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Credit goes to The Movie Sounds Page for
these instructions.
It's not too hard. If you have a sound
card and a VCR you can do this...
First, look at the sound card on the back
of your computer. (if you have speakers hooked
up they will be plugged in there) In addition
to the jack where you plug in the speakers,
there should be one or more "input"
jacks. On Macs, the input is labeled with
a microphone icon. These are usually "mini"
connections, the same type as are used for
headphones on a walkman. Are there two inputs
or only one? Is one marked "line"
? If there is, read on. If there's only one
input, you need to look in the manual for
the sound card and see if there's a switch
that will make sure the jack can receive a
line level input.
Then, look on the back of your VCR at
the jacks labeled "audio out".Some
VCRs have only one, if you have a strereo
VCR there will be two. That type of connector
is referred to as an "RCA"
connector. You need to go to Radio Shack
(or Tandy in the UK) and buy a cable that
will connect the RCA connectors on your
VCR to the mini jack on your sound
card. Usually this will be a "Y"
shaped thing with two "male" RCA
connectors on one end, and a mini plug on
the other. If your VCR is mono, it will
be an adaptor that fits on the end of your
audio cable to give it a "mini"
end. If you can't position your VCR within
a few feet of your computer you may also
need to get some RCA extension cables while
you're there. (just tell the sales person
what you're trying to do and they'll make
sure you get the right cables)
Once you've got the cables home, and the
VCR near the computer, plug the RCA end
of the cable into the audio out jacks on
your VCR, then plug the other end into the
sound card jack that says: "line."
(as opposed to "mic") If you don't
have a "line" input, look farther
down.
Now you need software to record the sound.
Sound Recorder, which comes with Windows,
works OK but is kind of clunky. Try downloading
GoldWave, or, if
your soundcard came with recording software
and instructions, check out those. If you
have a Mac, the Sound Control Panel will
allow you to make sounds of 10 seconds or
less, but you're better off getting sound
software like Sound
Effects.
In any case, you want to cue the movie
up a few seconds before the quote you want
to hear, select "new" on the sound
software, play the movie, and hit "record"
(on the software, not the VCR!) at the point
you want your sound clip to start, and stop
at the point you want it to end. With GoldWave
or Sound Effects you don't have to be exact,
you can edit the sound after you've recorded
it to include only the parts you want. With
Sound Recorder or the Mac Sound Control
Panel, the only control you have is start
and stop.
Then play back the sound to make sure
it sounds OK. If it sounds like a jet engine
warming up instead of a sound, it's because
you have the line level VCR plugged into
the mic level input on your sound card.
Try switching inputs and trying again. If
it sounds OK, but you started or stopped
the recorder at the wrong point, just hit
"new" again and start over. You'll
get the hang of it through trial and error.
If the software displays a waveform while
you're recording, you'll know the audio
levels are right if you can see it moving
while you're recording, and if during the
loudest parts of the sound, the waveform
comes close to, but does not touch the top
of the display.
Fig.1 - Proper recording level for
loudest parts on Windows Sound Recorder
Fig. 2 - Audio levels here are
too high. Notice flatness on top of display
Proper recording levels are critical
to making good sounding samples. I use
an old audio board to control audio levels,
but if you've got an audio cassette deck,
it can provide the same function. See
#2 below.
Once you've got it the way you want it,
save it the same way you would any other
file and move on.
Fear not. There is a way... it just takes
a little more involved connection. There
are two ways to go about reducing the output
of the VCR to work well with a mic level
input.
1. Use an attenuator
For this you need a special adapter or
cable from Radio Shack. Tell the salesperson
you want to take a line level RCA output,
and go to a mic level mini input, and you
need an "attenuating connector"
This is a special connector that knocks
the level way down so that it doesn't overwhelm
the mic level inputs.
If your cassette deck allows you to set
recoding levels manually, (most do) then
you can use it to bring the audio down to
a mic level. You can also use this method
to do fine tuning of audio levels with a
line level connection. Plug the output of
your VCR into the input of your cassette
deck. Then take the output of the cassette
deck into the sound card using the special
cabling described above. Put a blank tape
in the cassette deck and hit just the "record"
button, not record and play as you normally
would. This allows you to adjust the audio
levels and pass the adjusted audio on to
your sound card. Start the VCR playing,
and hit "record" on your recording
software. If your software has a realtime
waveform display or record level meters,
you should see the audio way overmodulating.
With the software still recording, slide
the record level controls on the cassette
deck all the way down. When you get close
to zero, you should see the waveform of
record level meters showing a more normal
display. Make a fine adjustment, until the
levels look right: the waveform should come
close to touching the top of the display,
but never actaully touch it. If you have
LED meters, the red light should never come
on, but the meter should come very close
to it at the loudest parts of the sound.
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