My grandmother gave me a bunch of records to record and make into CD’s for her, and I really don’t feel like chopping each recording into the component tracks in order to burn them. I’d like a piece of software that will allow me to just take a giant 45 min. .wav file and add the CD tracks to it at each point - it seems that it would go a lot quicker.
What can I use for this? I’d prefer something freeware or cheap, but I have connections through a studio that I can use to get commercial software significantly cheaper if it comes down to that.
I’m not sure exactly what you want, but if you’re just looking to add in a bit of dead air Audacity will do well enough. It’s simple but free, and might be what you’re looking for.
If you want something more complicated…I can’t help you.
I’d suggest checking out BIN / CUE files, which will basically do exactly what you want. The .bin file is similar to a .wav while the .cue holds all the track information - great for mixes/live music where you don’t want a break in the music, but also allows you to burn a 45 minute file without dealing with breaking it up.
No, I don’t need dead air - I have a full recording setup and am used to editing audio and so on. I’m looking for a way to author the actual track markers that go on a CD so that I don’t have to split the big waveforms up into individual songs before burning.
You can do it with Audacity, which is a free waveform editor. Just open your .wav, mark the place where you want the track break and press ctrl+b. Do this for every separate track in the .wav - and remember to do it at the beginning of the file, too, for the first track. Then use the “export multiple”-command from the file menu, and you’re all set! The process is documented somewhere on the Audacity Wiki.
Alternatively you could wait for fishbicycle to show up - I’m sure he knows a million different ways to do this.
Look for a free program called CD Wave. It lets you open a long .wav file, place the cursor wherever you like and hit “Split.” It places a track change at the nearest sector boundary to where you’ve selected (a matter of frames in one direction or the other). When you’re finished placing track markers, you can either save a “cue sheet”, which is instructions for your CD wroter to make a CD of your long .wav file, putting tracks in where you specified, or it will cut up your long file into separate tracks. Those you would just burn onto the CD in Disc-At-Once mode, that is, not Track-At-Once, as you don’t want extra 2-second gaps between tracks. It’s very simple. I just made a disc this way the other day.
The program sets no registry entries or anything, doesn’t require a reboot after installing. If you need some further clarification, I can come back to this thread tonight. I’m about to go fishing on the Gulf of Mexico. I’ll check in later. Good luck!