Easily convert audio files to MP3 on Mac OSX

One minor Reason gripe is that it only exports audio files as AIFF or WAV, but not MP3. For distribution, this is probably what you want, but sometimes you want to create a small MP3 file to share with friends, etc.

I haven’t been able to figure out a way to export directly to MP3, but thankfully it’s fairly easy to set up an Automator workflow on OSX that allows you to conveniently convert any audio file to MP3 by right-clicking it in the Finder.

lame

The main thing you need is lame, an open source MP3 encoder. It is only officially released in source form, but there are several ways to obtain binaries for OSX.

Personally, I’m using Homebrew, which provides a convenient way to install many open source packages. Once Homebrew is installed, installing lame is as simple as running brew install lame in the Terminal. MacPorts is a similar alternative package manager.

If you prefer a traditional installer, it looks like you can obtain this from Thalictrum (although their latest version is about a year old: 3.98.4; the latest lame version at this time is 3.99.3). But lame has been stable for a long time, so in reality this probably doesn’t matter.

Automator

The next (and final) step is to set up an Automator workflow:

  1. Launch Automator
  2. Select “New” in the “File” menu
  3. Select “Service” as the document type, then click on “Choose”
  4. At the top, change the “Service receives selected” dropdown to “audio files”, and “any application” to “Finder”
  5. From the long list of actions on the left (optionally you can click in “Utilities” to narrow it down), select “Run Shell Script” and drag it into the gray area on the right.
  6. Change “Pass input” to “as arguments”
  7. In the prepopulated script body, change “echo” to “/usr/local/bin/lame -V 2”. Leave everything else as it is.
  8. Select “Save…” in the “File” menu and enter a service name, such as “Convert to mp3”

Here’s a screenshot of what this should look like:

Automator screenshot

Now open the Finder, locate a wave (or other audio) file, and right-click (or control-click) it. You should see a “Convert to mp3” option at the bottom of the context menu, and clicking on it should result on an MP3 file in the same folder.

In the example above, I used “-V 2” as the quality setting for lame. This generates a pretty high quality variable bitrate MP3 file. Of course you can adapt this to whatever quality settings you prefer. lame is extremely flexible and allows you to create many types of variable or constant bitrate MP3 files.

If you want to further experiment with Automator, you could even use the “Choose from List” action to prompt you for a quality setting after you choose “Convert to mp3”.

There you go! It’s still not quite as nice as a direct MP3 export, but at least it’s now a simple 2-step process.

Played 10 times
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I was exploring the new Alligator effect in Reason 6, when I discovered a cool way to use it to generate interesting percussion from a simple noise input.

The basic approach is really simple:

  1. Create an instrument that generates noise.
  2. Pass it through an Alligator effect.

The results will vary widely, depending on the Alligator settings, so this is worth experimenting with. I ended up using the “MidHaas” patch, but many of the other presets lend themselves to this use as well. I used Thor with a noise oscillator, although Malstrom can generate some very nice noise as well. Simple white noise does the trick, but I used the mod envelope to modulate the filter frequency, effectively creating a noise sweep, which ads some interesting movement when passed through the Alligator. Pink noise seems to work as well. In fact, I may try using an LFO to modulate the noise color, creating some additional movement within the percussion sound.

The attached audio clip demonstrates what this sounds like. I am re-triggering the sound every 2 bars. I think it would work great especially for Electro-Industrial or EBM. Throw in a kick drum and you have the basic percussion for your track done.

You’re welcome to download my Combinator “Rhythmic Noise patch” and use it as a starting point for your own experiments. I added a low pass filter to the Combinator and connected the frequency to Rotary 1, so I can filter the percussion into and out of my track, but of course you may not have any use for this.

Novation 25 SL MkII

Novation SL 25 MkII

When I started playing with Reason, I used an Evolution MK-449C midi controller that I’d had for a couple of years. It’s decent enough for a basic keyboard, but I was ready to upgrade to something better.

It took me a long time to decide what type of controller to go for, and then research which of these offer the best compatibility with Reason (judging by reports on the very useful Propellerhead user forum). For my purposes, I realized I don’t need a lot of keys, as I’m mostly playing small melodies into the sequencer, rather than playing live. I also like to have the keyboard on my desk at all times, so it’s immediately available in case inspiration strikes me, rather than first having to get it out of the closet, hook it up to the USB port, etc. I was initially considering a 37 key controller, as this seems like a good compromise. Unfortunately, none of the recent controllers come in 37 key variations, and it’s also still a bit wider than ideal for something that’s always on my desk. In the end, I decided to go with a 25 key controller. So far, I haven’t found this to be a limitation, and this way it’s always in easy reach. And of course I can always hook up my old 49 key controller if necessary.

There seem to be primarily three 25 key controllers that are popular with Reason users:

Out of these, the Axiom Pro (but not the non-Pro!) and the Novation seemed to have the most positive feedback on the Propellerhead user forum. The Novation is the most expensive one by far, but I really liked a lot of the advertised features (such as the lighted knobs, and the sheer number of controls even on the 25 key version), so I decided to go all out and splurge on this.

It’s too early for a thorough review (I only got the controller yesterday), but so far I really like it. The keys are great, a significant improvement over my previous keyboard. I’ve heard people complain about Automap, Novation’s proprietary technology to easily integrate controllers with different DAW applications. But overall, Reason users on the forum seemed to be reasonably (no pun intended) happy with Automap. Setting up Automap 4.1 was easy enough, following the provided wizard. It will take some time to really get used to the layouts for the various Reason devices, but hopefully at least the basic functions will eventually be committed to muscle memory.

The 8 built-in drum pads seem pretty useless, so I can’t see myself using these a lot. The linear arrangement doesn’t seem as useful as a grid, and activating the pads requires way too much pressure. I will likely end up just entering drums directly into the sequencer, or using the regular piano keyboard.

I’m not quite sold on the joystick either, and would have preferred two separate wheels instead. I’m worried that it will be difficult to control the pitch without accidentally changing the modulation, or vice-versa. But I still have to verify whether this turns out to be a real problem.

But overall, I’m pretty excited about my new Novation keyboard. Having transport controls alone is tremendously useful, the high quality keys make playing more fun, and I’m sure the various knobs, faders, and buttons will come in handy as well. Oh, and I simply love the way it looks with all the red lights, especially in the dark.

Welcome!

I’ve always been mildly interested in making electronic music, but until recently I never took the plunge. Well, this summer I bought Propellerhead Reason 5 Duo, and subsequently upgraded to Reason 6.

I don’t have any complete songs to show off yet, but I’ve been having a lot of fun playing with Reason so far. There’s certainly still a ton left to learn, but at this point I feel like I have a decent grasp on Reason and its basic virtual instruments, and I’ve had a chance to learn a lot about electronic music production and synthesis in general.

I’ll use this blog to share my experience going forward. I’m planning to post the occasional audio clip, Reason tip, interesting ways to combine instruments and effects, etc.

Recently I haven’t been very active on my regular blog (which mostly focuses on technology and software development), but of course you’re more than welcome to check that out as well. :)