Sample workflow for exporting to iTunes

Under Construction - Strawman-1

This tutorial outlines a set of example steps that can be used to get Audacity Projects (LP and tape transcriptions for example) into iTunes as AAC files.

It is not the only way of working - there are many alternatives. Like any recipe it can be adapted to suit your personal needs. You can work in AIFF rather than WAV if required.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Please bear with me for a couple of days while I work on this tutorial.

Workflow

Record and edit the project in Audacity

Record and edit with Audacity set to a project rate of 44100 Hz and 32-bit sample format (these are the default quality settings). Use 16-bit if you prefer; it will give smaller working file-sizes but you may lose a little quality in some of the processes. Export WAV files at 44100 Hz 16-bit PCM stereo. That is the standard required for burning CDs and it will produce WAVs that are accepted for import by iTunes (and other music player software).

Label the tracks

To facilitate correct ordering later we suggest using 01 <song-name_1>, 02 <song-name_2>, and so on as this helps keep them in the right order for loading into iTunes (or for making a CD). You may find that changing the zoom level will help you with this task - or you can advance to the next label by ensuring that the focus is in the current label then using the <Tab> key.

In Audacity 1.3.12 a new feature has been added which will automatically prefix named tracks with a sequential two-digit number. In the "Name files" section of the Export Multiple dialog, select the "Numbering before Label/Track Name" radio button.

Place all the files for a particular album or show in a specific named folder for that album/show.

Export as a set of WAV files

Use Export Multiple to produce a set of WAVs for each track on the LP or tape at 44.1kHz 16-bit PCM stereo. That is the standard required for burning CDs and it will produce WAVs that are accepted for import by iTunes (and other music player software). Audacity will down-sample on export from 32-bit to 16-bit. Shaped dither noise will be applied by default to cover any clicky noise that may result from the conversion from 32-bit to 16-bit. Advanced users can change the type of dither, or turn it off, in the Quality Preferences.

Add the WAV files into iTunes

Add the WAV files to the iTunes library (using the iTunes command File > Add File to Library or File > Add Folder to Library). Note that they will get added to the library as WAV files, with a bitrate of 1411 kbps, and are not converted in this step.

Even if your iTunes application has the Import set to Import Using AAC Settings ( Edit > Preferences > General > Import Settings ) – no conversion takes place as this only applies to importing from CD - If you add the WAV files direct to iTunes then they get added to the library as WAV files, with a bitrate of 1411 kbps.

Use iTunes to edit the metadata for the album name and artist

Make sure that one of the columns you have showing in your iTunes library is Bitrate. Clicking on the Bitrate column header will re-order the display by bitrate (you need to have All Genres/Artists/Albums showing in the iTunes window).

The WAV files will show up as a set at the top of the list at a bitrate of 1411 kbps. (Alternatively you can display the Kind column – in which case the imported files will show as WAV and similarly clicking on the Kind column header will produce a suitable ordering for you.)

Select all the WAV files and use iTunes' metadata editor to enter the album name and the artist name so that you can easily find it later when editing the other metadata tags. You could alternatively set this metadata prior to Audacity Export using Audacity's metadata editor – some users report that it is easier to use iTunes rather than Audacity to manage the metadata.

Use iTunes to make AAC copies in the library from the WAV files

Provided that you did not already have other WAV files in your iTunes library, the WAV files you need should still be the only selected tunes at this stage, providing that you have done no further clicking. Make sure that you have your iTunes Import Settings to AAC at your required bitrate. Convert them to AAC by using the iTunes command Advanced > Create AAC version. Note carefully that this makes a “copy” not a straight conversion – so at this stage your library will contain both the AAC and the WAV copies of the songs.

Delete the WAV files from the library

The WAV files should still remain as the selected tunes - just take extreme care at this stage (the AACs are created but selection is not forced by iTunes) So then just Delete the selected WAV files using the Delete key - and send the files to the wastebasket.

Note carefully that this workflow assumes that you have iTunes is set to copy files in, NOT to reference external files - so the WAVs that are deleted are iTunes’ copies of the original source WAVs. This is set in Edit > Preferences > Advanced with the “Copy tunes into iTunes folder when adding to library” tickbox.

Edit the metadata tags of the tracks/album

Edit the metadata tags for Song Name, track number etc. The album should be easy to locate in iTunes as you have already edited the Album tag in a previous workflow step above. You may wish to edit the song titles to remove the leading 01, 02 etc numbering that was applied earlier to facilitate the correct ordering of the songs.

Fetch the album artwork

Find a copy of the album artwork - either directly via iTunes if the album is recognized by the Gracenote database CDDB (but note that Gracenote does not always carry the artwork) - or by fetching it from Amazon/Wikipedia/wherever - and add the artwork to the album.

Optionally make a CD – and create cover & playlist

You may wish to burn a CD from the WAV files. In which case you can use iTunes to print CD covers with track-list and album cover.

Backup your updated iTunes library

This is a critical step – you do not want to lose the valuable fruits of your labours, do you?

We would recommend maintaining two separate backup copies of your library on external disks.

Keep the WAV files that you exported from Audacity and back those up as well (two copies) on external disks.

Delete the Audacity project file (.aup and folder) to release hard disk space

After the backups are made you can then safely release space on your onboard hard drive by deleting the Audacity project files and the originally exported WAV files which remain there.

Alternative Method - make & import a CD

There is an alternative method that you can use when transcribing a vinyl album or commercial tape.

• Make a CD of these from the set of WAV files, retaining the original ordering of course.
• Then load this CD into your computer.
• If you are lucky the Gracenote CDDB database will "recognize" the CD and supply all the necessary metadata for you (otherwise edit the metadata tags and submit them to Gracenote).
• You can then simply rip the CD into your iTunes library in the same way as you would do with a commercially produced CD.

Direct use of AAC exported from Audacity

You may if you wish export to AAC compressed format (.MP4 files) directly from Audacity for direct import into iTunes. AAC export is one of the options avaliable in the Export menus, but to do this you will need to download FFmpeg support.

This will remove the need for the export of WAV files and their subsequent conversion in iTunes, so some users may find this more convenient.

The quality settings for AAC export in Audacity are somewhat obscure, and that makes some people prefer AAC conversion in iTunes.

Links

|< Tutorial - Copying tapes, LPs or minidiscs to CD

>  See also tutorial on: Sample workflow for LP digitization

>This Wiki article on Exporting your Audacity Project into iTunes and iPod has further useful information.