Size *does* matter- Help!

[Richard Monroe]

I really want to put up some stuff I've recorded with a KORG PXR4 Pandora, but I've hit a snag. It's in MP2 format on the hard drive, plays fine in several players, and we've got the web site to put it up on, but the size of these files is huge! 5 minute song in stereo- 18 megs! I could upload that to the web site in 2 hours. Now I am wicked computer challenged, but my wife is an IT manager. We've already figured out that we can convert it to a WAVE file (which will make it bigger) and then to MP3. Not only will we lose some data that way, but we aren't sure it'll make the file any smaller. I figured some folks on this forum would have some ideas. Try to make your answers understandable to someone who is used to computers, but PC's much less than main frames, and who has very little experience with MP3, sound cards, etc. Our studio is stand-alone DAW based, not PC based. Thanks in advance. If any of you can help us out, you'll get to hear just how good the Pandora is when fed a good signal.-Richie

 

[participant]

The data loss I can't help with, but according to the Fraunhofer IIS site (the inventors of the mp3 format) using middle/side encoding (the slower type) and 128 kbps you'll get the best possible sound/size trade-off.

Others will share preferences, but... (damn; lost that link) I wrote a front-end for the Fraunhofer Encoder for Windows, and that was part of the research... just don't do the "fast" encode option, and the decoder will default to middle-side (MS). It will take longer to encode, but it will be much better quality. Don't waste time with multiple bit rates.

If you choose not to ignore this (as many are doing to my posts as of late ) this should help.


Chad

 

[Gidge]

Winamp will convert a mp2 to .wav and there are many free encoders out there...i like
http://www.s-m-i.de/s-m-i/Multimedia/Software/scmpx/scmpx-1-51.html

at 128kbps, a 5 minute stereo file will be less than 5mb and shouldnt hurt the quality much.....at 192kbps it should still be less than 7mb and the quality there is hard to complain about.....

 

[crawdad]

If you choose not to ignore this (as many are doing to my posts as of late ) this should help.


Chad

Hey! Hey! I've been reading 'em! Great comments, all!

I thought it was me everyone ignored!

 

[Kramer]

If you choose not to ignore this (as many are doing to my posts as of late ) this should help.

Chad

Hang in there man!I think I know which thread you got snubbed in tonight.Sometimes a person will just skip right past someones comments like they didnt notice them,sometimes intentionally,sometimes unintentionally.Dont let it bug you!99% of the people here do appreciate the feedback(whatever it may be)so just keep pluggin away and put a back on your face!!!