Audacity Forum

I have recently started using 1.2.6 and have come across a real problem.

After completing my project I check the Preferences. I have set the bit rate at 96 and am using the Default Sample Rate of 44100, which I am seeing confirmed in the lower left corner of the working window. I export as mp3.

However, the file when played through a Flash player sounds like a chipmunk. Opening the mp3 file with Goldwave confirms the problem - the file was not encoded at 44100 but at 32000Hz.

Is this a common problem? Is there a workaround for it?

Cheers -

george

It's not a problem, it's a "feature" of the LAME MP3 encoder (or at least the way Audacity implements it).

A 96kbps file at a 44.1KHz sample rate would leave you with an average of only 2.17 bits of data per sample. That's incredibly low, even for a highly compressed MP3. Anything at that bit rate (or lower) is automatically converted to a lower sample rate.

I agree that it's annoying that Audacity doesn't warn you of this. I also don't think there is a way around it except for making the files at a bit rate of 128 or higher.

Thanks for the information, I didn't know about this "feature." This is something that apparently was implemented in the current version, as I have not encountered this before. My settings work very nicely for my podcast, which is all voice (with the exception of the music intro and outro), so this is too bad. I'll need to decide whether or not to return to the previous version I was using, despite the fact that it occasionally crashed when I applied the Amplify filter.

Cheers -

george