have to send them by email: the score (PDF), which I can do AND a recording of the score, even if this will be a digital one.
WHAT TO DO????
My email address is: hhenpo7@aol.com

Thanks for your help, Henry Pool.


Comments

Under Save-as, save your score as a WAV (large), OGG or FLAC file. Unfortunately, there's no MP3 under 1.0. Audacity will allow you to edit the audio (WAV, etc) file if you save as that but it doesn't help you in making the file first.

In reply to by schepers

Further comments on the use of Audacity. You will need to install an MP3 encoding library (lame_enc)
after you install Audacity. This installation is separate because of licencing issues.

After you have saved your Musescore composition use Audacity to enter your name and composition title
into the MP3 tags then save your file at a reasomable bit rate - maybe 128 bps or 192.

Good luck!

Charles

as a WAV file,

I don't know about Windows XP, but for Windows 7 there is a set of utilities included which Microsoft calls "Gadgets" and which includes one which will record whatever is going through your sound card (including MuseScore playbacks). It will capture in several formats, including MP3.

You might check to see if it is available for Windows XP. If it is not already on your computer, you might be able to download it free from Microsoft.

If you use it, I would suggest turning your system sounds off. You don’t want your mouse clicks generating sounds while you are recording since they will become an unwanted part of your MP3 file.

In reply to by Bill Watkins

Everything said above is of course correct and full of suggestions. However, for your needs, I suppose it is possible to keep things simpler.

As Werner said, to get a recording of your score, you do not need anything else beyond MuseScore 1.0:

1) Open your score
2) menu "File | Save as..."
3) Click on the "Save as type" drop list and select "Wave Audio (*.WAV)"
4) If you want, select a destination folder and enter a new file name
5) Press [Save]

This will create a .WAV audio file you can play on your XP by simply opening the destination folder with "My Computer" and double clicking the file (on default XP setup, Windows Media Player will fire up and play your file). Possibly, this is all you need.

Then, it is possible to fine tune.

For instance, using the .WAV format, you get a file you can surely play on Windows XP without any addition, but the generate file is quite large (approx: 1 min -> 10 MB).

To get a smaller file (without loss of quality), in step 3) select either "Flac Audio (*.flac)" or "Ogg Vorbis Audio (.ogg)".

The audio file you will get will be MUUUUUCH smaller and the smaller file size may make it more suitable for e-mail sending; but Windows Media Player may be able or not to play it, according you have the proper 'codec' installed in your computer or not (or if you have another audio player programme or not).

So, YOU may be able or not to hear it (just try!), you may safely assume the e-mail recipient will be able to hear it: both the .flac and the .ogg formats are common enough. Nothing forbid to save the score in more than one format, though: one for your hearing and one for e-mail sending.

Then, if you want to manipulate the audio file, you will need an appropriate audio editor; this is where Audacity (or other similar programmes) come into play. From your description, this seems out of your current needs, though.

Another step:

The 'sound quality' of the resulting recording will be the same of what you hear by playing your score back with MuseScore itself and will greatly depend on the quality of the soundfont you have installed in your MuseScore copy: the default soundfont coming with MuseScore itself is decent (its greatest advantage is its small file size), but there might be better options; so, a next step might be finding and installing a different soundfont; some suggestions may be found by searching the forum for "soundfonts" and/or at this handbook page .

Hoping it is useful,

M.

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