Media

SoundRecorder

SoundRecorder is a simple application for recording and playing back audio. To use it you need a sound card, connected to the input and output sources. You set the preferences for input and output in the Media preferences panel; to learn about these settings see "Audio Settings" in this chapter). You'll probably want to leave the Audio Output Mute box unchecked while you're recording, so you can hear the output, but checked for playback.

The SoundRecorder window looks like this:

The top portion of the SoundRecorder window is a sonogram that shows a sound wave representing the left channel of your file; the sound is in stereo, but the display is mono. To the left of the sonogram is a level meter; the height of the level indicators tells you whether you're getting the full dynamic range from your sound or clipping it. You can change your sound level in the Media preferences Audio Input panel.

Below the sonogram is a timeline that shows the length of a recording or sample. Click the arrow to the right of the timeline to make a sound loop endlessly. If you want to save a portion of a recording, drag the sliders at either end of the timeline in to frame the section you want to save. You can save a portion of a file only with a drag and drop save, described below.

The SoundRecorder's general controls are, from right to left, Rewind, Stop, Play/Pause, and Record. The Record button is live only when you're actually recording from a sound source; click it once to start recording, once again to stop recording (or click the Stop button). The floppy icon is a Save button; clicking it brings up a selection window where you can save your file. The Volume Slider controls the volume in the Media preferences Audio Mixer tab.

If you toggle the switch to the right of the volume control, the bottom of the window opens, with a list of your recorded samples on the right. You can highlight a sample to see file information about it in the area to the left of the sample selection list.

To save a file, either use the Save button or drag a recording clip out of the sonogram portion of the window and drop it where you want to save it.

Using the Save button only moves the file to the location you choose; it does not copy data. Saving this way is quick and doesn't use up a lot of disk space (sound files can be very large).
Saving by drag and drop does copy the file to a location you specify, and also offers some more subtle features. For example, you can save part of a sample by dragging the timeline in from the left and right to mark it off, then dragging and dropping the clip. If you right-click on a sample you drag, when you release the mouse button a context menu pops up that lets you choose a format to save the file in: AIFF or WAV sound clipping and Microsoft or QuickTime movie sound clipping.