How to Edit MP3 Tags and Metadata with Switch Audio Converter

Edit MP3 Metadata with Switch Audio Converter

How to Edit Metadata and Tags when Converting to MP3

When converting a track to MP3, you can edit the track metadata and tags to include title, artist, track artwork, producer, rating, genre, comments and more. If you record your own music, you may want to set up metadata and tags for your finished recordings before sharing. Editing your tags and metadata will ensure that your album artwork, artist name, and other tags show up correctly when your track is loaded into a new audio library. You can easily edit the metadata of MP3 and tags for audio files when converting with Switch Audio Converter.

Download Switch Audio Converter for Windows

Edit MP3 Tags

To edit the tags of an audio file, begin by loading the file into Switch Audio Converter. To import an audio file, click on the "Add Files" button in the top left hand corner of the program window.

After you have imported an audio file, you can right click on the file in Switch and select "Edit Audio Tags" to edit the audio tags.

This will open the Tag Editor for the selected audio file. Here, you can edit the audio track title, artist, album, genre, BPM, producer, rating, artwork, and more. For new recordings, many fields will be blank. If the audio file that you are converting currently has audio tags, the existing tags will be displayed in the Tag Editor.

To edit a tag, click on the field that you would like to edit and type in the new tag information that you would like to save for your mp3 file. You can edit the song Rating by clicking on the star value that you would like to assign to the audio file.

Add Artwork to an MP3 File

To add artwork to an MP3 file, click on the "Browse" button the the right of the artwork image in the Tag Editor. Then, select a file from your computer to use as the artwork for your audio file. 

Apply Changes

You can apply changes to converted files only, or you can apply changes to source files and converted files. To apply tag edits to converted files only, select the option that says "Apply changes to converted files only". This option will leave the file tags for the source file in their original state, while applying the tag edits to only converted files.

 To apply tag changes to the original source file as well as converted files, select the option that says "Apply changes to source files and converted files".

Convert to MP3 with New Tags

To convert your file to MP3 with the edited tags, click on the "Convert" button in the bottom right hand corner of the Switch program window.

Download Switch Audio Converter for Windows

Bypass Voxal Voice Changer Effects

How To Switch Back to a Normal Voice with Voxal Voice Changer

Bypass Voice Effects with Voxal Voice Changer

With Voxal voice changing software, you can change your voice in realtime to sound like a girl, alien, robot, or stadium announcer. Voxal works with any chat program that uses a microphone.

Download Voxal for Windows

In some cases, you may want to quickly switch back to your normal voice. With Voxal, you can easily switch back from a voice effect to your normal voice without exiting the program. To do this, simply use the "ByPass" option to momentarily remove all voice effects. 

How To Remove Voice Changer Effects

To switch back to your normal voice while using Voxal you can use the "Bypass" tool. The Bypass option is located in the Tools tab in the top bar menu. 

Selecting the Bypass tool will bypass the current voice, which will remove all effects from your voice. To switch back to a voice effect, simply deselect the Bypass tool. To deselect the Bypass tool, simply click on the Bypass button a second time. 

If the Bypass tool has a dark background, the Bypass tool is currently selected. 

Bypass tool selected:

Bypass tool not Selected:

Download Voxal for Windows

Want to learn more about how to use Voxal? Check out our Voxal Video Tutorial Series.

WavePad Makes Doing Radio Fun Again

Guest post by Paulette MacQuarrie of Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio

Back in 2002 I was introduced to audio editing software, when the AM station broadcasting my weekly radio show finally went digital and got rid of its reel-to-reel tapes.

It was the end of a romantic era, and I was not enamoured of the change. (Can anyone say "buggy whip"?) But I eventually realized it had ushered in an exciting new era of its own.

The things I could do now! No more razor blades, guesswork, or scrubbing tapes. No more recording shows onto cassette — they could now be archived on a microchip! And on a website for listeners who missed the radio broadcast. (This was before the term "podcast" was invented.)
Best of all, I could record in my own home studio. No more traffic!

I was well aware that as time marched along, my software was becoming dated. Still, it was comfortably familiar. I had become reasonably competent with it, and I hated learning new software on my own. It was hard enough with help!

When the time came to upgrade my computer, however, upgrading my audio software was no longer optional. I discovered to my horror that it was not compatible with Windows7.

One day while in an office supply store in Bellingham, WA I found myself in their software section. A nice-looking box labelled Audio Essentials by NCH Software caught my eye.

The description sounded good and the price was way less than an upgrade for my existing program. And, I recognized the name WavePad as one that a colleague has for years been ranting and raving about, and bugging me to try. So I bought it and once it was installed, it was pretty much love at first sight.

I don’t usually go crazy over software but WavePad cut my production time in half just on my first try. So what’s not to go crazy about?

Working with my old program involved selecting and arranging regions, then doing a mix-down to a Wave file. This resulted in a studio mix that, after all my finicky editing, was considerably more slick than what I had produced on reel-to-reel. And gradually I forgot how much I enjoyed the "performance high" from recording "live to tape" in my pre-digital days.

WavePad has rekindled that excitement while providing more efficient tools for the studio work.

Probably the most useful is "Insert file" (under Edit menu). I can add ready-to-air files (commercials, interviews, etc.), rip tracks off CDs in seconds and copy them in, as well as record my intros and extros right into the file. No mixing down and converting … just save file as an mp3 and I’m done.

Now the fun is back again!

I love the click-saving icons for basics like adjusting volume (Amplify), fading and cross-fading, mixing and pasting files, noise reduction, etc. I especially love how you can zoom in and out with the scroll of a mouse wheel!

WavePad has handy time markers along the bottom of the page and an indicator showing the length of the entire file and selections. That keeps me on track so I have less editing and adjusting to do later.

I still like to work in WAV because it’s uncompressed. The Batch Converter allows me to convert the show and several components to mp3s in a flash, to post on my program website. Skookum!

WavePad has to be one of the most user-friendly programs I’ve ever encountered. The interface is uber-easy and user-friendly. The brief video tutorials are helpful, and the manual is excellent. The support staff are prompt, friendly and helpful. Definitely real people!

Now I’m starting to experiment with MixPad and am finding it a similarly pleasant experience. It’s almost a surprise how fast and easy it is! I’m looking forward to using the other NCH products that came in the package.

My only regret is waiting so long to make the switch!

Author bio: Paulette MacQuarrie lives on Vancouver Island, Canada where she produces and hosts a syndicated one-hour weekly variety show called Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio in (mostly) English. More details at the show’s website www.nashholos.com and blog nashholos.blogspot.com

WavePad Analyzes Electronic Voice Phenomena

Guest post by Shawna Hunter, investigator with Florida Paranormal Research

I love using WavePad Sound Editor from NCH Software to listen to EVPs, or Electronic Voice Phenomena. EVPs are believed to be possible communication with different entities in the paranormal realm. When investigating paranormal activity audio recordings can be made and analyzed later, sometimes bring sounds and patterns to the surface that I didn't pick up with my ears alone, but after I review the audio, using WavePad, there's an EVP! The opposite is sometimes also true and I will personally hear something with during the investigation that is never caught on the digital audio recorder. It really is amazing stuff.

I use WavePad as a tool to review the audio from our investigations. It is a very user-friendly tool. I can cut a section of the audio, amplify, slow-down, and even loop the clip of audio in question. This enables me to show our clients the evidence in a clip. This is one of the easiest programs to use that I have come across for reviewing audio in regards to the capture of EVPs. I suggest WavePad as a tool to help anyone who is looking for an easy to use audio program for the capture of EVPs from their audio recordings.

Become a part of the investigation: www.thewhitenoiseforum.com

Record Your Own Audio Book

Books on tape have been around a long time, when I was younger we would sometimes get an audio book to listen to in the car on a long trip. Now that people carry mp3 players almost everywhere there is no reason to wait for a road trip to listen to a good book. And, like ebooks, there isn't the pressure to sell huge volumes that is inherent when publishing a printed book, so it is much easier to get into. In fact with just some audio recording software and a high quality microphone you can get started recording your first audio book.

Once you have decided to record an audio book you can start getting prepared. You want to be very familiar with the text. Read first and record second. You can do some editing of the audio after recording, but you want to keep that to a minimum and keep a flow to the prose. Being familiar with the text will help you keep a steady pace. Keep your pace in check, you don't want to zip through it fast so that the listener can really appreciate and hear everything you are reading. In addition to keeping that slow pace, be sure to add pauses after sentences and paragraphs, and beware being monotone. Try to breathe some life into your reading, no one will want to listen to you drone on in a flat voice. Another suggestion would be to consider printing out a hard copy of the book. Unbound, single-sided pages will make page turning easy.

Once you are prepared you just need to schedule yourself a chunk of quiet time to sit down and start recording. You can estimate the total amount of time you will need by timing how long it takes you to read through a single page and multiply by the number of pages. For a longer book you might want to break it out into more than one sitting. A good choice for audio recording is WavePad Sound Editor. By recording directly into an audio editor like WavePad you can easily go in to the recorded audio file when you are done recording to cut out any places you might have stumbled or make any other adjustment that might be needed like amplifying or equalizing the audio file or eliminating any background noise that might have crept in. And if you recorded in more than one session you can merge the files together before publishing your final mp3 file and sharing it with the world.

Do More with Audio - Blog Carnival June 6, 2011

Here are this edition's entries to Do More with Audio:


Noble presents How Learning Music Theory Made Me A Better Musician posted at Publisher's Vault.

Francis Vhon presents Why You Need To Have DJ Software posted at Gizmos and Gadgets.

How To Choose Audio Recording Software For Your Mac or PC posted at Computer Tips And Tricks.

Musician Coaching presents Advice from a Producer/Mixer posted at Musician Coaching.

Hsiangni Wu presents Podcasting in Language Classroom posted at Alive and Kicking.


You might also be interested in:

• Convert your Favorite Movie Line to a Ringtone
  
• The Sound of Learning: Using WavePad in the Classroom
  
• Music Editing for Language Lessons
  
• Record DJ Mixes Live
  
• Give Your Music a Boost with the WavePad Equalizer
  

That concludes this edition of Do More with Audio. Be sure to Submit your audio articles for the next edition.

Give Your Music a Boost: The WavePad Equalizer

I have noticed a lot of questions on our YouTube channel about enhancing the bass in a song using WavePad audio editor. How is it done? Since the graphical interface of WavePad's equalizer was recently updated, now is the perfect time to review how to use it.

The first thing you want to do is load your music into WavePad. Do this by clicking the Open File icon on the toolbar, browse to your music file, and click Open.

Next, click the Effects menu and select Equalizer. This will open the Equalizer dialog, which might not be what you expect if you were looking for knobs and dials. This equalizer still weakens and strengthens frequencies like knobs on a mixing board, but represents the frequencies in graph form. The graph works logically enough; the low frequencies are represented on the left of the graph, the high frequencies on the right. If there is a point on the graph line that is higher, that frequency will be stronger. If the graph point is lower, the frequency will be weaker.

The easiest way familiarize yourself with this equalizer is to make use of the presets. Don't be afraid to play around with them and to adjust their settings to see how they affect your music--you don't have to commit to any changes until you click Apply.

Let's boost the bass as an example. Click the Play button and then select the Low Pass filter from the list of presets. You'll hear the higher frequencies drop down, giving a boosted effect to the bass. The result probably isn't exactly the sound you imagined, so you can make adjustments based on this starting place to even out the sound how you want. You can do this using the Low Pass Options dialog that opened when you selected this preset, but you'll have more control if you close the dialog and move around the graph points yourself. You can also add graph points by clicking on the graph's line.

For more information about how to use the different equalizer presets, view the Effects topic in the help manual. For more information about frequencies, view the General Audio Concepts topic, also in the help manual. The help manual is accessed by pressing F1 from the program.

To try WavePad and boost your bass, download the program from our website. You'll also want to see the other audio software we have for maximizing your audio production.