How do you shrink down an audio file so it can be placed over the web?

I have a 4 minute audio file in aif and it's about 12 MB.

This is too big for an audio file. I converted it to .wav but it's still too big. I tried Compressor 2 with no discernable reduction in size. I tried different ways to save as, but nothing works. Help, please.

I prefer to end up with about a 500 k file ... mono is okay...

First open the file in Quicktime pro. Export I would make it quicktime to quicktime movie click the sound options button you can use the Q design and figure out what sounds best to you. For sure I would make it mono and then 44.100 or even 22.000. You could also make it a MP3 in iTunes. In iTunes open the advance tab in the prefs and select importing on import convert using MP3 encoder then in iTunes select your audio Song /sound track and right click / control click and select covert to MP3.

When you start heavily compressing audio, you also have to pay attention to your audience. Do they all have the ability to decode a Q-Design file? Are they all on Macs? Are you sure?

We have found MP3 to be a reasonably good compromise between quality, file size and playability in the maximum number of machines.

Koz

4mins of Mono 44.1KHz @ 56Kbps is about 900KB and the audio will be awful

4mins of Mono 32KHz @ 96KHz is about 1.5MB and the audio will be softer but you shouldn't get compression "warbles" in the sound.

You can compress it at a lower KHz and Bitrate but the quality will be terrible.

Test out the Advanced settings on iTunes.


Ben





For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

"Do they all have the ability to decode a Q-Design file?"
If it was saved as a Quicktime movie they would have Q design it's been there since I think QT 3.

Who is the file for? Do they need to use it at the other end, or just listen to it? Mac people or unknown listeners?

I like AAC myself - 4.00 minutes at very good quality comes to about 3.5 MB.

Here's one that I did for quality testing - its four minutes long, and 1.6 MB - called "The day you come.m4a" here [members.iinet.com.au]

This one is 48 kbps, 44.100 khz, mono. Higher quality ones are even nicer.

NB - I will be removing this file once the thread has been read for copyright reasons.

I have a 3.5 MB file of this piece of music that I created in Soundtrack Pro. I'd like to put it on my web page at [www.releasing.net]

I want it to start playing when the page opens, but it's too big. I was hoping for 500k because at that size it would start playing even on people with dial-up :-)

And at less than 3.5 MB I noticed significant loss of quality. I was under the impression that audio files were smaller than video files; but it seems they're a little smaller only. I don't understand; there must be a file format for audio that's more effective.

Jude, I listened to the song The Day You Come. It's an incredibly beautiful song. I really liked it. The lyrics were coming in very clean. It took about a couple of minutes to load it up on my dial up connection. It began playing immediately, then it stopped for a couple of minutes -- then it played to the end while the song was still being downloaded -- from the half way mark.

The only part that didn't come in clean was the musical interlude in the middle; it got garbled a bit. I'm sure it goes through better on fast connections.

I'm assuming you made it streaming. What are the rest of the settings of the AAC file? Thanks.

Dean, does QT Pro come with the FCP Studio? I couldn't find it under applications.

Koz, I'm trying to put this on my website. MP3 is fine. Working with the file in iTunes was tricky though.

Ben, those settings I find to be accurate as far as size and quality of sound. I'm just surprised that sound eats up so much space on the bandwidth.

Yep if you want 16-bit sound with reasonable sample frequency to give a good quality it does take up bandwidth. Even with modern compression it won't go down by much. Still - 1.5MB from 22MB is a very good ratio...

The trouble is trying to squeeze so much audio and accommodating 56K modems.

In the UK almost no-one caters for the slower connections anymore except where they supply html text only versions without media (or with download options).

My suggestion would be to do the same - offer a download for the 56Kers and a higher bandwidth site for the rest of the world.

You are in fact 1 of only 2 people I know in the world using dial-up as a primary internet connection. The other one is also in California!

To answer the QT Pro question - yes it comes with FCP & FCS - if QT Pro is installed you will have Import & Export options in the QT file menu. The Quicktime player will not change it's name to reflect that it is the pro enabled version.

Good luck Vic

Ben





For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

Thanks, Ben. BTW I'm on dial-up just so I can see what half of the world sees :-)

I'm soon going to add a fast connection service. I'm just waiting for when the connection speed allows for entire movies to be exhibited over the Internet.

>>> I'm just waiting for when the connection speed allows for entire movies to be exhibited over the Internet. <<<

LOL...get used to dial-up or be ready to pay a couple hundred $$$ a month.



When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Again it depends on the level of compression have a look at the H.264 encoded material on the Apple website there are some fantastic progressive downloads that look amazing and load quickly enough even on a 1Mb downstream cable or DSL connection.

Or look at the flash video examples that are flooding the web - quickloading and reasonable quality - often used as video adverts on banners (horizontal) or skyscaper (vertical) web-adverts.

I personnally have a 4Mbps service with 384Kbps upload that costs me about £25 ($45) per month, which is a little on the expensive side but its been a good solid connection with unlimited traffic.

Entire Films and TV programmes are already being watched over the internet via services like iTunes Store, YouTube, Movie Flix, Atom Films to name but a few...

Some have been going for years even catering for 56K modems! I've been doing video for the web and web transfer for clients for over 6 years. It is by no means a new thing.

The webvideo revolution has been going on for a long time and it's just getting to the point now where the quality and availablity is going to threaten the traditional means for distribution, hence why we have the explosion of legitimate services for streaming or download of content.

Ben



Post Edited (07-27-06 07:05)



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Great info, Ben, et al. I made notes as ususal. Thanks, fellas.

Slighty off topic but . . .

Jude, who's the artist for that song? Kind of sounds like the love child of Cake and the Mutton Birds.

It's Powderfinger - an Aussie band. They've been around for ages - I think that song is about four years old .. maybe a bit older.

That sound is pretty typical of Aussie indy bands actually - if you like it, check out our national indy radio station here [www.triplej.net.au] or listen to it here [www.abc.net.au]

One of my current favs is Wolfmother - ithey're like the 70's got stoned, got lost on a tour bus, missed the next thirty years and just got home and kept playing.

I could go on ...

Actually, I'm removing that file now. It was for a quaility demo, but copyright, so being removed.

Many thanks for the info Jude!