- “Timbre” refers to the combination of primary pitch (fundamental) and secondary pitches (overtones) that sound whenever a musical instrument plays a note. When you pluck the low E string on an acoustic guitar, you actually hear not only the low E note, but also additional pitches at frequencies that are multiples of the low E frequency. The combination of these sounds, which are also collectively called “harmonics,” are what makes one instrument sound different from another kind of instrument.[4]
- “Tone” is a somewhat more nebulous term. It refers to the effect the combination of fundamental and secondary harmonics have on the listener’s ear. Adding more high-pitched harmonics to the timbre of a note produces a brighter or sharper tone, while damping them produces a more mellow tone.[5]
- “Tone” also refers to an interval between two pitches, also called a whole step. Half this interval is called a “semitone” or half-step.[6][7]
Need to remix some music for a dance competition at school or for a party where you’re the DJ? Well, you can always use Adobe Audition if you have lots of money laying around or you can download Audacity for free and edit music that way, but it’s got a bit of a learning curve and is usually for bigger projects.
If you have just a few little MP3 files that you want to splice and join, then using a free online music editor is a much better idea. You don’t have to install any software and since you can save the project online, you can edit it from anywhere on any computer.
In this article, I’ll mention a couple of online editing sites I have used and try to call out the advantages and disadvantages of each tool.
MP3Cut.net
MP3Cut does exactly what the name suggest: it lets you cut MP3 files. Don’t worry, it supports about 150 audio formats, so if you’re not using an MP3, you can still upload it and cut it. It’s free and very easy to use. Just click the big blue Open File button and pick your audio file. It will upload automatically and you’ll be presented with the sound wave as shown above. Now you just drag the blue bars on either side and then click the Cut button. Whatever is inside the blue area is what will be saved down to your computer.
Obviously, this is a very simplistic editor. What if you have to cut several parts of the same file and then join them? Well using this program, you would have to cut each part individually and then click on Audio Joiner at the top to join the tracks together. Kind of a pain, but it works and it’s free.
As you can see, they have a bunch of other tools, each one being it’s own separate website. So you can cut audio, but then join it using the other tool. It’s also free and also works very well. It remains to be seen if this site will continue to be free, but as of the end of 2014, it was. If you have to do a lot of cutting and joining, then you may find this tool a little restrictive, but for simple edits, it’s perfect.
Other little nice features include the ability to upload a video, whereby the audio will be automatically extracted. You can also use the other tools across the top to record your voice, record video and convert audio.
TwistedWave.com
If you’re looking for a more advanced editor that works more like Audacity, then you should checkout TwistedWave.com. Using their online tool, you can cut portions of an music file without having to download and rejoin them. If you simply want to get rid of the part of a song from 34 seconds to 59 seconds, select it and choose cut. It also has a host of other advanced features like normalizing audio, fading in and fading out, ability to zoom in and out on the wave form, ability to export to many different formats and more.
The only issue is that it’s currently in beta and in order to be very useful, you need to create an account. Once you do that, you can create music files up to 20 minutes long. With no login, you are limited to just 30 seconds. Also, once it gets out of beta, the free version will only support files up to 5 minutes. If you need longer than that, you’ll have to pay.
Even though the editor is pretty awesome, one big disadvantage is that you can only work with one file at a time. So if you have multiple MP3s that you need to cut individually and then join together, you’ll have to edit them here first and then go back to another tool like MP3Cut and join them together. Also, if you need to remix something that will be longer than 5 minutes, you can do it in parts and then use the other site to join them together.
Soundation.com
Looking for even a more advanced online music editor capable of handling multiple tracks at the same time? Then Soundation.com has the answer for you. They have a very advanced music studio that can handle pretty much any project you can throw at it. It’s so advanced that you’ll actually have to spend time reading about how to use it.
As always, if you want something advanced that has a lot of features, there will be a learning curve. Thankfully, this site is full of documentation, so you can learn about every last feature quickly. They even have video tutorials. Another big advantage to this site is the library of over 700 free sounds. The only downside to the site is that the free version will not let your record your own audio. If you want to do that, you’ll need to record somewhere else and then upload the file to Soundation for editing.
Overall, there are a couple of good options for editing music online. Each has its own unique feature set and then one you decide to use will probably depend on how complicated your editing needs are. If you have any questions about editing using the tools above, leave a comment and we’ll try to help. Enjoy!
As an acoustic musician, I'd like to start learning more about recording and mixing my own material. So far I have no equipment of my own and a budget limited to a few hundred pounds. What are the absolute basics that I'd need to do some vocal or guitar recording at home? As I currently own a PC, should I be thinking of extending my budget and moving to Mac instead?
Chris Simpson, via email
For novice recordists, the cost of a setup can be kept low by home-made solutions like a 'coat-hanger and nylon stocking' pop-shield, and careful gear choices such as the Focusrite Saffire 6 (below), a good first interface for beginners.
SOS contributor Mike Senior replies: The good news is that a starter setup that will deliver respectable vocal and acoustic guitar recordings needn't set you back a tremendous amount of cash, especially if you already have a fairly modern PC. However, there are a lot of options available to you and it makes sense to find equipment that will remain useful to you if and when you expand the setup later on.
First off, you'll need a mic — the sound of a DI'd acoustic guitar doesn't usually cut the mustard in the studio, and most singers don't have a DI socket at all. (Plain selfish of them, if you ask me, but there you go.) A good first choice would be a large‑diaphragm condenser mic, and fortunately market forces have squished the prices of these in recent years, so there are some good deals to be had here. Out of choice I'd tend to gravitate towards established manufacturers with a history of R&D, and I'd also look for something with three polar patterns, too: omni and figure‑of‑eight patterns tend to sound clearer on budget mics and will also make the mic more future proof. A couple of recent mics that fit these criteria would be the Audio Technica AT2050 and AKG Perception 420 (retail prices are between £219 and £279 in the UK, but both are currently well under £200 on the street), and each has a decent shockmount included, which is helpful for keeping your recordings clean.
If the mic is primarily going to be for your own voice, see if you can try out a couple of contenders before you buy. Budget mics can be quite coloured‑sounding, and this can either work for you or against you, depending on whether that colour suits your unique voice. When auditioning, pay particular attention to 'S' sounds, as these quickly highlight high‑frequency harshness, something cheap condensers can be prone to and which causes problems with both vocals and acoustic guitars.
Along with the mic, you'll need a stand and an XLR signal cable. The UK's Studiospares do a good basic studio stand at £12, and they also stock spare bits for it, which should help extend its working life. Their leads are good value too, and I'd recommend their £13 five‑metre mic lead, as it has solid Neutrik connectors that can be re‑soldered if the lead needs repairing. (For my money, cheaper leads with moulded connectors are a false economy because they can be difficult to repair.) You'll probably need a pop shield for vocal recording too, and although you could also buy one of those from Studiospares, a bit of nylon stocking stretched over an old wire coat hanger should be perfectly up to that task at this stage.
As far as your budget goes, then, you're looking at maybe a couple of hundred pounds for that lot in the UK, if you shop around, which does seem like a big chunk of your change gone already. However, that befits the fact that the mic is the most important thing in the setup — it's what actually captures the sound after all! Your next most important piece of gear will be what you listen back to your recording with. Given the budget and your likely monitoring environment, I think there's little point in investing in studio speakers at the moment, so try to get hold of a decent pair of headphones instead — probably a closed‑back pair that can also be used for overdubbing without spill becoming problematic. We did a big round‑up of the main headphone contenders back in January 2010 if you want to read a range of views, but my tip would be the AKG K240 MkII, which is an excellent monitoring option and, although it's semi‑open‑backed, it still seems to deliver low enough spill levels for most overdubbing purposes. Those retail at £138, but are currently more like £80 on the street.
If you've already got a PC, there's little advantage to be had in changing to a Mac just for recording purposes at this stage. Neither platform should hold you back at all. What you will need, though, is an audio interface to get sound in and out of the computer, and some software with which to record. The interface will need to have at least one phantom‑powered preamp for your mic and an output for your headphones, but there's a lot of choice here and I'd look for something that has both a second mic input and a dedicated instrument input socket. The Focusrite Saffire 6 USB, M‑Audio Fast Track Pro and Presonus Audiobox all offer these features and you should be able to get hold of any of them for around £120 if you play your credit cards right. They all also include free software bundles, including a 'Lite' version of either Steinberg's Cubase or Ableton's Live recording application. The new Alesis Multimix 4 USB is even cheaper (you can easily pick it up on-line for around £75), but doesn't appear to offer any kind of software bundle. For my money, a Cockos Reaper license (which you may have seen me using in the Mix Rescue column) is a steal at $60 and knocks any 'Lite' software version into a cocked hat as far as recording and mixing are concerned.
According to the back of my envelope, that lot should set you back a few hundred pounds. Not a lot when you consider that a good engineer could probably produce a commercial record with nothing else!
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I Want To Make Music But I Can't Play An Instrument
As an acoustic musician, I'd like to start learning more about recording and mixing my own material. So far I have no equipment of my own and a budget limited to a few hundred pounds. What are the absolute basics that I'd need to do some vocal or guitar recording at home? As I currently own a PC, should I be thinking of extending my budget and moving to Mac instead?
Chris Simpson, via email
For novice recordists, the cost of a setup can be kept low by home-made solutions like a 'coat-hanger and nylon stocking' pop-shield, and careful gear choices such as the Focusrite Saffire 6 (below), a good first interface for beginners.
Forza horizon 3 download free. SOS contributor Mike Senior replies: The good news is that a starter setup that will deliver respectable vocal and acoustic guitar recordings needn't set you back a tremendous amount of cash, especially if you already have a fairly modern PC. However, there are a lot of options available to you and it makes sense to find equipment that will remain useful to you if and when you expand the setup later on.
First off, you'll need a mic — the sound of a DI'd acoustic guitar doesn't usually cut the mustard in the studio, and most singers don't have a DI socket at all. (Plain selfish of them, if you ask me, but there you go.) A good first choice would be a large‑diaphragm condenser mic, and fortunately market forces have squished the prices of these in recent years, so there are some good deals to be had here. Out of choice I'd tend to gravitate towards established manufacturers with a history of R&D, and I'd also look for something with three polar patterns, too: omni and figure‑of‑eight patterns tend to sound clearer on budget mics and will also make the mic more future proof. A couple of recent mics that fit these criteria would be the Audio Technica AT2050 and AKG Perception 420 (retail prices are between £219 and £279 in the UK, but both are currently well under £200 on the street), and each has a decent shockmount included, which is helpful for keeping your recordings clean.
If the mic is primarily going to be for your own voice, see if you can try out a couple of contenders before you buy. Budget mics can be quite coloured‑sounding, and this can either work for you or against you, depending on whether that colour suits your unique voice. When auditioning, pay particular attention to 'S' sounds, as these quickly highlight high‑frequency harshness, something cheap condensers can be prone to and which causes problems with both vocals and acoustic guitars.
Along with the mic, you'll need a stand and an XLR signal cable. The UK's Studiospares do a good basic studio stand at £12, and they also stock spare bits for it, which should help extend its working life. Their leads are good value too, and I'd recommend their £13 five‑metre mic lead, as it has solid Neutrik connectors that can be re‑soldered if the lead needs repairing. (For my money, cheaper leads with moulded connectors are a false economy because they can be difficult to repair.) You'll probably need a pop shield for vocal recording too, and although you could also buy one of those from Studiospares, a bit of nylon stocking stretched over an old wire coat hanger should be perfectly up to that task at this stage.
As far as your budget goes, then, you're looking at maybe a couple of hundred pounds for that lot in the UK, if you shop around, which does seem like a big chunk of your change gone already. However, that befits the fact that the mic is the most important thing in the setup — it's what actually captures the sound after all! Your next most important piece of gear will be what you listen back to your recording with. Given the budget and your likely monitoring environment, I think there's little point in investing in studio speakers at the moment, so try to get hold of a decent pair of headphones instead — probably a closed‑back pair that can also be used for overdubbing without spill becoming problematic. We did a big round‑up of the main headphone contenders back in January 2010 if you want to read a range of views, but my tip would be the AKG K240 MkII, which is an excellent monitoring option and, although it's semi‑open‑backed, it still seems to deliver low enough spill levels for most overdubbing purposes. Those retail at £138, but are currently more like £80 on the street.
If you've already got a PC, there's little advantage to be had in changing to a Mac just for recording purposes at this stage. Neither platform should hold you back at all. What you will need, though, is an audio interface to get sound in and out of the computer, and some software with which to record. The interface will need to have at least one phantom‑powered preamp for your mic and an output for your headphones, but there's a lot of choice here and I'd look for something that has both a second mic input and a dedicated instrument input socket. The Focusrite Saffire 6 USB, M‑Audio Fast Track Pro and Presonus Audiobox all offer these features and you should be able to get hold of any of them for around £120 if you play your credit cards right. They all also include free software bundles, including a 'Lite' version of either Steinberg's Cubase or Ableton's Live recording application. The new Alesis Multimix 4 USB is even cheaper (you can easily pick it up on-line for around £75), but doesn't appear to offer any kind of software bundle. For my money, a Cockos Reaper license (which you may have seen me using in the Mix Rescue column) is a steal at $60 and knocks any 'Lite' software version into a cocked hat as far as recording and mixing are concerned.
According to the back of my envelope, that lot should set you back a few hundred pounds. Not a lot when you consider that a good engineer could probably produce a commercial record with nothing else!