Welcome to Audio Companion!


Audio Companion is a sound recorder allowing you to record audio from any sound input device. These devices include the built-in line input, a built-in internal microphone, an iSight camera microphone or other external USB or FireWire audio devices such as the iMic from Griffin Technologies.

It will either act as a normal audio recorder or as a recorder that automatically split each song into separate files.

The files may be saved as:

  1. Ordinary AIFF files (ready for burning an Audio CD).
  2. MP3 files (to listen to your old vinyl records with your iPod or iTunes).
  3. Any file format that QuickTime can create.
  4. AAC/M4A (iPod / iTunes).

Audio Companion requires Mac OS X 10.7.0 or higher and a Intel based Mac.

LAME Library needed for MP3 encoding.


The trial version of Audio Companion has one limitation.
Every recording will have a short reminder message inserted at various points in the file.
After paying you will receive instructions that converts the program to a full version without limitations.
Click here for credit card / Paypal payment

 

 

Introduction
The idea is to record from various signal sources such as a phonograph or tape recorder via the built in sound input or any sound input device connected to your computer (USB or FireWire devices such as Griffin iMic).
For recording from vinyl you should connect the turntable to your stereo and then connect the line-out/pre-amp output to your sound input device. If you connect the turntable directly to the sound input you need to enable the RIAA correction in the Audio Companion Preferences pane, as the turntable's output signal is too low and also have the wrong frequency content.

 

Audio devices
If you have more than one audio input device installed on your system, select the one you want to use for recording in the Preferences dialog. Also select the desired output device if you want to monitor the recording.

For best sound quality, it's recommended to check that the setting for the selected input device is 44100 Hz, 16-bit and stereo. This is done with the Audio MIDI Setup software in the Applications/Utilities folder.

 

VU-meters
The "volume meters" (at the right of the screen) displays the peak level of the incoming sound. With no sound coming in, the meters should stay under -70 dB. Depending on how noisy your output source is, this value may be higher.

Adjust the recording volume by adjusting the slider to the right of the VU-meters. Avoid hitting the solid red area except for the absolutely loudest signals. If the bar extends all the way up to the 0 dB indication, the recording may be distorted and you should lower the level. If the signal never moves up into the yellow area, there will probably be much noise in the recording and you should raise the level.

The Peak values show the strongest signal that has reached the input section of the sound card. This indication should not reach the 0 dB level - if so the value will display "Peak" and you should lower the level. You may reset the Peak values by clicking on the peak values. The Peak values are also reset when you adjust the input volume slider.

 

Audio Unit Effects
If you are running OS X 10.4 or higher, Audio Companion allows you to add an Audio Unit Effect unit to the signal processing chain. As an example, you can add some reverb to your recording by selecting the built-in Apple AUMatrixReverb.

By clicking the button labeled "AU" below the gain slider, a window will be displayed were you can select an effect, view its user interface, edits its settings, select presets etc. To add an effect to the sound, select it from the "Effect" popup menu in the Audio Unit Effect window. A small bullet character will be added to the "AU" button to remind you that an effect is active. If you wish to leave the sound unchanged, select the "None" item in the "Effect" popup menu.

Clicking the "Show Presets" button presents a list of effects for the selected Audio Unit. These presets can either be built-in to the Audio Unit, or exist on disk in /Library/Audio/Presets. Items that are built-in to the Audio Unit, will appear under the Factory group, and items that exist on disk will appear under the Local or User group.

To select a preset, double click on any of the preset names, to save a preset, click the "Save Preset As" button. Audio Companion also maintains a private list of settings for any audio-unit loaded into it, and will automatically apply those settings the next time that unit is loaded.

 

Play Thru Volume
You can set the play thru volume by adjusting the slider below the VU-meters. If you record via a microphone, be aware that this may cause feedback.

 

Recording without Autosplit
If the "Autosplit" function is not activated, the program will start recording when you click the "Record" button and stop when clicking the "Stop" button. Everything recorded will be one huge audio file even if the music consists of several songs. In order that you can burn your recording(s) on a CD later on, each track has to be saved as a separate file.

 

Recording with Autosplit
When you activate the "Autosplit" function (the check box to the left of the VU-meters), the program will try to detect the end of each song and the beginning of the next. For this to work you have to make a couple of settings: "Threshold" and "Accept silence".

 

Threshold
"Threshold" defines "silence" for the program. A high value keeps static and pops from interfering with the process but also means that fade-outs may end the recording before the music is actually finished playing. A too low value will make it impossible for the program to separate the songs. Experiment a little for best results.

 

Accept Silence
"Accept Silence" is where you set the longest time that the music can stay below the threshold level without interrupting the recording. Too long a time limit may not permit the program to separate the songs. Once again, experiment a little.

 

Pre Record
Specifies an additional period of time that will be recorded before the actual sound starts.

 

Post Record
Specifies an additional period of time that will be recorded after the silence level have been reached. This will prevent ending the recording too early during long fade outs.

 

Skip Shorter Than
"Skip Shorter Than" lets you specify a time value for an audio section. The section will not be saved to disk regardless if the volume drops below the threshold level before this time has elapsed. The idea is to not record unwanted short chunks.

 

Minimum Recording Time
"Min. Rec." lets you specify a minimum song length. The songs/sections will not be split until this time has elapsed, regardless if the volume drops below the threshold level or not.
Note: It’s probably not a good idea to use both "Minimum Recording Time" and "Skip Shorter Than" at the same time since they sort of compete with each other.

 

Maximum Recording Time
"Max. Rec." lets you specify a maximum song length. The songs/sections will be split at the latest after this time has elapsed. In case the volume drops below the threshold level, the recording may end earlier.
Note: If "Minimum Recording Time" is set to a higher value than "Maximum Recording Time", max will win.

 

Split button
The "Split" button allows you to terminate the current recording and start a new one immediately. This is helpful when digitizing a live recording or when there is little or no silent time between songs. If in Autosplit mode, set "Accept Silence"; to maximum to avoid that the program interrupts the recording too soon.


Audio File
You may name the recorded files in two ways:
1. Use own base file name - You decide a "Base filename" for the recorded files. Audio Companion will automatically add "1", "2", etc. for each recorded file.
2. Date and time as name - Audio Companion will create file names depending on the date and time the recording started. A typical file name is: 2004-08-17 13.12.37.mp3

You should also select the audio format for the recorded file - AIFF, MP3, QuickTime Movie or AAC/M4A (OS X 10.4 or higher). By clicking on the "Settings..." button you may make additional settings for the selected file format.
If you later want to burn the files to an audio CD, select AIFF and 44100 Hz 16-bit stereo in the Settings dialog.


Note: To automatically encode MP3 files, you need to download a free MP3 encoder. Click here to read more

 

 

Begin recording
Click on the "Record" button. If in "Autosplit" mode, the program will wait until the music starts and then start the recording automatically. If everything works as it should, you can go and get another cup of coffee.

 

Recording finished
When the process is complete, the file list will show the results. If everything went as it should, you'll see your songs in there. There may be more files than you expected. Small/short files are probably just trash. If you want to remove a file, just select it and type Command + X. You may also elect to remove them from your hard drive at the same time.

Control/Right clicking on an item will display a popup menu. You may here elect to rename, find or listen to the newly recorded file.
When listening, a small QuickTime player will be displayed. To quit the player, just click outside it.
You may also set if double clicking should rename or playback the file.

 

The Preferences dialog
This dialog contains some additional settings:

Selection of audio in and output devices
By default, Audio Companion uses the audio input and output hardware selections from the System Preferences. You can specify to use a specific hardware device for input and another for output and you can also specify which channels to use for each device. Most computers have built-in audio hardware that will show up as “Built-In Audio” or something similar. If you have installed or plugged in some other audio hardware, such as a USB or FireWire audio devices, these will also be displayed and selectable.

RIAA correction
You can record from a turntable by connecting it directly to your sound input device. However, the signal is very low and the frequency content is wrong.
On vinyl records, lower frequencies require more space than higher since the lower the frequency the wider the groove. This could result in difficulties for the stylus to follow the groove without jumping out. The solution was to reduce the amount of lower frequencies during recording and reverse this process (amplify lower frequencies) during playback. Higher frequencies are amplified before putting them on the record, and corrected during playback. Since noise is for a large part present in the higher frequencies, this process also makes the signal to noise ratio a lot better. This process is called RIAA correction and is standard for vinyl recordings.
You regular home stereo's input have a special equalization circuit to perform the RIAA correction. Audio Companion recreates this equalization curve by using digital signal processing (DSP).
Since the signal may be very low, you may need to increase the volume of the signal by using the "Boost gain" slider. Note that this will also increase inherent noise that your sound input devices produce. Also make sure you ground your turntable properly to avoid hum and buzz.

Remove Crackles
An advanced filtering function that will remove most of the scratches and crackles that may be present on old worn out vinyl records. Enable this function only when recording vinyl records. Also set the desired "Sensitivity" setting - use the lowest setting that gives a good result. A too high setting may remove some of the treble of the sound.

Turntable/Tape speed correction
If you have old 78 RPM records but no longer have a 78 RPM player that works, it's possible to record them at another speed and Audio Companion will automatically convert the recording to the correct speed and pitch. Enable "Speed correction" and select between the available corrections - 78 RPM record at 45 RPM, 45 RPM record at 33 RPM etc. There are also correction factors for tape recorders. Since it's impossible to listen to the result in real-time you will not hear the result until you playback the final recording.

Save Folder
Indicates where Audio Companion will save the recordings. Click on the "Choose..." button to select an existing folder or to create a new one.

 

 

Additional information
Keep in mind that AIFF files take up a lot of hard drive space. Each minute of music requires approximately 10 Mb of storage space. 10 minutes = 100 Mb, 20 minutes = 200 Mb, etc.

 

 

Keyboard commands
Record Command + [ R ]
Stop Command + [ . ] (period)
Split Command + [ - ] (dash)
New Session Command + [ N ]
Remove selected files Command + [ X ]
Preferences dialog Command + [ , ] (comma)

 

 

About MP3 encoding

Many people think that the MP3 standard is free and open but it's not. Fraunhofer Institute has been one of many developers of MPEG audio Layer-3, and the MP3 standard that has been approved, is based on this work. Unfortunately Fraunhofer has protected the MP3 standard with a patent. For software encoders, freely distributed or not, the royaltiy cost is $2,50 US per encoder with a minimum license of $15.000 US per year.

Here is the official MP3 licensing cost web site: mp3licensing.com

This means, that if Audio Companion should have a built in MP3 encoder with good audio quality, the price would be a lot higher.

But, there exist free alternatives. The easiest way to make MP3’s with Audio Companion is to install an encoder such as the Lame encoder.

Here is a site where you may download the needed encoder (LameEncoder.dylib)
http://ragedwolf.webs.com/

Follow the directions in the downloaded file and you will have a high quality MP3 encoder that works with Audio Companion.

Audio Companion also supports the free Lame framework:
http://karaoke.kjams.com/wiki/Lame

Another site where you may download the needed encoder (libmp3lame-osx-universal)
www.spaghetticode.org/lame/

The downloaded and expanded file (libmp3lame.dylib) should be placed in the /Library/Application Support/ folder.

Here is the official Lame MP3 encoder web site: lame.sourceforge.net/

 

 

Legal Stuff

No warrantee is expressed or implied. The author of this program is not responsible for any damage or loss of data due to the use of this program. This document and Audio Companion are Copyright © 2000-2012 Roni Music.