Worst skating accident. EVER.

Recording radio shows with Audacity.

I just figured out a way to have Audacity automatically record my favorite radio shows at a certain time and have it export the recording to MP3 format, all without my sitting at the computer. All you'll need to do this is a copy of AutoIt and a few scripts. You'll also need a sound card with some RCA inputs and a Y-cable with RCA connectors at one end and a 3.5mm stereo plug at the other. This is what I have:


I simply plug the stereo plug into my sound source, which can be my radio or even my police scanner. Then I tune the source to the radio station carrying the program I want to record and leave the radio turned on. It doesn't hurt to do a few test recordings in Audacity to make sure the volume level is properly set.


Then I set up the Windows Task Scheduler to launch a compiled AutoIt script at a specified time which controls the mouse cursor to move it to the RECORD button and send a left click to start recording. This is the single line from that script, which I named "start recording.au3".

MouseClick ("left", 229, 68)

This should work on computers with a desktop resolution of 1280 x 1024, which happens to be the display setting my monitor uses. If this script doesn't work for you, use the A3Info utility to locate the coordinates for the Record button.
I then go back into Task Scheduler and set up a time for my second compiled script to run, one that moves the mouse to the STOP button to stop recording and save the recording as an MP3 file. It even fills in the ID3 tags for you. Here's the source code for that script, appropriately named "stop recording.au3".

; Click the STOP button
MouseClick ("left",329, 69,1,100)

; Save the MP3 file
MouseClick ("left", 15, 30,1,100)
MouseClick ("left",50,250,1,100)
sleep (1000)
Send ("Broadcast - " & @MON & "-" & @MDAY & "-" & @HOUR & "-" & @MIN & "{ENTER}")
sleep (1000)

; Fill in ID3 tag fields for MP3 file
MouseClick ("left",572, 434,1,100)
Send ("Recorded on " & @MON & "/" & @MDAY & "/" & @YEAR & " at " & @HOUR & ":" & @MIN)
MouseClick ("left",573, 466,1,100)
Send (@UserName)
MouseClick ("left",760, 578,1,50)

; Select OTHER for genre
send ("o")
sleep (100)
send ("o")
MouseClick ("left",759, 533,50)

; Export recording as MP3
MouseClick ("left",678, 650)

I've given this script a test run and it works well. I will never again miss another broadcast of my favorite radio shows.

Pulling yourself together with Threadsy.

Threadsy is an up-and-coming service that seeks to make managing your social networks much easier and perhaps even fun. It integrates most e-mail services such as Gmail, Twitter and Facebook all into one handy web-based app, allowing you to easily retrieve updates from those services and see them all on one web page. This is by far one of the coolest web sites I've seen. Threadsy is currently running in private beta and access is limited to invites. I have 10 of them myself, so if you'd like to give Threadsy a try, just click here to get started. You'll get hooked in no time.

Converting music cassette tapes to MP3's.

I am currently undertaking a rather ambitious project to convert some of my music cassette tapes to MP3 format. It's a painstakingly slow process but one that allows me to finally digitize my tape collection.
I took my standard dual cassette deck and hooked it up to my computer through my external Sound Blaster card (model SB0270), which has some RCA cables on the back for connecting my tape deck. Here's what my setup looks like:


I'm using Audacity to convert my tapes to MP3 and it's really working out well. Since Audacity cannot create MP3 files without the appropriate encoder, I made sure the LAME MP3 encoder was installed. Now I was ready to rock.
The first thing I did was to configure Audacity to use my external sound card as the input. I accessed the Preferences sub-menu from the Edit menu and selected it as my Line-In device. I also made sure Audacity was set to record in stereo.
Some of my tapes were recorded using Dolby noise reduction, so before I record such a tape, I make sure my tape deck's noise reduction feature was switched on. Otherwise I would leave it switched off.
Now I was ready to start recording. I started recording in Audacity and then pressed PLAY on my tape deck and started recording. When it was finished, I removed the silence from the beginning and ending of the track in Audacity.
I have noticed that the volume level of my recorded input wasn't very high, so I accessed the Amplify feature from the Effects menu to boost the volume level without distorting the sound. Afterwards I just exported it directly to MP3 format and moved on to the next tape.
I'm sure this is not the only way to export your music tapes to MP3 format but this is what's worked really well for me. There's a FAQ entry on Audacity's web site with further information about using Audacity to digitize your tapes and records.

This week in amateur radio.

This Week in Amateur Radio is a lively 2-hour radio magazine covering the world of well, amateur radio. The show has the latest amateur radio headlines, announcements of ham radio gatherings, contests and even the conditions of the radio frequencies in frequent use by ham radio operators. Correspondents from all over the world make contributions to the program with their insightful and lively observations. This is one of the most entertaining shows I've ever heard. If you can't catch it on your local amateur radio station, you can download the podcasts here.

The incredible Cheez Machine.

The Cheez Machine is a very cool VST plug-in that sounds anything but cheesy. It emulates the grand sound of a string ensemble and has some cool presets to give you an idea of what all it can do. Even better, it doubles as a standalone synthesizer that's ready to run right out of the box. It does need to be configured with your favorite external MIDI controller but once that's done, you can really do some serious jamming with this gem.

Super Mario Brothers theme hitting the bottles.