Jeremiah Moore wrote
| Rob-
|
| I suspect your AAC encoding method is good, and certainly will produce
| smaller files for streaming.
Yes, and it sounds pretty dam good all thing considerer, IMO.
And assuming the somewhat complex or unpredictable nature of, er Nature
recordings, "lossless" encoding will be hard put to reduce the amount of
raw data to a half of what it was in PCM form.
But if you were to record at say 192k with normal mics that don't have muc=
h
output above 20kHz (apart from smallish amounts of noise) then "lossless"
can yield way better compression ratios ;-)
JL
No idea if Lossless can operate in Surround.
|
| Animation Codec has been part of Quicktime since version 1. It should be
| supported and installed by default on any platform that does Quicktime.
|
| -j
|
|
| On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 3:11 PM, Rob Danielson <> wrote:
|
| >
| >
| > At 11:12 AM -0700 6/4/10, Jeremiah Moore wrote:
| > >Thanks for the great work Rob. The format you're using is simple and
| > >concise, while conveying a good bit of information.
| > >
| > >I found myself seeing a great place for photos over time as well, time=
d
| > with
| > >your audio xfades.
| >
| > Hi Jeremiah--
| > It does seem useful to be able to see some editorial decision-making.
| >
| >
| > >
| > >Looks a bit laborious to create (many useful things are) like it could=
be
| > >lots of work to find the "representative" audio clips for each time of
| > day.
| >
| > It is quite laborious but the editorial process
| > insures a good sense of the material and allows
| > me to detect patterns I'd miss otherwise. Having
| > 18-24 hours on one timeline allows me to "jump
| > around" in time and become familiar with themes
| > before playing through and making excerpts. I use
| > color coding so I can see the rough proportions
| > before I start editing. I try to keep the
| > experience changing and expose listeners to a
| > greater spread of time rather than let 3-4
| > excerpts try to express it all.
| >
| >
| > >Also a tech note for you: You might find it worth experimenting with
| > >apple's "Animation" codec. It's lossless, but only encodes changes to
| > >subsequent frames. So for typical moving image video it produces
enormous
| > >files, but for a single still image the filesize would be quite small.
| > > Plus, it looks fantastic.
| >
| > Interesting. The Apple "Animation" encoded image
| > looks identical to the original TIFF viewed side
| > by side in QT viewers. Viewed in two browser
| > windows on-line, the difference isn't as great. I
| > exported TIFF frames from the encoded movies and
| > placed them on both sides of the original. The
| > quality improvement is more evident but still not
| > dramatic.
| >
| >
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/type/public/images/Sorenson3vsAppleAnimationCod=
ecCompare.htm
| >
| > Some improvement is there, so the question
| > becomes can folks with Windows use QuickTime to
| > play the movie using the Apple "Animation" codec?
| >
| > (A) QuickTime Movie with Sorenson 3 video:
| > http://tinyurl.com/34ga3c8
| >
| > (B) QuickTime Movie Apple "Animation" video:
| > http://tinyurl.com/2w4xswm
| >
| > If you have an extra moment to try these short
| > videos, include the Windows version you used, the
| > version of QuickTime used and browser application
| > used (IE, Firefox, Opera etc.)
| >
| > >...so long as you're using Quicktime, Audio-wise, are there reasons to=
use
| > PCM
| >
| > >audio rather than Apple Lossless? (backward compatibility with older
| > >quicktime variants comes to mind, not sure what the version cutoff
is..)
| >
| > Interesting suggestion. I didn't even know that
| > one can encode surround playback in Apple
| > Lossless! In the comparison test I made, the
| > Lossless movie came out 340mb compared to 27mb
| > for the AAC 256kbps movie. Perhaps I have a
| > setting wrong? I'd need to get compression in
| > the 20-30% range for the web. Rob D.
| >
| > =3D =3D =3D
| >
| >
| > >
| > >At any rate, I don't want to veer this discussion away from
visualization
| > --
| > >which is much more interesting than codec choice (!)
| > >
| > >
| > >-jeremiah
| > >
| > >
| > >
| > >
| > >On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 8:51 AM, Rob Danielson
<<type%40uwm.edu>>
| > wrote:
| > >
| > >>
| > >>
| > >> At 6:22 PM -0400 6/3/10, ESP wrote:
| > >> >Not your usual pie chart here, no-sir-re-Bob. I love the top image
| > >> >on the Crex Meadows posting with Steve's photos.
| > >> >
| > >> >I want to call attention to it. It's a rarity in this day and age. =
A
| > >> >graph that isn't boring and gives lots of information easily -
| > >> >almost subliminally. And you don't even know you're learning
| > >> >something.
| > >> >
| > >> >The link:
| > >> ><
| > >>
| > >>
| >
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/type/www/audio-art-tech-gallery/pages/2010Recor=
distCampout_SoundSample-Preseent.html
| > >> >
| > >>
| > >>
| >
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/type/www/audio-art-tech-gallery/pages/2010Recor=
distCampout_SoundSample-Preseent.html
| > >>
| > >> >
| > >> >Rob, are you a fan of Edward R. Tufte? I am. He wrote several books=
.
| > >> >Two are The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, and
| > >> >Envisioning Information. He also was disgusted with the way people
| > >> >use MS PowerPoint.
| > >> >
| > >> >In Rob's graphic he has a photo of the CMWA, a sound recording of
| > >> >the area, and a sonogram of the recording. There's more information
| > > > >also. The location, GPS coordinates, and date plus a 24 hour time
| > >> >line - from noon to noon. Let us know if I guess anything
| > >> >incorrectly.
| > >> >
| > >> >We also have wind speeds, peak wind speed, and average wind speed
| > >> >over time. There is also some equipment used data and information o=
n
| > >> >what birds and animals you're hearing at a particular time.
| > >> >
| > >> >I think we might have a direction of photo and maybe mic direction?
| > >> >Rob, are the Xs in the recording sonograph where two different
| > >> >recording were edited together? And what are the plot points that
| > >> >traverse across the graph. Also the S in the right hand side.
| > >> >
| > >> >Thanks Rob, for the uplift. It's nice to see someone thoughtfully
| > >> >present information in a visual form. So many people don't bother,
| > >> >and I just wanted you to know that some people notice and appreciat=
e
| > >> >it. It made my day today.
| > >> >
| > >> >Eric Schmidt
| > >> >Fremont, OH
| > >>
| > >> Hi Eric--
| > >> Thanks for the kind remarks. Nice to hear from you. Maybe you can
| > >> make it up for the recordist campout next year?
| > >>
| > >> A number of field recordist are exploring ways to incorporate
| > >> additional context using visuals. Martyn Stewart has some interactiv=
e
| > >> Flash movies you might want to take a look at,
| > >> http://www.naturesound.org/Welcome.html (may have to hunt around a
| > >> bit on his site).
| > >>
| > >> Its become much easier to photograph in the field with digital
| > >> cameras and there's a wealth of weather and mapping resources on
| > >> line. Some of the weather stations in the MesoWest network have
| > >> attractive graphics options, http://tinyurl.com/2dxvuzq I used the
| > >> "large" chart option for the wind vector (pull-down menu at top).
| > >> One can access data for past dates as well. Here are all the
| > >> networks in Ohio:
| > >>
http://mesowest.utah.edu/cgi-bin/droman/mesomap.cgi?state=3DOH&rawsflag=3D3
| > >>
| > >> I took a screenshot of the sound file's waveform and added at the
| > >> bottom; yes, the red "X's" are digital cross-fades between the
| > >> excerpts. I like your idea of coding in the mic locations in the
| > >> still image somehow,.. I've been using Google maps on the side for
| > >> this but one could create hot spots in QuickTime movies to open link=
s
| > >> if there looks like there's a lot of interest. The "S" on the side
| > >> is for "South," associated with the oblong markers showing the wind
| > >> direction varying between the South and Southwest. I could have
| > >> included other weather statistics but the wind had such a huge impac=
t
| > >> on everything that weekend. The only time we heard long distance
| > >> callers was during the Sat evening evening "dip." I was surprised to
| > >> see other calls synchronize with shorter periods of lower wind
| > >> velocity. I suppose I considered the wind because I've been I've abl=
e
| > >> to observe background sound level affects on long distance
| > >> communications with my permanent rigs at home.
| > >>
| > >> Inserting the graphic still frame into the sound recording using
| > >> QuickTime is very easy and adds very little to the file size. I wish
| > >> the movies didn't take so long to load, display and play. Recent
| > >> changes to QuickTime may have slowed down the streaming performance.
| > >> I should probably insert the still graphic into the page with the
| > >> play bar correctly sized underneath so the graphic would appear
| > >> quickly. The image data would not be embedded with the audio media,
| > >> but I think there's a way to disable the "video" and still include i=
t
| > >> in a download option without doubling the server space. Rob D.
| > >>
| > >> =3D =3D =3D
| > >>
| > >> --
| > >>
|
|