Thanks for mentioning mp3. I used to use that a few years ago, but people
complained that they couldn't play it. Perhaps that's no longer such an
issue. I'll start using MP3 again.
By the way, your web site is the most exciting site I've gone to in years. =
I am a blind person, and perhaps that has heightened my interest in sound.
Reading and listening on your site makes me want to get more equipment and
do more recording of lots of things.
Thanks very much. I can't wait to order one of your CD's.
Jerry
-----Original Message-----
From: Aaron Ximm
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 8:12 PM
To:
Subject: RE: [Nature Recordists] Hiss in My Recordings
> I think for future recordings I will save them at 44,100, 16 bit, and
> if I want to put them on my website, I'll resample them down to 11025.
> Lowering the resolution to 11025 changed the file size from 3,321K to
> 808K. I wonder if other recordists who post to the web use the same
> settings?
Jerry,
You have several options, depending on your needs.
Most people who post audio on the net use compressed formats such as MP3 an=
d
Ogg Vorbis. You can achieve quite high audio quality for casual uses at ver=
y
reduced file sizes.
E.g., on my own website (URL below) I post almost everything compressed to
192 kbps -- the file sizes end up being about 1.4MB per stereo minute. MP3
is useful because it's supported almost everywhere now; many operating
systems now ship with players that are smart enough to play files as they
arrive -- even without you running a "streaming" server. For casual use I'd
recommend it as the de facto standard!
At higher compressions there is a lot of debate about which compressor /
format to use. At lower compression rates (higher data rats, e.g. 384
kbps/sec say) almost any format will sound lossless for any practical lay
use however! One minute of MONO 384 kbps MP3 would again take up about 1.4
MB, and should sound GREAT.
If you really need to avoid compression, there are a few "lossless"
compressors out there -- FLAC and Apple Lossless I think it's called -- tha=
t
will reduce filesizes in the 50% range.
If you're recording with ATRAC on MD (ie, recording on MD without using HiM=
D
in PCM mode) you're already going through one round of compression in the
256-300 kbps range; arguably ATRAC is superior to MP3 (say) at that data
rate), but it's still a lossy format.
Conventional wisdom has it you can "have problems" recompressing recordings=
,
e.g. making MP3s from ATRAC recordings or other lossy formats, but IMHO thi=
s
is bunkem in practice. I have never heard anything in any of my MP3s that I
could attribute to this -- I do hear artifacts, but I know where they come
from, and it's not that... :)
Btw there is a lot of great shareware/freeware available that will help you
painlessly make great-quality MP3s, Ogg Vorbis files, etc. I don't know
about FLAC and other lossless compressors though, but I do know you can fin=
d
them free as well.
best regards,
aaron
http://www.quietamerican.org
| quod omne animal post |
| cogitum est triste... |
"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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