Need Tech question answered

[gogoshire]

Since not much is happening here, I'm going to ask a non-writing question in hopes that some theatre type or tech-friendly writer takes pity on a poor playwright.... I know this isn't the best forum, but I'm really stumped on this one.

I'm involved in a collaborative piece that's going up on June 4, and I need to pre-record one character's lines to CD (mp3/wave/aiff format -either) to be played while she's on stage (sort of an alter-ego thing happening).

The theatre sound system has CD, not tape. I could patch in a tape player, but far as quality goes, I'd rather not.

How can I do this with my Mac computer? I can burn CDs and DVDs.
I have iMovie, which would be PERFECT if I could save a file as an mp3 or something, but iMovie saves files as Quicktime. I have garageband, which lets me export to iTunes and burn, but I don't think I can record voice on there.

Any Mac folks with ideas?

Thanks.

Maureen

[Joe Calabrese]

If you have a minidv camcorder record the voice on the tape, import video and audio into Imovie and export audio only as a AAIF file. Do this under File, Share, Expert settings and then choose AAIF as export file type.

Then import that file (remember where you saved it) into Itunes and burn it from there. It will automaticaly convert to CD format playable in any player.

If you don't have a camcorder, use your mac's built in microphone to record in Imovie an audio track under the audio tab to the right. Then do the rest as described from above.

Hope this helps..

Joe

[gogoshire]

Joe, I didn't realize I could save a file like this in iMovie.
This is the best option since we want to have a soft jazz background, too.

Thanks so much.
Maureen

[Richard]

Try this: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Totally free sound editing, mixing and all the rest.

[Solatium]

I've used Audacity for various things for about half a year, and it's remarkably easy to use and full of features -- especially considering that it is completely free.

However, whether you want to use it really depends on the length of what you want to record and on whether you're going to manipulate the sound. I've found it to be unstable; it often crashes if I record more than ten or fifteen consecutive minutes, or if I overuse its utilities for modifying sound.

[gogoshire]

Thanks- I'll check out Audacity some time.

I finished this part of the project already, and we recorded using iMovie, as I had the software and I already knew how to use it. When Joe told me how to save files as AAIF, I knew I was hooked up.

We open June 4 and the lead's not even close to being off book yet. If it isn't one thing, it's another!