To Record Cyberbass Parts onto Your Computer in MP3 Format

Dennis Clarke

This process isn’t as bad as it looks. You have to do Steps 1 to 14 only once. After you have recorded a few clips, the process will seem very easy.

1. In order to record the Cyberbass parts, you will need a software product called Audacity. Audacity is a free download, quite safe for your computer—I have used it for years. It records any sounds that play through your computer’s speakers and can be useful for recording “streaming” audio—the kind of sound that Cyberbass plays when you click to play a part. If you follow the instructions below, you will be able to capture the sound played by Cyberbass and save it to your computer’s disk drive as an MP3 file—the kind played by MP3 players, iPods, and cell phones or even to burn a CD.

2. In order to download Audacity, Click on this link.

3. You will see the download page for Audacity. From the “1.2 Series” list, click on your operating system (probably Windows).

4. If you chose Windows, click on the link for Audacity 1.2.6 installer.

5. You may see a yellow bar across the top of your screen with the message, “To help protect your security, Internet Explorer blocked this site etc. “ Click on the yellow bar and click on “Download File.”

6. If you are prompted to Run or Save the file, click Run.

7. You will then see the Audacity Setup Wizard.

8. Click through it, accepting the defaults. Among other things, this will create an icon on your desktop to open Audacity.

9. The last step should launch Audacity.

10. Before you can use Audacity to create MP3 files, you will need another file called LAME MP3 Encoder. Click on this link for instructions on how to download and use LAME.

11. If you are asked if you want to Run or Save the download, choose Run and click through the steps, always choosing the defaults.

12. Finally—you are ready to use Audacity to record your part from Cyberbass!

13. Be sure your computer speakers are turned on and the volume set high. You can check on this be clicking on the little picture of a speaker in the lower right hand corner of your screen.

14. Open Audacity. Click on the Audacity icon on your desktop.

15. When you open Audacity you will see this:

1. Open the link to Cyberbass and be ready to click on the selection and part you want to record.

a. Notice that you can control the speed of the playback in Cyberbass. On the right of your Cyberbass screen is an area labeled “Player Controls.”  If you want to record a selection at a slower rate in order to learn notes, you can control the speed of the playback here.

2. Switch back to Audacity and click on the “Record Button.”  This will start recording.

3. Now switch back to Cyberbass and click on the selection you want to play. You will see a graphic representation of the music as it is recorded on Audacity.

4. When the selection finishes playing, click on the “Stop Recording Button” on Audacity.

5. After you have stopped recording you will see something like this:

6. You will have some silence at the beginning of your Audacity selection which represents the time after you clicked on “Record” and before you started playing the Cyberbass selection. In order to get rid of it:

a. Use the Scroll Bar along the bottom of the Audacity screen (yellow in the above illustration) to return to the beginning of your recording. That is, place your cursor on the Scroll Bar and holding down the left mouse button, drag it all the way to the left

b. Place your cursor at the point where the music begins (you should see it easily when the flat lines show some change) and click.

c. You will then see a vertical line at the point where the music begins.

d. Click on the “Edit” menu choice

e. Click on “Select.”

f. Choose “Cursor to End.”

g. Now click on “Edit” again.

h. Click on “Trim” to eliminate the silence at the beginning of the selection.

7. Finally, to save the selection as an MP3 file:

a. I recommend creating a folder on your desktop to save these files so you will have them all together in one place.

b. Click on “File” in the upper left hand corner of the Audacity screen.

c. Click on “Export as MP3.”

d. You will be prompted to give the file a name and specify a location in which to save it. Choose a name that lets you know what you have just saved such “Puccini Kyrie.”

e. You will then see a box labeled “Edit the ID3 tags for the MP3 file.” I just retype the name I just assigned to the file and leave the rest of the entries blank.

f. Click on “OK” and your file will be saved on your computer as an MP3 which can be played on just about anything or even used to create a CD.

8. After you have exported your first selection, go back to Step 15, click on “File” and then “New” and you will be ready to save your next selection.

9. When you close Audacity, it will ask you if you want to save your selections. You can answer “No” since you have already exported them as MP3 files.

One last bit of help—you can import these files into iTunes by opening iTunes and clicking on “File” and then “Add File to Library.” Find the folder where your MP3 files are saved, select the first one you want to add and click on it. Repeat. After you add them, you will be able to find them under the “Recently Added” playlist. Once you get them into iTunes it should be easy to export them to your iPod or other device.