Inside the Lab - Starting Your Own Work

The Phoenix Project
Inside the Lab - Starting Your Own Work
Last updated Friday, April 02, 2010 10:40 PM

PUTTING IT ALL TO WORK!

Getting Started

By now, you've hopefully experimented some with the Frequency Generator and completed the lessons up to this point.

If so, you're now ready to take the next step - actually putting this knowledge to work in your own lab or workshop. All it takes is a computer and the right software.

You have one of the most important pieces - the frequency generator. Now you will need mixing software of the type used in music studios. You don't have to shell out a fortune for the "Cadillac" program (ProTools) used by most professional studios today.

Instead, I'm going to show you some very excellent software that is completely free. I'm not going to take the time to teach you how to use the software, because that's an entirely different subject (though related). There's already a ton of stuff available online and in the programs' help files.

It's up to you to commit yourself to learning how to use it. If you don't have that commitment, then it's probably best that you skip all this and just browse around the site out of curiosity.

That's perfectly OK, because this site is (a) for those who just want to benefit from the technology, and (b) for those who want to create the technology. You can fit into either or both categories.

Audacity and/or Reaper

I've found audio mixing software better to use than the digital mixers such as the Korg D1200mkII, which I'm also trying to master simply because a musician friend has one.

Two excellent (and free) programs are Audacity and Reaper. Audacity will work with Windows or Mac OS 9. I'm not sure if there's a Mac version of Reaper.

Some others you might also want to consider and that come in handy because they do supplemental things are CoolEdit 96. CoolEdit has been bought out by Adobe, who changed the name and charges a lot for it now, so this is the free version before Adobe spoiled things. This version is becoming very difficult to find online.

If you have purchased The Phoenix Project package, then you'll find them all included on the CD/DVD without having to download them. Of course, you'll also find all the audio files that we cover also included on the CD or DVD.

Saving Your First Files

Before you start on your first project, this is a must-read section, because if you don't follow the instructions, you may never hear a thing.

RULE #1:
First, all files you save must NOT have spaces in the file names. Computers translate the letters and numbers we type into ASCII code. This means that if you save a file called "sound a.mp3" it will in most cases be changed to "sound%20a.mp3" because the space between words is changed into the ASCII equivalent (%20).

Many websites will not accept files with spaces in the name.

RULE #2:
Also, it's best to use ONLY lower-case letters in your file name. For example, call it "sound-a.mp3" NOT "Sound-a.mp3."

Again, some web hosts will NOT allow capital letters in file names.

When you design and upload a file name, the HTML code must exactly match the original file, so you''ll need to set up this consistent process pattern before you ever start.

Since I'm also a web designer, I charge for my work and advice when it comes to web design, so I'm trying to save you time, money and frustration by telling you this little-known secret of the trade.

This may also be important if you're just creating files for your own hard drive or to put on CD.

Now, don't just quit here and start creating files, because there's still one more extremely important step to take - and that's the organization of your files, because how you name them is going to determine how organized they are.

But the folder setup is also important, so you want to set up your hard drive folders before you ever start a single file.

Organizing Your First Files

Now, knowing this, you need to create a "filing system" so you can keep track of everything.

RULE #3:
The third thing to know is that Windows has a funny way of sorting things. It will put "10" in front of "2" if you do an alphanumeric sort:

1
10
11
2
20
21
7
8
9 and so on.

This means you want to put zeroes in front of your single-digit numbers. In other words, every preceding number should have the same number of digits.

If you anticipate more than 99 files for a project, then you start with "001" and work up to "999" if you want them to sort right.

Why bother with numbers in the first place? Why not just call it a name like "headaches.mp3"?

Because the files will be sorted alphabetically anyway and you may not want them in that order. I nearly always want one file to play before another one, regardless of its name (without numbers) - but most CD burner programs, like Nero, will sort them alphabetically.

RULE #2:
Always create a separate folder for each project. Each folder will contain several types of related files - your original tone files, your converted .WAV or .MP3 files, your background files, your Audacity/Reaper project files and more.

It's a nightmare to get them scattered all over your hard drive when you need them.

Some other useful software

At this point we have two or maybe three programs in our toolbox (NCH Frequency Generator, Audacity and/or Reaper).

But you're going to need some more. One (NotePad) is already in your Windows folder (look in Accessories folder). If you've never used Windows Explorer (not to be confused with Internet Explorer), you need to become familiar with it.

At the bottom left of your screen is your Windows logo - RIGHT CLICK it and you'll see an option to EXPLORE ALL USERS - probably last on the list. Click it and you'll see the huge filing cabinet that is your hard drive. I use this program more than any other, despite some serious shortcomings I may discuss later. But for now it will work just fine.

Personally I prefer NoteTab Lite, because it's free, it lets you have several files open at once and it doesn't insert invisible code that will mess up your results (like Microsoft Word or Works will do). Always use a clean word processor.

You'll want to keep a text file of the frequencies you use in each project. You may also want to maintain a database, but for now we'll keep it simple.

This text file should contain some basic information about what it is in the sound files, what the treatment is for, the frequencies used, what types of wave forms are used, and how long each frequency is used.

Here's an example:

example-project-file.txt

Your first lab assignment

For your first lab assignment, open the NCH Frequency Generator and create a single-channel 10-hertz sine wave with a duration of 10 seconds (10,000 milliseconds).

When you play it back you won't hear anything.

Save it to a folder you have created according to the steps above. I would recommend naming this new folder "nch-saved-tones". Name the saved tone "10-hz-sine".

Also save the file as a WAV file - "10-hz-sine."

Now change the tone to a square wave. When you play it you will now be able to hear it, even though it is below the range of human hearing.

Change the settings to triangle, sawtooth and pulse tones, then listen to each of them and save those, too, using names like "10-hz-square", "10-hz-triangle", etc.

NEXT: An Introduction to the Generation of Brain Wave Files