Drew's MP3 And Wave Recorder & Editor Help Page

Recording & Editing Made Easy

Help File For
The DAK MP3 & Wave Editor PRO

Welcome to the DAK MP3 and Wave Recorder & Editor Help Page. Most of what you need is covered in the eBook Tutorial you downloaded with your Software. There are Two Installation Issues that we've found on a few computers that I want to cover here.

If you encounter any other problems or anything is unclear to you, please email me (see below) so I can 1) answer your question and 2) add it to this page.

First, a quick word about Installation. There's really nothing special to do to install the DAK Wave & MP3 Editor PRO. Download the DAK Editor and the ebook and you're all set.

Look at the picture above. The Icon on the LEFT is the installation Icon. It's silver and has the arrows from left down to right. It doesn't run the program, it installs it. So, just double click it and follow the prompts. When it's finished it will place the Icon on the right with the cute green wavy line on your desktop. That's the Iconthe one on the RIGHT you double click to use the program.

You can either delete the Silver Installation Icon now, or burn it to a CD if you want to keep a copy of the installation program. It's up to you. But you don't need to leave it on your desktop.

Issue One Run-Time Recording Error Message
The first time you Click the Record Button, you might get a
Run-Time Error- Automation Error

You're just a second from solving this problem. What is the problem? Our editor assumes that you have a temp file on your hard drive and 80% of computers do.

How to solve the problem.
Make a new Temp file on your hard drive.

Do this. Go to your C:/ Drive and make a new folder called MusicTemp. (You can actually call it anything you want.)

Then open the DAK Editor's Configuration.

and click the system tab.

In the bottom box, type C:\MusicTemp\ (be sure you include the back slashes)
Then Press your Enter Key.
(You won't see anything happen but your computer will.)

Close the box and start recording.

Now your computer knows where the Temp file is.

Issue two. Windows 95/98/ME Users Only.

Do the Recorder's buttons seem to disappear while you're recording?
Does the program close itself for no reason?

Well, actually there is a reason. We've added a very advanced 'Skin' (it's just a cosmetic surround to make the program look good) to the program that's really designed for Windows XP.

There's no problem. You don't need it. Without it, the program will look just like the rest of your Windows 95/98/Me programs. Here's all you do.

Open your view Menu

Click Skins

By Default, we ship the program with 'Select Skin' Checked.

Select 'No Skin'.

Now the program should work flawlessly.

Now I recommend that you open the eBook Tutorial that came with the program. Or, if you feel that you need a personalized question answered, go ahead and email me at:

Click Me To Send
More Questions For Drew?

I'll list new information I've added since I made the eBook Tutorial Below.

***More To Come***

A few Quick Notes

Turn On Your Windows Mixer Install Notes

If you want to get the sound into your computer, you have turn on the Windows Mixer Controls one time. You're just a Click Away from hearing and recording your music. But, more often than not, the controls are not turned on by default when you get your computer. Now you'll know how.

So if you missed this quick concept before and either you can't hear the music from your LPs, Cassettes or tapes through your computer speakers as it plays, or if you hear it but can't seem to get the recorder to record it, this is what you need to do. Now you'll be hearing and recording perfect sounds Fast.
. . . Drew

What's Windows Mixer and Why Do You Care?.
You need to get the sound into your computer through the Line In input on your sound card and often, the Line In, isn't turned on. So, let's do this.

Look at the bottom right of your desktop near the system clock, arrow 2 above Left. Do you see a little speaker next to it? Yes, Great, Click it Once. Don't see it? Then Click the little arrow (it's that thing that looks like a sideways V under my arrow number 1 to the left.

Either way, you'll see the little speaker icon that I show under the arrow to the right.

What if it's not there? In a very few cases, you have to go to your Control Panel by Clicking the Start Menu and then Control Panel. Then Click Sounds near the bottom and on the first Tab click the Advanced Button and you'll see the Windows Mixer.

Or Go To your Start Menu/Accessories/Entertainment and Click Volume Control.

OK Now we're Moving.

One Click On The Speaker Gets you to Your Computer Volume and Mute

This isn't where we are actually going to go but I wanted you to see this volume control Here you can adjust the output volume to your speakers and mute them if you'd like. Some people I talk to think they have to adjust the volume on the speakers, and it's really better to do it here.

OK now let's go to the Windows Mixer.

Two Clicks On The Speaker Icon Gets You To The Windows Mixer.

OK, here's what to do. It's easy.

Just so you see, Arrow 1 shows you the name of this Screen. It's your Windows Mixer but it usually has a name like Volume Control depending on your sound card. Plus, the number of sliders that you'll see is controlled both by what capabilities your sound card has and which of the choices you've selected (more in a minute).

Arrow 2 shows you what to look for. We want your Line In, or Analog Slider.

OK, all you need to do here is to be sure that at Arrow 3, the Mute box IS NOT checked. We do not want to be muted here.

OK, we're done. Look at arrow 4 in the upper left hand corner and Click the Options Tag.

Next Picture.

Just One Click

All you need to do here, is Select Properties.

Playback Properties Window

This is your Playback Properties Window and we're not going to much here, but look at the top.

Arrow 1 shows you which Sound Card you have.

Arrow 2 shows you that you're at the Playback, not recording window. And in a second we want to go to Recording. But first, look down at the box where I have Arrow 3.

This is a list of all the functions of your Sound Card. When we looked at the Mixer above, every slider on it represented a Checked Box in This window. If you Uncheck a box, the slider for that function will be removed from the Mixer.

So in short, this box tells you all the options that you have with your sound card and the boxes that you check, make them available to you in the Windows Mixer.

As you can See I have Line In checked because I know we are all using that.

OK, now onto the Recording Screen which is really important.

Your Recording Properties Choices.

OK, this is Important. But, Easy.

First, Arrow 1 Click the round radio button that says Recording. It will always come up under Playback so you have to click recording whenever you come here.

Look down in the box with my Arrow 2 and make sure that your Line In Check box is CHECKED. This turns it on and actually if it's not checked, you won't even have a slider for it in the Mixer.

Also this is where you will find and activate Stereo Mixer or What You Hear because that's what you need to have Checked if you want to record from the Internet or sounds coming from your computer.

OK now just Click the OK button Once. We have just one more thing to do.

This is Different. This is Recording Control, NOT Volume

OK, if you look at Arrow 1, you'll see that even though this box looks the same as the first one, it's really very different. It controls the Recording inputs, rather than the playback.

Just go to arrow 2, the Line In Slider Again and look down at the bottom This time INSTEAD of a Mute Box, you have a Select Box Arrow 3. This time it HAS TO BE Selected or even if you can hear the sounds, you won't be able to record them.

Now just close this box and you're ready to start recording. As I said Windows Mixer is really easy, but almost nobody knows it's there or what to do with it. Now, fellow DAKonian, you sure do.

. . .Drew

Have A Good Day From All Of Us Here At DAK

Need To Turn On The Wave Editor Too?
After The Windows Mixer is On, all you need to do is select the source
that you want to record from. And that's easy.

Here's the main interface of the DAK Wave & MP3 Editor Recorder PRO v2.5. It's a remarkable studio you have right on your computer.

Ignore the box to the left. You want The Recording Controls so you can choose which source you want to record from. And Do you see right above Arrow 1 where It says Microsoft Sound Mapper? Leave that alone too. It will say Microsoft Sound Mapper or the name of your sound card. Either way, you don't have to change it. Our Editor selects what it wants.

Arrow 1. Choose your source. Open this box and choose either Line In or Analog In to record from your LPs or Cassettes. You could choose Microphone, or record live music from the Internet and more too. SEE BELOW TO SEE THE BOX OPEN.

Arrow 2. Click this little Select Box. Nothing takes effect until you click it.

YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THE OTHER ARROWS HERE.

NEXT

Which Is Your Computer Like?

OK, the recording sources in the boxes above are not created by the Wave Editor. All the Editor does is check to see what's available and what it's called on your computer. Then it just displays the list like you see above. Above in the Windows Mixer you saw how to turn on what you want. Now let's record from what you've turned on.

Here I show you what the pull down menu looks like on 3 of my computers. Each has a different sound card, so when the DAK Recorder Editor polled the sound card on setup, it got a different set of inputs from each.

This is no problem at all. For recording LPs, 45s and cassettes, you'll want to select your Line In or Analog or Aux. One of these connects you to the Line In on your sound card.

For recording streaming audio from the Internet or games or music videos, choose "What you hear" or "Stereo Mixer", or "Wave Mix" or "Speaker Mix" or something like it.

You can choose Microphone/Mic for the sound from your microphone. It's all pretty clear, it's just not exactly the same because the DAK Recorder creates the menu based on your sound card, not based on itself.

Every Sound Card has some version of this list. You just have to look to see which one to use for what you want to record.

Think about this. It's just like turning on the lights in your bedroom. You wouldn't turn on the dining room lights. So when you want to record from the Mic, select Mic. When you want Line In, select Line In. It's just that easy. And don't forget to check the little select box next to the word Record above after you choose anything new in this pull down box.

Wave Help Review Please. So, What do you think? Good? Bad? Was this Helpful? Too detailed? Not Detailed enough? What would you do differently?
What do you want to know? What subject would you like me to write a tutorial about?
Please CLICK
to tell Drew (me) PERSONALLY.

Got a question? Need help setting up? No problem. We've found that we can email you detailed help with step-by-step PICTURES where appropriate to make sure you can make the most out of our products and software much better than trying to describe what to do verbally over the phone.

CLICK HERE For FAST Complete Email Tech Support

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