Podcast 191 Problem?

All i'm hearing is what sounds like very long winded croaking.

Is it just me?

Me too

I've moved this to the tinkering forum where hopefully Paul will see it!

I don't recall an announcement for this podcast, and I also notice it's well over five hours long. I wonder if it's been uploaded at the wrong speed?

Suzy Bean and I exchanged a pile of emails talking about how the podcasts used to be about 20 megs and lately have been more like 80.

Then she uploaded 191 and I said "the sound is all goofy" and she hasn't gotten back to me. I'm guessing that she uploaded and then went on with her life. Hopefully, she'll get back soon.

If anybody has any suggestions for her on how to configure audacity to make smaller files, that would be a big help.

I watched the whole video and it is great--no technical problems that I saw. it is a wonderful presentation--A++ job

Paul,
I haven't listened to the audio yet, but if there is persistent background noise issue, the noise reduction tools does a good job. Leave yourself 10 seconds of more of dead air at the beginning andor end of the audio. Select this dead air area, click noise reduction then click 'get sample'. Select the entire track, click noise reduction then click apply. It removes the noise in the back ground pretty well.
If the issue was playback streaming and you want to cut down the file size, go to a lower sampling rate. IIRC, the default is 128K but 96K is better than CD quality and for the net 44K is more appropriate and still very good quality.

Oops. that is mangled - all I hear is croaking and growling. Is it really 5 1/2 hours long? I think it is shorter than that and really, really drawn out.

Podcast 191 is hosed. Gotta get Suzy to fix that.

Try podcast 190. 82 megs for 90 minutes?

I fixed your audio file. I didn't edit it or sweeten it, just made it playable. You can get working copy here: http://nobsmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/not-so-free-lightbulbs-farmer-laboratory.mp3

Mike Taylor wrote:I fixed your audio file. I didn't edit it or sweeten it, just made it playable. You can get working copy here: http://nobsmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/not-so-free-lightbulbs-farmer-laboratory.mp3

I clicked the link and what i hear is an audio version of the awesome video Paul just put out. Is that all the podcast is?

Ummmm ..... that is not podcast 191 or podcast 190. That's the audio from the youtube video that is already working just fine.

Here are the podcasts: http://www.richsoil.com/permaculture/

Sorry folks! Life was happening. Although, personally, I enjoy the croaking

Could still use some insight from anyone on making the file smaller. Unfortunately I'm not very tech savvy. I got the croaking by turning the resolution down to 8000 (instead of 48000). This was my attempt to reduce its size. Paul also recommended turning off the stereo. Don't know how to do that. There is an option to click on mono-track stereo, but when I do that, it doesn't seem to make the change. On my old computer, before the size issue occurred on my current computer, I remember using two track, and, I believe, 48000 Hz.

New ideas?

Suzy Bean wrote:Sorry folks! Life was happening. Although, personally, I enjoy the croaking

Could still use some insight from anyone on making the file smaller. Unfortunately I'm not very tech savvy. I got the croaking by turning the resolution down to 8000 (instead of 48000). This was my attempt to reduce its size. Paul also recommended turning off the stereo. Don't know how to do that. There is an option to click on mono-track stereo, but when I do that, it doesn't seem to make the change. On my old computer, before the size issue occurred on my current computer, I remember using two track, and, I believe, 48000 Hz.

New ideas?

Hello Suzy,

I think the issue is that when you are encoding the file, the bit rate and sampling rate are inconsistent.

It looks as if this began around July 15th as I see that's when the file sizes began becoming larger.

Here are the file information for a sampling of recent podcasts:

pc 183: 73:46 min 25,936 kb

MPEG-1 layer 3
48 kbps, approx. 184430 frames
48000 Hz Joint Stereo

pc 185: 82:08 min 77,004 kb

MPEG-2 layer 3
128 kbps, 136893 frames
16000 Hz Stereo


pc 191: 329:42 min 154,553 kb

MPEG-2.5 layer 3
64 kbps, 274758 frames
8000 Hz Stereo

As you can see different encoders, sample rates and bit depths are being used.

Without getting too technical the basic optimum file size and quality will be obtained using MPEG-1 layer 3, 48000 Hz Stereo.
This is was what used previously and gave good quality and a small file size. I do not use Audacity but have used it previously and believe I still have it installed.
I use Adobe Audition for simple mastering but the choice of settings should be similar.

If you would like any assistance, email me at tbro@webdoghosting.net and I'll be more than happy to assist you if you ever need it. I used to operate an online streaming radio station and have done quite a bit of mixing, sampling and audio conversions. Enough to assist you with the podcast anyway.

Take care and be well...

tbro

Thanks TBro,

Would you tell me what the MPEG means?

Suzy Bean wrote:Thanks TBro,

Would you tell me what the MPEG means?

Basically it's an acronym for Moving Pictures Expert Group which was established in 1988 to set standards for video and audio compression. There are a number of types of audio compression formats and also a number of applications that will play/record/compress the various formats. You can get a general idea here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3

Which compression encoder one uses and the various settings determines quality, file size, and bit rate, which effects a number of environmental factors. For example, when we used to stream audio live on the radio station we had to encode in real-time two different bit rates and stereo/mono for folks who had slower internet connections. We were always seeking to optimize quality and a smaller file size as this effects bandwidth, sound quality and other factors. Since most of the permaculture podcast is voice, mono should work just fine.

If I were you I would first seek to establish a baseline of quality and filesize. 30 mb and under makes for a fairly quick download and decent quality. Folks who may not have a high bandwidth connection, (for example rural areas) and have to use dial-up it may take an inordinate amount of time for them to download one podcast. Other connection types such as satellite or USB wireless modems could have a download limit on their accounts as well so the smaller your filesize the better for all. You might want to experiment with your next conversion and try different settings in a test environment, find what works best and then adapt that as your own personal standard for the permicasts...

be well...

Tbro

BTW; here's a decent simple explanation how-to for audacity: http://www.podcastingnews.com/articles/Exporting_MP3s_Audacity.html

The latest podcast claims to be 150+ MB, but the download is only 50+. I think there's something wrong with the podcast display page.

Cal Edon wrote:The latest podcast claims to be 150+ MB, but the download is only 50+. I think there's something wrong with the podcast display page.

This should be fixed.