On Hiatus on Account of Audacity

Well, I had big plans for this blog thing, but the software I’ve been using has not cooperated. In most things (recording short voice promos, sound editing, converting between formats, working with pre-existing files, etc.) Audacity has been great.

But when it comes to capturing streamed-in sound from my LPs in order to convert them to digital format, Audacity sucks gigantic dong.

For some reason, the software leaves skips in the tracks about every 4 minutes, and sometimes at random—so I never know when I record something if I have a clean take or not. Sometimes I have to re-take a capture 3 or 4 times—and even after that I sometimes still don’t get a clean capture. And each time, I have to listen to the entire track to check it before proceeding to the next. Multiply this times 10 tracks on an album and you can see the amount of time wasted.

I would try something new, but unfortunately, my old laptop won’t accept any new software.

So, for now I’m in limbo with this blog. I’m in the process of trying to convert the classic old Peter Maag Decca recording of Mozart’s “Prague” Symphony No. 38, which has never been issued on CD (though possibly in Japan), so that I could have a digital copy, and which I intended to share here. However, even that seemingly modest task has become a huge chore thanks to Audacity. After several tries I finally settled on trying to edit together two “takes” of the first movement which had skips in various parts, and ended up with a near perfect take. But I still have to tackle the 2nd and 3rd movements, which after preliminary attempts are already proving to be a pain in the neck.

I read some of the various solutions to this problem on the net pertaining to replacing sound cards and such, but it’s all too much trouble and Greek to me, so I won’t be doing any of that. And I don’t plan to spend a dime on fixing things that should friggin’ work in the first place.

So, I’ll leave the archives up for now and try to get things up as time permits.

-EG

Memphis Slim & Pee Wee King 45s

Thematically, there’s not much to tie together today’s 45 rpm selections other than that our artists’ names (Slim and Pee Wee) seem to indicate slightness of size. They’re here as part of my efforts to digitize gems plucked from my parents’ collection and because 1.) the Pee Wee King record from Feb. 1955 “Tweedlee Dee” backed with “You Can’t Hardy Get them No More” was one that amused me as youngster in the ’70s and 2.) the Memphis Slim 1958 45 of “What’s the Matter” backed with “This Time I’m Through” caught my eye with my more recent (and belated) interest in vintage R&B.

I planned to write more about these recordings, but right now I just want to get them online. They can be found in a single folder containing the four sides: HERE.