Exported MP3 weirdness

[Greenhornet]

I'm using 1.2.6 on Windows XP.

I routinely "Export Multiple" MP3s into a file, for use in a PowerPoint-associated program called Articulate Presenter, which converts .ppt & MP3 audio into a flash presentation. For years I created my mp3s with a program called WinOnCD, and had no problem when re-importing the MP3s into Articulate Presenter.

Now when I do the same with Audacity, the final Flash product has some audio tracks that are sped up (i.e., sound like chipmunks). It is always unpredictable -- no regular pattern of what tracks will be sped up. Because it has always worked great with WinOnCD-exported Mp3s, this tells me it's an Audacity export problem.

The exported MP3s play just fine in Media Player. It is only when re-imported by Articulate Presenter that this occurs. But I believe Media Player can correct for differing bps rates on MP3s.

When editing, adding labels, etc. before export, I always fix the audio track at 16 bit/44100Hz. It seemed like it was worse when I tried editing 32 bit floating tracks.

Would this problem I'm having be related to the "High Quality Sample Rate Converter"? I've always had it set to high quality sinc.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[alatham]

Articulate has an answer to this question in their knowledge base:
http://www.articulate.com/blog/flash-su ... -settings/

Is it possible that WinOnCd never made any mono files? Or that you're now exporting to a different bit rate than you used to?

Also note that Articulate recommends using Wav files. It's probably best to follow their advice.

I doubt there's anything wrong with the mp3 files. It's probably just happening because Audacity offers more options for output format. Therefore it's easier to get a file you can't use correctly.

Also, I really wish you hadn't jumped to this conclusion:

Because it has always worked great with WinOnCD-exported Mp3s, this tells me it's an Audacity export problem.

All that should actually have told you is that there is a difference in the way that WinOnCd and Audacity work. Not that Audacity is broken.

Hope this helps.

[Greenhornet]

Thanks for the advice! You're quite correct, one shouldn't assume that Audacity is flawed because it operates differently... I should have said it was an "issue," meaning that it was a matter of me discovering the correct match of export/import settings between Audacity and Articulate. I think with your info I'll be able to work out the issue. Thanks again.

[alatham]

You're very welcome.

[Macloo]

Hi. I just posted a similar problem in a similar thread (but it's not about Articulate, just sampling rates and MP3s):

http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic ... t=10#p4400

This is something I've been struggling with a lot, so I hope there's an answer I can use!