In
setting up the program after installation, there is a hookup
wizard that plainly walks through the connection procedure with an
excellent tutorial video. It is accompanied with a voice for those
needing extra encouragement. Really, nobody should get it wrong. The same screen and every screen thereafter gives access to the variable settings for the program and an extensive help file, and the ever helpful voice tutor. |
The
next step is to make a recording, and I have chosen to record a vinyl
LP, which immediately leads me to set the recording level. Again there is a wizard that measures volume over a 30-second interval and sets the recommended recording level. I find this tends to err on the side of safety so as never to cause clipping at peak volume, but generally speaking, the level wizard gives excellent results without clipping. Anyway, the recording is automatically normalized afterwards to adjust for this. Perhaps a little paranoid, I then manually increase this level to my satisfaction while replaying the same section and watching for the clipping. Past experience has taught me that maximum acceptable recording level is invaluable in the final analysis. |
The Clearing & Effects Preset list is a gift to users. If a noise reduction effect is loaded, Spin It Again will automatically find a clean noise print between songs which it analyses and uses to remove noise from the entire recording. Memories of past experience with other software made me almost ecstatic to find out that all effects in Spin It Again are non-destructive effects applied in real-time to the entire recording, and do not change the original recording at all. When a noise reduction is selected Noise buttons will appear in the zoomed waveform, with 'Next Noise' and 'Show Noise' controls beneath the waveform. Clicking 'Show Noise' will zoom in on the analyzed spot. The 'Next Noise' button will automatically find the next good noise print and select it. The noise content can be tested by right clicking on the Noise button and selecting Play Noise Print. If the noise print is music and not actual noise, it will deteriorate the recording. You might need to try a different Preset. You can freely switch between presets, then select No Effects, and your audio will play back in its original form completely unchanged. |
Following the Next>> button takes us down through naming your recording with Album, Artist and
Genre, and then to the productive stage. This is where you will go to determine what
format you want; WAV, MP3, OGG or WMA, and where you want it saved. Or alternatively you can burn your CD directly from here. No external CD burning application is necessary, as Spin it Again uses the Goldenhawk technology burning engine to burn CDs or Audio CDs. I initially had problems here because my burner was not recognized and I had to use the alternative IMAPI ( Image Mastering Applications Programming Interface) engine provided by WindowsXP. This is set in Start> All Programs> Acoustica Spin It Again>Burning Engine> Use-IMAPI (XP Only). Incompatibility with Goldenhawk is not a problem at all for Win98 users, because we can save the audio files for burning with any CD burning software that we have - from Nero to the freeware CDBurnerXP Pro. |