hosting MP3 sermon files?

[b3zdomny]

I am a new webmaster and I'm hoping the members here can get me started from square one on hosting sermons on MP3 files. What type of hardware, i.e., tape deck, is required to transcribe sermons from cassette to digital MP3? Perhaps any tape deck with a line-out can be connected to the line-in on a standard sound card? Or is a tape deck with USB interface required? And what software is used to record the MP3's? As for the software, I have a dual-boot machine with both XP and Debian linux and would be able to use a Debian package. Thank you! b3zdomny http://www.stmarysmanteca.org

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Landis,

Thanks for joining the forum, and posting your questions. You'll no doubt get replies from members who do this on a weekly basis. I'll attempt to answer your questions on a more theoretical basis, since it has been several years since I operated or ran sound for a church.

There are several options, depending upon your church's budget.

1) Record sermons straight from the soundboard (via a line out) to a rackmount CD recorder such as the Tascam-CC222MKIII (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Tascam-CC222MKIII-Cassette-and-CD-Recorder-Combo?sku=242195). This unit (an older version of which I have used) actually can record a tape and and a CD at the same time.

Once the sermon is over, you have to "finish" the CD, which closes it to further recording. Then, you pop the CD into the CD drive of your computer. Then, you use any number of "ripping" software to extract the sermon audio file from the CD and convert it to an MP3.

(If you choose this option, never let the recording level go into the red for the CD when recording the CD. You're recording digitally and there's zero tolerance for signals that are too loud.)

You may wish to edit the sermon first. In that case, you use an audio editing program to edit the audio file, then export to an MP3 file. There are various proprietary audio editing programs available with which you can perform this function. You can use the open-source program called Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) instead, however. This program doesn't actually come with the ability to export to an MP3 file, due to licensing issues. (The MP3 format is a proprietary format.) However, there is a free "external" file that you download that enables Audacity to export to an MP3.

2) Use a tape deck with the features offered by the Ion TAPE2PC USB Cassette Archiver (http://www.ion-audio.com/tape2pc.php). This is a cassette deck that converts your tape recordings to MP3s on the fly as you download sermons or music to your PC or Mac computer. Available from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Ion-USB-Dual-Cassette-Deck/dp/B000VG802I).

3) If you already have a tape deck (non USB), you can record the audio into your computer using the audio jack at the back (or front) of the computer. That won't give the best quality however. Better to use a USB audio input such as those sold by Griffin Technology (http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/). You connect this unit to the line out of your tape deck, and to the USB input of your computer.

You do the actual recording while an audio editing program is open and a new file has been created. (See above discussion of Audacity.)

Hope this gets you started.

[flutem3]

I am a new webmaster and I'm hoping the members here can get me started from square one on hosting sermons on MP3 files. What type of hardware, i.e., tape deck, is required to transcribe sermons from cassette to digital MP3?

Hi, Landis,

Welcome to the forum. I am the "sound engineer" :D for our website. I am everything else as well. We have a very simple setup for putting the sermons on the website. Please remember that if you include any music, you need to have copyright clearance from the publisher/s. I am including what I do because that is all I know.

I am talking only about cassettes because our sound system at the church does not have the capacity right now to use more advanced technology.

Start with some good tapes. Be certain that you get 120 min. otherwise you will lose part of the pastor's sermon.

My tape recorder is a $30 Radio Shack tape recorder. I have an audio line (5 mm. sound cord with double scrolling on the ends...there is a better word, but I can't think of it.) which goes from the place where you put the earphones (line out) to the incoming sound on the back of your computer. If it doesn't work in the pink hole, try the blue one. That is my physical setup.

Download Audacity which is your system for adjusting and tweaking and making the change from analog to digital. You probably know this, but I didn't so I am including that information. Get Audacity at:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

You will also need an mp3 encoder. You can get what Audacity uses and find out about the encoder here. You will only need part of the information once it is download:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3

The part you will need to move to Audacity is called lame_enc.dll. It will look something like that. You only need to do this the first time you use Audacity...then you are set to go.

Now, you just need to mess around with the controls on Audacity and discover how to use them. The main stop and start as well as pause are just like a cassette recorder. I have found the pause button to be very helpful.

I know there are slicker ways to accomplish the same result, but working on a budget produces some good results. And it helps that I am getting more experience. And that's the truth.

With my knowledge of computers which is much greater than it was, but not so much as many people on here, I find that I can work with this system okay. You can check our website if you want to here some of the results. The URL is below. Go to sermons. :)

Have fun!

Carol

[b3zdomny]

Thank you, everyone. I indeed was able to download and install Audacity and the little applet that allows it to export MP3's. Now I just need to look at the church's sound system (I'm new here and haven't seen it yet) to see if it includes a cassette recorder. Then all I will need is the small patch cord mentioned by flutem3 and a cassette tape deck with an output plug to put next to my computer for transcription. On the other hand, if the church sound board doesn't include a cassette recorder, I can recommend the church invest in a portable MP3 recorder such as the Olympus DS30 (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2715433&cp=&sr=1&origkw=mp3+recorder&kw=mp3+recorder&parentPage=search) and skip the tape-transcription chore. Thanks again, everyone! I will try to remember to let everyone know how it works out.

[flutem3]

"...then all I will need is the small patch cord mentioned by flutem3 and a cassette tape deck with an output plug to put next to my computer for transcription."

Hi,

The output plug on any cheap or more expensive cassette deck is the hole where you plug the ear-piece in for private listening. You need not get anything special. I think even the least expensive cassette decks have the hole for earphone...or ear buds...or whatever they are called in this day and age.

Hope you enjoy being a "sound engineer." I know that I do, but I have a monstrous amount to learn yet.

My guess is that your church sound system has a way to record to cassette if nothing more. Cassettes are old enough now that even our system has that capability...and we are not an advanced thinking church when it comes to technology.

For example, in the sermon for tomorrow the pastor is telling about all kinds of programs which are to teach...youth, adults, etc. He includes everything under the sun...but not the website. :confused: They bless everything and everyone but have never blessed the website. When I read the sermon, I was going to write the pastor. However, this has been a monstrous week for the church, especially Chris who is the senior pastor. I will mention it some other time when he and others are more rested...and will hear what I am saying. :D Sometimes, it is best to wait.

Have a good time. Let me know when your first sermon is up so I can take a listen. I probably will be able to learn from you!!

Carol

[David Gillaspey]

The output plug on any cheap or more expensive cassette deck is the hole where you plug the ear-piece in for private listening. Hi Carol,

You're referring to the headphone jack.

Most any cassette deck or Walkman style player has a headphone jack, as you say. However, better quality cassette decks have Line In jacks (stereo left and right) for recording a tape and Line Out jacks for sending the recorded sound to somewhere else. The Line Out jacks, if available, would normally be used to record sound from a cassette deck into the computer.

Now, I mentioned stereo. For MP3s of sermons, you don't need stereo files, which unnecessarily doubles the file size. So, when recording from cassette deck to computer, either

1) record in stereo into Audacity and delete one or the other of the stereo left and right tracks.

2) just record into Audacity using a mono jack and cable plugged into the left or right Line Out jack of the cassette deck.

or

3) Use a "Y" adapter to mix the stereo signal from the left and right Line Out jack of the cassette deck to a mono signal.

Landis,

Cables, jacks, and jack converters (from one type of jack to another) are available from Radio Shack.

can recommend the church invest in a portable MP3 recorder such as the Olympus DS30 and skip the tape-transcription chore.

There's considerable advantage to that. The (unspoken) problem with recording a sermon from cassette deck to computer is that it's done in real time, meaning if the pastor/minister/priest/bishop talked for 45 minutes, that's how long it will take to record the sermon into the computer.

Recording a sermon straight to a digital MP3 recorder results in a file that can be simply copied to your computer in a few seconds using a USB cable.

On another matter, when recording to an (analog) cassette deck, or from cassette tape to computer, you will want the sound level meter to occasionally go into the red "danger" zone. This is contrary to recording audio digitally, as with the MP3 recorder. As I stated before, when recording audio digitally, you must ensure the audio level never goes into the red zone.

[flutem3]

Most any cassette deck or Walkman style player has a headphone jack, as you say. However, better quality cassette decks have Line In jacks (stereo left and right) for recording a tape and Line Out jacks for sending the recorded sound to somewhere else. The Line Out jacks, if available, would normally be used to record sound from a cassette deck into the computer.

Hi, Landis,

I think you know more about this stuff than I do! I don't have a better quality cassette deck. I have a very cheap one because I buy all this stuff myself. However, believe it or not, I do know what you are saying.

Didn't you enjoy my explanation on how to record sermons? :D I am not too certain that I could have followed it myself. It is difficult sometimes to explain things. Now, I know why manuals are so poorly written. They are very difficult to write.

Did you find out what kind of audio set-up your new church has? Maybe you will not need to go the cassette route at all. Now, that would be nice!

Carol

[JackWolfgang]

I discussed using a relatively inexpensive flash-based MP3 player with line-in encoding capabilties here:

http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2983&postcount=4

The advantage over cassette, as David pointed out, is I move the whole file to my computer with a USB cable in about 30 seconds (guesstimate) and then open it in Audacity (which takes a minute or two because it's decoding the MP3).

The solution still works for us.

[generalhavok]

Next Question:

What do y'all use to play audio files on your church websites? There are a lot of flash players out there to play mp3s, but I'd like to know which you'd recommend.

Free is always the best price, by the way.

[ibda12u]

Next Question:

What do y'all use to play audio files on your church websites? There are a lot of flash players out there to play mp3s, but I'd like to know which you'd recommend.

Free is always the best price, by the way.

I use the free flash player located here. http://www.jeroenwijering.com/?item=JW_MP3_Player

I have it working here http://livingwaterslighthouse.impact-x.net/Media/tabid/59/Default.aspx
it should launch into a window that fits my little template.
this player was pretty simple to setup, and all I have to do is edit the xml playlist file in order to add new titles. Takes me about 5mins to update the sermons (this is of course not including upload to server time.)

Another friend of mine uses the same player on his church website, just a different theme. Here is the link to the launch page (pick audio)
http://www.lighthousechurch.tv/cmsmadesimple/index.php?page=online-media-content

Thanks!
Marrell