Jokelben

[rmissbrook]

I've made no bones about the fact that I LOVE Jokelben. Hardly a day goes by since I discovered this site and found out about Jokelben that I have not either listened to or downloaded some tracks or shows. But I am curious about one thing. Is there some reason why so many of the tracks end after the introduction for the next song rather than at the end of the current song? This is not a problem if you are listening to an entire show. But if you want to make a compilation CD it can get a little nutty. You hear an intro for Pencil Thin Mustache but Survie is the next song that plays. So I am wondering if there is some technical reason for this? Just curious.

[tigzoe]

I would guess it has to do with his opinion on when a song actually "starts." Sunlovers concerts are the same way. The next track doesn't begin until right before the actual song starts. There is software out there that you can edit sound files. On my mac, I use Fission. This enables you to edit any sound file to insert track breaks if you are downloading a sound file that doesn't have one.

[looking4OPH]

As the concerts there are from different people and sources, it likely comes down to personal preference of whomever captured and edited each show.

I hear ya on the confusion as I have some great vest-of live playlists that have some confusing intros.

[FunkHouse9]

When flipping songs on my iPod, I don't want to have to fast forward through talk to get to the song. If the talk is at the end, then I can forward to the next track and skip the talk. It really boils down to most people wanting the song to start when the track starts.

[LIPH]

I like it better when the talking is at the beginning of the song. To me, it makes no sense to have the intro of one song serve as the outro (for want of a better word) of the previous song.

[urlcenter]

Different people choose to edit the shows differently. One must understand that the editing process takes some time. In the past when I have recorded shows from RM I chose to edit so that the intros are at the start of each song. My preference for a break point between the songs is when Jimmy says "Thank You".

[rmissbrook]

Well, just like everything else in this world, it's different strokes for different folks. obviously the answer is for me to learn how to record the concerts from RM and do them the way I like.

[urlcenter]

Well, just like everything else in this world, it's different strokes for different folks. obviously the answer is for me to learn how to record the concerts from RM and do them the way I like.

You will need an audio recording program with editing capabilities or a recording program and a separate audio editor.

[rmissbrook]

Well, just like everything else in this world, it's different strokes for different folks. obviously the answer is for me to learn how to record the concerts from RM and do them the way I like.

You will need an audio recording program with editing capabilities or a recording program and a separate audio editor.

Yes, and then I'll need a 12 year old (boy or girl) to show me how to use all that stuff. I'm having trouble enough trying to made a DVD. I think I will just leave the concert recording to the experts and be damb glad that you all do the work for us technically impaired.

[conched]

I also like the intros to songs at the beginning of the track.

Since I "ipod/itunes shuffle" a lot, it makes more sense to me to do it that way.

(And, Kay, it's easy to record and track...I find myself listening to the whole track to KNOW exactly what's on the recording though, which always takes time. But then again, that's why I record...to listen to them again.

You get used to the "alright" and "thank you" and Jimmy playing those 3 little notes of the next song. I still use Total Recorder from http://www.highcriteria.com/ to do it all. Guess one day I'll need to tackle VIDEO recording too.

[rmissbrook]

I also like the intros to songs at the beginning of the track.

Since I "ipod/itunes shuffle" a lot, it makes more sense to me to do it that way.

(And, Kay, it's easy to record and track...I find myself listening to the whole track to KNOW exactly what's on the recording though, which always takes time. But then again, that's why I record...to listen to them again.

You get used to the "alright" and "thank you" and Jimmy playing those 3 little notes of the next song. I still use Total Recorder from http://www.highcriteria.com/ to do it all. Guess one day I'll need to tackle VIDEO recording too.

So Nancy, maybe we could work out a deal if I ever figure out how to do the Video recording. I'll help you with that and you can help me with the Audio recording.

[urlcenter]

Here is my handy step by step guide to recording and editing Buffett shows from RM:

Recording the shows--

For recording the shows you need an internet connection, audio playing software, and audio recording software. I won't get into a discussion about internet connections at this time. For audio playing software you can use one of the following: Windows Media Player or Winamp. Winamp will play the WMA feed with good to decent sound. Windows Media Player (which comes as part of windows) can only play the WMA feed but not the Flash Feed.

For recording the shows I have tried several different recording programs with my favorite being Total Recorder from High Criteria. This program can record either by being programed for scheduled start like an old VCR or by clicking the red record button if you plan to record and listen at the same time. Before you actually record there are a couple of things you need to know about Total Recorder and how it actually works. When you install Total Recorder on your computer system two things happen. One, the program is installed on your hard drive in your program files folder. Two, The Total Recorder Driver is also installed on your system. This driver is used by Total Recorder instead of your windows audio driver. Don't fret about this however as you can switch between drivers in the audio control in the Windows control panel.

Before using Total Recorder you must set a few parameters within the program these options can be found by clicking the "Recording Source and Parameters button. Once you click this button you can select to one of two recording source. The first option is called "From Software" this means your audio player and has 6 sub-options. if you select "From Software" the first sub-option called "Convert using recording parameters specified below" must be checked. The remaining five sub-options can be used but are not required to record from RM.

The second recording source option is called "Sound Board" and uses the sound directly from the sound card in your computer. If you select this as your recording option you must select an input source for the sound. For recording from RM you need to check the box next to "Stereo Mix". This will allow Total Recorder to record in Stereo.

The final thing to set are the recording parameters which is means what type of file and what quality you want your recording to have. Total Recorder can record in a variety of file formats and quality levels. The best formats for music audio are MP3 or PCM these are the most commonly used and produce the best results. MP3 creates compressed files that take far less space on your hard drive. PCM creates .wav files and that are quite large (more than 1GB). MP3 format allows for many different quality levels called bit rates. The higher the bit rate you select the better the quality of the recording but the size of the MP3 file will be larger as well. As an example I recorded a recent show with a bit rate of 160 in stereo and the result was a file just over 170 megabytes. Although that might seem like a large file size it's roughly 1/10th the size it would be if recorded in PCM format.

Once you have done the above steps your ready to record Jimmy's show.

Note: If you are using Windows Media Player as your listening source and you noticed little gaps in the feed this is a conflict between TR and WMP. The easiest fix is to select "Sound Board" as the recording source in Total Recorder instead of "Record from Software". Alternatively you can use a different recording tool. Two that I have used are "Advanced WMA/MP3 Recorder" and "1st Sound Recorder" Both of these will record from WMP without any little gaps.

A quick word about the two programs mention above they are both good but setting up thier options is requires a step or two more then setting the options in TR. Also TR will retain what ever settings you set. The other two have to have the options set each time and if you forget it can cause some aggravation.

Another Difference between TR and the other two recording programs is in how you save your files. With TR you name and save your file after your finish recording. With the other two programs you have to name the file before you record.

Now let me tell you about something else I use when I record Jimmy's shows. When I first started recording the shows I was less then satisfied with the audio quality. Even after RM added the additional feed formats I was still not satisfied. My first step was to upgrade from Dial-up to Cable Internet, better quality but still not great. So I went looking for a plug in for my audio player that would enhance the sound quality. After a bit of searching I found a plug-in called DFX which is made by a company called SoundFX. This little plug-in is a gem the enhancement to the audio, even live audio is incredible.

After you have the show recorded and you want to cut it into tracks I recommend using a program called Goldwave. You can also do any cleaning or "fixing" of the show with Goldwave. Goldwave features a large number of editing options and effects that can be used to enhance the recordings.

My method for cutting the show into tracks is pretty simple and is listed below:

Make Sure your speakers are on
1. Start GoldWave
2. Select the File Menu
3. From the File Menu click Open
4. From the Open Window find location where you saved the recorded show
5. Click the show file to open it in GoldWave.
6. A box will appear on the screen that say "Decompressing Audio" and a percentage complete slider will show how much of the file has been decompressed. Depending on the total size of the file this will take a few minutes.
7. Once the file is fully decompressed Goldwave will display a graphed image of the file. Along the bottom of the graph window will be time intervals set ten minutes apart. These intervals start at 0 and run till the end of the files running time.
8. Select the view menu from the menu bar and click specify. A small box called "Specify View" will appear. In this box change the setting in the option marked "length" from 10 minutes to 1 minute. Then click OK. This will change the time intervals on the bottom of the graph. The file image will now be zoomed in on and it will be easy to find the start and end of each song.
9. The file image is made up of vertical lines that correspond to the volume level of the file. Long lines are the loud parts and short line are the soft parts. As you look at the graph you will see long sections of long lines with small sections of small lines between them. The longer sections are the songs the short sections are where Jimmy is talking.
10. Move the cursor to the left edge of the graph and right click. A small menu will apear with several options click "Set Start Marker" a line will appear in the graph indicating the start of the track.
11. Move the cursor to the right until you are at the end of the first long section of long lines. Right click to bring up the small menu again, click "Set Finish Marker". A second line will appear indicating the end of the track.
12. Move the cursor to the left so it is to the left of the end of the track and right click to bring up the small menu again. click "Play from Here". Goldwave will play from that point to the "Finish Marker" and then stop. The reason for this step is to make sure the you have the entire track within the two lines. If the playback stops before the actual end of the song you will need to drag the "Finish Marker" more to the right until you have the track the way you want it. If the playback goes to far beyond the end of the song then you need to drag the "Finish Marker" to the right.
13. With the "Start and "Finish" where you want them, Select the File menu from the menu bar and then click "Save Selection as"and save the track where ever you want the tracks to be. To save space you will probably want to save the tracks as MP3's. You can select the file format from the save window.
14 Repeat steps 10-13 using the end of one track as the start of the next until you have broken the entire show in to tracks.

After you have all the tracks you can burn them on to CD's (Buffett shows are 2 CD shows.)

[phjrsaunt]

Wow, urlcenter-thanks!

[conched]

URL!!
You must have taught me how to record.

The only thing you did not mention IS when you record in mp3 format...don't you need that lame dll file associated with Total Recorder so it will convert in the fly and take up less space...

Or is that built into the newer versions of TR?

GREAT directions.

I track with TR also and don't mind the little tiny pause when you play a recorded CD

[conched]

I forgot to put encoder after lame. So that was a lame attempt to explain.

[urlcenter]

URL!!
You must have taught me how to record.

The only thing you did not mention IS when you record in mp3 format...don't you need that lame dll file associated with Total Recorder so it will convert in the fly and take up less space...

Or is that built into the newer versions of TR?

GREAT directions.

I track with TR also and don't mind the little tiny pause when you play a recorded CD

You can use the lame.dll or another MP3 encoder. I don't know if the lame dll file is included with newer versions of TR. Also TR versions 6 and up have the capability to record in FLAC format. Flac stands for Free Loss-less Audio Codec

I should also have included a comment about setting the bit rate at 128 or higher. I usually use 192 or higher myself.

[rmissbrook]

HOLY COW! Thank you,URL. That sounds like a weekend project for me. But after you went to all that work, I can't not try it.

[cm22lmr]

I understand what everyone is saying, and can identify, but just let me say this:

I think it's kind of cool the way it is. If I'm listening to Jimmy, especially if it's a concert from SunLover, urlcenter, or anyone else is so generous with their time and efforts, I'm just stoked to hear the music. Don't necessarily care what he's saying, the voice is cool as is the sound of the crowd. I know whatever song is coming up next, and I know that I'll love it. So I just sit back and enjoy it. I like that random little slice of chaos. Besides, it definitely adds to my manana/margaritaville frame of mind.

Just a "love song from a different point of view".

[cm22lmr]

And:
(just to cement my reputation as completely nuts):

I like to do, what I call, Jimmy Mix N' Match.
Start with the song of your choice, from the concert of your choice.
For the second song, the one that he introduces after the one you started with, pick another version of that song from another concert.
At the end of the 2nd song, he'll introduce a 3rd song. Pick another version of that 3rd song, from another concert.

Okay, it's childish, but you know what? It's fun. Try it.

And Fins Up!

[looking4OPH]

And:
(just to cement my reputation as completely nuts):

I like to do, what I call, Jimmy Mix N' Match.

Hmm, there's some interesting playlist possibilities in there. Thanks for the idea!