I've been trying to clean up some more mp3s (well, to be honest, my blightman originals, which I could encode to MP3), but can't effectively use my Cooledit Pro software to do that. Anyone know how I can do this with that software, or free software that would work?

And another thing I've been wanting to do is take all of my Features songs and normalize them to the same volume level so they aren't at jarringly different volumes when I burn a CD. Anyone got a handle on this process either?

Will

I can't really recommend any software programs for editing MP3 files. It's usually not something I fool with because all the programs that I've seen will decode the MP3 to a .wav file, edit it, and then re-encode it to MP3. Re-encoding the file will often lose so much quality that it negates the gains created by editing the file. There are some programs that will let you trim the ends off of a track without decoding/encoding, but that's about all you can do.

For ripping CD's, you can't get much better than a program called Exact Audio Copy. It's freely available at http://www.exactaudiocopy.de. It can normalize the volume for you.

I use MusicMatch software, which actually came with my computer. I usually record my concert recordings to the computer as a .wav file. Then, I adjust the volume level in Wave Studio, which also came with the computer. After that, I cut the tracks in Wave Editor (I don't use Wave Studio, because it takes longer for this function). After that, I go back to MusicMatch and convert the files from .wav to .mp3. This all usually takes me between 2-3 hrs, only because the action of recording from the MiniDisc player to the computer takes an hour or so. It's easy once you get the hang of it. In using this particular set of programs, I have yet to see a discernable difference in the original and the end-product. Yes, there is a little difference, but by no means enough to complain about. A few months ago, I changed the volume on some bootlegs and demos that I downloaded from the mp3 site. The only ones that did not turn out well were the ones recorded in a non-digital format. Case-in-point: the Circus demo that I have. It has a little static on it anyway, but the static overtakes the song if you adjust the volume too much.

Let me know if this helps you at all.

Wiyum,

If you have access to Final Cut Pro, it is packaged with a program called Peak DV which is a handy little audio program. Quicly change bit rates, convert between all the major file formats and do your every day mixing stuff like normalize and what not.