No Spec Work - Rewarding Creativity Properly

If you would like to convert your best videos in the WMV format to 3GP2, then the Need4 Video Converter can take care of it. This will allow the video clips to be played on a variety of sources from your computer to cell phones and mobile devices. They can also be put up on video sharing files for all of your friends to see. You can convert your WMV videos to 3GP2 without any trouble. If you would like to convert it all at once, or just a little bit at a time, just follow the simple directions.

Step A. Launch

To start with you will need a video converter program, such as a Need4 Video Converter.

Download the proram and follow the steps below.

Step B. Add WMV Video To Converter

To add video that you would like to convert, click the +Video button.

In the Files of type field, select WMV.

Select a necessary video file and click Open

The selected file will be added to the list of opened files.

Step C. Select Output Format

Open the Profile list and select General Video.

In the Presets list opened on the right,

Select a necessary output format in the Presets list and click open.

Step D. Specify Folder to Save Video

Enter the name of the converted video in the Save as field.

In the Save to field, highlight the folder where you want to store the converted videos.

Specify any additional options that you may need for saving video

Overwrite existing files and check it to replace any existing video files with the same name with brand new ones.

Open the output folder. You can then review the folder with a ready file.

Step E. Select a Video Segment to Convert

If you would like to convert a particular part of your video, then click the Edit button next to your video in the list.

When opening the window, you can drag the left marker to the start of the video episode you want with the right marker at the end.

Step F. Hit Convert to Save WMV Video to 3GP2.

It is best to be certain that, in the List of opened files, you can check the added video file.

Then hit Convert to convert it to 3GP2.

Need4 Video offer the finest in video conversion software at an excellent value price.

Perhaps you’re in your senior years with a closet full of old cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes that are fading away due to the gravitational pull of old Planet Earth. Perhaps you’re just in the second decade of existence and are eager to preserve a bit of the past. This article is for you all!

Remember that you should not record copyrighted material unless you are the copyright owner.

REEL-TO-REEL

If you have a workable reel-to-reel tape recorder, you may be in luck in transferring those old tapes to digital. Most of the old ones have two pin type aux female outlets on the back or side of the machine. Check yours. If so, it may be possible to attach the left and right male pin type connections to the Aux Out, then attach the other end to your digital recorder-Aux In or , as sometime called, Line In. Check your digital recorder manual to see if this is the proper connection that you want to use.

Check with a technician to see if the impedance matches on both machines. If it’s a no go, you can purchase an old “tape deck” on the web that should do the job. The tape deck is just a bare bones motor and transport part of the tape recorder- some have a pre-amp. Make sure that you are safe in doing this. Check with a technician familiar with electronics.

PRE-RECORDING

I have covered the connections above. Now, you want to prepare that old tape deck or reel-to-reel to play your analog material. With the tape recorder or tape deck unplugged, take an alcohol wetted cotton tip swap and clean the playback heads. Use wood alcohol and not Jim Beam.Make sure the swap is slightly wetted and not dripping with fluid. Most of these old recorders have included the playback and record head as one so you can’t miss it. The tape heads are usually near the center of your machine where you thread the tape through. The heads are in a plastic or metal housing that has a slit. Once you clean the heads with the swap, take a clean, dry swap and wipe away any excess alcohol. What you are doing is removing any metal particles that adhered to the heads from previous recordings.

Look at what you are doing! There a round wheel about one inch in diameter near the tape heads. If possible, clean this rubber type wheel using the cotton swap-first with an alcohol wetted swap and then with a dry swab. This is the pressure roller that allows the tape to be driven at a certain speed between a metal capstan (a small rotating bar) and the roller itself.

In the unlikely event that the capstan is dirty, clean it too with a cotton swap.

Now, make sure your machine is dry before you plug it in and start the playback procedure. Give it about 10 minutes to dry. Better to be safe than sorry.

RECORDING ANALOG TAPES TO DIGITAL

Load your old tape onto the supply spindle. Thread the tape through the head housing and onto the take-up reel. Some old machines have the capstan and pressure roller outside the housing and to the right of the tape head housing. Make sure the tape threads between the capstan and the pressure roller.

Check your tape speed by playing a porting of your tape. There are usually two or more tape speeds available on the old machines. You can quickly tell if the machine is on the right speed. The switch for the tape speed should be on the front of your reel-to-reel machine.

If the speed is good. Set up your digital recorder with a raw disc, press record and pause. Start you reel-to-reel. Check the volume levels on your digital player. Peaks should be below “O”. Digital recording is different than analog. If you are over “O”, the information tends to just drop off-like a cliff rather than come out muffled. Try to keep the recording level below “O” for the entire transfer.

Now, reset you reel-to-reel machine to the start of what you want to play. Start recording by starting your digital recorder first, then start your tape recorder. When the info on the tape is finished, stop you CD recorder. Please check your manual on the CD recorder to see the proper procedure for recording multiple tracks, etc. Or a couple hit-and-miss episodes should teach you the optimum way.

CASSETTE TAPES

Just about the same as above. Aux Out to Line In.
Use a tape head cleaner cassette before you record. They can be purchased at many stores like electronic stores.

IF THERE ARE NO CONNECTIONS ON YOUR REEL-TO REEL TO CONNECT IT TO ANOTHER DEVICE

Don’t hotwire it. That can be dangerous.
Check around. See if you can find a reel-to-reel with line out capabilities. Seek advice from someone who is an expert in electronics.

END NOTES

As far as that hiss, you ain’t gonna get rid of it even though you went digital. However, you will preserve the voice or music of the analog material at its present state. You old tapes aren’t going to get any better.

However, with a little practice, you will be able to preserve that first song that you sang when you were three years old, mom’s voice telling you to clean up your room, your silly sister telling you get out of the bathroom and much more. Maybe your grandchildren will have a laugh too.

Gene Smith is an Ezine Writer from West Virginia. He has been working with recorded sound for forty-seven years.
(c)2006 Gene Smith

Oh, Boy! Did Roy Orbison get it wrong? Buddy Holly would have rolled over in his grave while Beethoven, contrary to the lyrics of Chuck Berry’s classic song, rests peacefully in his, secure in the knowledge that his music has withstood the test of time. Rock ‘n’ Roll die? That’ll be the day!

In the late nineteen sixties Roy Orbison, on a concert tour of Australia, arrived in Adelaide on the same flight as the Walker Brothers. I recall watching on television the airport interview in which Roy, always the nice guy, explained how much he loved the music of Scott Walker and his fellow band members. He went on to explain that he believed Rock ‘n’ Roll was a passing craze which would soon die out, but that the wonderful music of the Walker Brothers would live on forever.

Sadly, it was the loveable Roy himself who would soon die after such a tragic life, leaving behind a rich legacy of music that remains very popular so many years later. As for the music of the Walker Brothers, they certainly left the world with some memorable hits. “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Any More”, “My Ship Is Coming In” and “Make It Easy On Yourself” were all Walker Brothers originals that come instantly to mind, but you can’t dance Rock ‘n’ Roll to them.

Roy’s gaff can be forgiven. Its true that the production of music in the original Rock ‘n’ Roll style didn’t continue, although artists like Shakin’ Stevens did release some pretty good tracks in the old style during the ’seventies and when Jackie Wilson’s Reet Petite was re-released after his death it soared up the charts. In Australia, even Gene Chandler’s Duke of Earl enjoyed a revival in the ‘eighties after it was featured in a television commercial. The expected death of Rock ‘n’ Roll wasn’t happening.

This also brings to mind a song released by one of the most successful Australian groups of the ’sixties, The Master’s Apprentices. The lyrics say “Rockin’, Rollin’ we’re still doing it now, 15 years today and we remember how.” When that song was released in 1970 it was apparently remarkable that we “remembered how” after an eon of 15 years. Its now 50 years since Rock ‘n’ Roll first appeared and we still remember how.

Its a fair bet that Roy Orbison’s early songs are played a lot more often around the world nowadays than the Walker Brothers records are. The main reason for that is simply that you can Rock ‘n’ Roll to them. It can have little to do with the quality of the music, since those of us who were teenagers back then have forgotten so many excellent recordings from when we were young.

Simply put, the dance preserved the music rather than vice versa. Without the lasting popularity of the energetic, versatile and easily learned dance style, the music would probably have died long ago. Perhaps not all of it, at least initially. Elvis fans will no doubt testify to the immortality of The King’s music, but reality will triumph. Elvis fans are no more immortal in the flesh than he was. They too will eventually die out.

Most young people who learn Rock ‘n’ Roll dance nowadays have no more preference for the music of Elvis or The Beatles than they have for any of the obscure one-hit-wonders who contributed so many of the old hit records. They find Smashmouth more appealing as artists, but if an old song is good to dance to they like it no matter who recorded it. Its reasonable to assume they will preserve much of the music after we are gone, but mainly for dance purposes rather than for entertainment.

That is what has happened to other music styles. For example, the folk music that was so popular in the late ‘fifties and early ’sixties has died out because you can’t dance to it. On the other hand many old time tunes such as waltzes and marches remain popular today because ballroom dancing preserves them.

So, how long will Rock ‘n’ Roll last? No-one can tell, but the waltz dates back to 1780 and is still practiced, so our favourite dance and music style might have a couple of hundred years to live yet. Perhaps then a songwriter will compose a song in the popular style of the day entitled “Roll Over, Roy Orbison.”

Gareth Eastwood is a Rock ‘n’ Roll dance instructor and enthusiast in Adelaide, South Australia. He maintains a recently created website, http://www.rocknrolldance.com/ in which he repeatedly stresses the need for dancers to be gentle with each other rather than dancing roughly. When fully developed the site will feature articles by numerous authors detailing dance styles and reporting on events.

He also created and manages Going Places With Gareth, a gigantic singles social network revolving around a long-established website http://www.garethevents.info/ The network has been operating since May, 2000. Since then over three and a half thousand people have become involved in it to some degree.