Problem exporting to MP3

  • Thread starter Thread starter EddieRay
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EddieRay

EddieRay

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How do I export a mix to MP3 from SONAR HS4 in a way that people can actually play the damn thing!? This is driving me nuts!

I'm using SONAR's default settings for the MP3 file: 128kbps, quality set to 2 (options are 0 thru 5 with 0 being the highest), and 16-bit. But my WMP (v10) at work says I need to download a codec in order to play it. My WMP player at home (also v10) has no problem with it. Several people here are reporting the same codec problem with my mp3s.

I'm able to play a lot of other tunes at nowhereradio.com and they range from 24kbps to 192kbps. I did find a few that won't play for similar reasons. I can download them but I can't figure what's different between the ones the play and the ones that don't. What's going on?
 
I've had some luck using a free MP3 encoder called CDEx which you can get at majorgeeks.com:
http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4574
I've also found that my work computer (which is a more than decent hp p4) doesn't have an mp3 codec on it (it may be a purposeful corporate computer thing). You could just save it as a .wma and it will play on wmp. Just burn it on a cd, extract the audio in wmp and save the data file to a cdr or zip drive (or email it to your work, whatever). If you do that, make sure you go into the tools->options->copy music settings and change the audio quality to atleast 128 kbps, because it defaults to 64 kbps. Hope that helps.
 
Thanks for the reply kojdogg. I'm reading a bunch of stuff now about mp3s and just learned that a lot of folks use something called LAME to create them.

I'm just not sure how it's possible for SONAR to create mp3's that are incompatible with a number of players. Is ANYONE doing it successfuly with SONAR???


Like I said, I can play some mp3s at nowhereradio.com but not mine and a few others. I will have DSL at home soon so maybe I'll switch to wma files at that point. Dial-up is painfully slow for working with audio files.
 
My SONAR 5 makes MP3's without a problem. Sometimes some plugins play up on exprt. So i just export to WAV and convert with other programs... have you tried that?
 
technominds said:
My SONAR 5 makes MP3's without a problem. Sometimes some plugins play up on exprt. So i just export to WAV and convert with other programs... have you tried that?
Click to expand...

Not yet. Gonna do it soon.

So are you saying that my plug-ins might be doing something funny to my mp3s? I've been exporting to mp3 right after exporting to wav; i.e., in the same SONAR session. Is that not a good idea?
 
I CAN export from Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 to MP3, but it's a lot faster, easier, and simpler just to export to WAV and use another program to convert that WAV to MP3.
 
MichaelM said:
Don't use the mp3 export option from Sonar.

Export to 44.1khz, 16bit broadcast wave files. Then get winLAME from here:

http://winlame.sourceforge.net/

And use that to convert.
Click to expand...

WHY? is there something wrong with SONAR's MP3 encoder?

Also, if you want to use LAME instead of CWENC this link will show you how to incorporate LAME into the process so you don't have to export to WAVE first:

http://sonar.sonarama.com/sonar/index.php/LAME_MP3_Encoder

If the above link steps don't work, I got the below from SoundOnSound:

Many Sonar users chose the CWENC MP3 encoder as an alternative to Sonar's 'optional at extra cost' MP3 encoder. Unfortunately, it's not possible (at least, not yet) to get CWENC to work with Sonar 4. However, there's still a free encoder option: the LAME encoder.
First, you have to download the LAME software. It's widely available on the web, and I found a copy at www.free-codecs.com. Now, I can't comment as to the legalities of using the LAME encoder without paying royalties to those who invented the MP3 format, and LAME is said to be for educational purposes only. However, it seems that no one's getting prosecuted for doing the occasional MP3 conversion using 'freebie' tools (although if MP3 is a significant part of what you do, you may do your conscience good by getting an 'official' encoder).
Second, you need to take advantage of a new Sonar 4 feature, 'Configure External Encoder', to get LAME to work. This involves installing a profile for the encoder and telling Sonar where to look to find the encoder it's supposed to use.
Insert the Sonar 4 distribution CD-ROM into your drive, as this is where the encoder profiles dwell. Don't let it auto-run; instead, Explore the CD and open the Utilities folder. Inside that, open the External Encoder Profiles folder.
Now double-click on any of the encoder options you want to add (for example, LAME MP3 High Quality Stereo.reg). You'll be asked if you want to add this information to the registry. You can now tremble in fear for a bit, because you're adding something to the registry, but go ahead and click on 'Yes' — everything should go smoothly, and you'll be informed that the profile was added.
Next, look in the Shared Utilities folder (in C:Program FilesCakewalk), and double-click on the EncoderConfig.exe program. In the 'Friendly Name' field, the Profile you just installed (LAME MP3 High Quality Stereo) should be listed; select it. In the 'Path' field, delete the default path and enter the path to the LAME encoder folder installed on your computer. I put the LAME folder within Shared Utilities, but it can sit anywhere.
path, then click on 'Save'. If you don't save, Sonar won't be able to launch the encoder.
Finally, click on 'Close', to close EncoderConfig.exe.
The next time Sonar is open and you go to Export Audio, any of the profiles you configured will show up as export options. Now go forth and encode!
 
Good news! Sort of... Mostly...

I downloaded "lame" and recreated an mp3. Please see my post in the MP3 Mixing Clinic (Recording of a live band in a bar) for link to the new upload.

I can now play the mp3 on my work computer. (Shhhh! don't tell anyone!) This was a problem before trying to play the SONAR-created mp3s. Cakewalk 9 apparently has this problem too.

Lame, by itself, uses a command line interface. So I had to relearn some DOS commands to traverse the long name file system. I'm glad to hear about winLame in a previous post. Thanks for that!

Also, I just got DSL! I still have a problem with DNS servers not being dynamically assigned but my provider gave me a couple that are now hard-coded in the config. Anyway, uploads and downloads are damn quick now.
 
JUST USE Itunes

Choose "Export Audio" then drag the file to your Itunes. It will convert a .wav to mp3 in seconds. I do this almost everytime I finish a recording and the whole process takes less than 1 minute.
 
crosstudio said:
WHY? is there something wrong with SONAR's MP3 encoder?
Click to expand...


Yeah, you have to pay extra for it. I don't miss it, but I bought Sonar 3 PE and then upgraded to 4 PE, they can't include an MP3 Encorder? Sheesh!
 
I convert to wav, export to WMA and let windows media convert it. Works great.
 
SteveE9C6 said:
I convert to wav, export to WMA and let windows media convert it. Works great.
Click to expand...

Sonar lets you export directly to WMA, why are you going to WAV first? Am I missing something?
 
Sonar lets you export directly to WMA, why are you going to WAV first? Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

I like to save stuff as wav files. No other reason.....
 
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