| As the soundman and projectionist for my | | | | folder into a master "Choir Songs" folder. Of |
| local church, I found it to be frustating and | | | | course, this all took some time, but so would |
| time consuming when searching for a | | | | have cataloging all the songs and info into a |
| particular song among all our cds for choir | | | | database. |
| practice. I was determined to sit down at | | | | |
| some point and catalog all those songs and | | | | Then I ran into a problem. Not being very |
| cd's. I took some time to search the Internet | | | | familiar with media players I was determined |
| for a simple, free database I could use for | | | | to find one that was small and easy to use. |
| this purpose. I even considered creating my | | | | After finding one I liked, I installed it on |
| own database but never quite got around to | | | | the pc and simply dragged the song folder |
| it. | | | | into the playlist window. By double clicking |
| | | | the first track the song began to play as it |
| One evening during choir practice, as I was | | | | should. The problem occurred when changing |
| searching for a particular cd, a friend | | | | tracks. Since each track contains a section |
| stopped by the sound booth and made an | | | | of the song, there needs to be a smooth, |
| interesting suggestion: rip all the songs | | | | undelayed transition between tracks in order |
| from the cd's and save them to my projection | | | | to have no interruptions in the song. |
| computer. The idea sounded entirely | | | | Unfortunately, this wasn't happening. There |
| plausible. Not only could I have the | | | | were burps between the tracks that I couldn't |
| individual songs available in alphabetical | | | | remove even by changing the buffer settings |
| order, I could also play them through the | | | | in the player. After more searching I found |
| sound board via the computer's audio out and | | | | another media player with a buffer ahead |
| eliminate our stand-alone cd player for this | | | | setting that played the song perfectly. |
| purpose. | | | | |
| | | | Since I am responsible for the sound as well |
| I gathered up several cds, took them home, | | | | as the projection of the songs' words on a |
| and ripped the songs from them. It was at | | | | screen for the choir to read, this is an |
| this point I had to use a little creativity - | | | | excellent setup for me. I can have the |
| here's why. The choir's practice cd's are | | | | projection software and the media player both |
| recorded in a different fashion than a | | | | running on my computer's desktop screen. I |
| typical music cd. Each track is recorded with | | | | click the play button to sart the music, then |
| two mono channels - vocals on the right | | | | use the keyboard to advance the slides with |
| channel and instruments on the left. This | | | | the song lyrics. |
| allows the choir to hear how the song should | | | | |
| be sung with or without music, or to practice | | | | Initially, I had some concerns about the |
| (and perform) with music only; simply by | | | | sound quality I would get by playing MP3 |
| shutting off one channel or the other. | | | | files through a computer sound card, then |
| | | | through the mixing board. After hearing the |
| Also, each song is divided up into sections, | | | | results I can tell you that I was very |
| each one being a separate track. In other | | | | pleased. The sound was crisp and clear and |
| words, the first song on the cd might be | | | | the reduced quality of the MP3 file was not |
| composed of tracks one through seven, the | | | | distinguishable. |
| second song tracks eight through fourteen and | | | | |
| so on. This allows the choir director to go | | | | Obviously, there are hard drive recorders |
| back to a specific point in the song and | | | | players on the market that are designed for |
| start again in order to work on a troublesome | | | | these kinds of audio applications, but they |
| area. | | | | are somewhat expensive. If you already have a |
| | | | fairly powerful computer in place for |
| To record the cd's, I would rip all the | | | | projection, this method costs nothing (except |
| tracks of a single song and save those tracks | | | | for a cable and some adapters to run from |
| (in MP3 format) in a folder with the name of | | | | your audio card to the mixing board). Give it |
| the song title. Then I'd do the same with the | | | | a try. |
| next song. I placed each individual song | | | | |