Audacity Forum

Hi Everyone!
I have a problem and would be very grateful for an answer
I am using Audacity for podcasts. For example -- http://www.seasonsofthemoon.com/audio/New-Years-Eve.mp3
I mixed this down to mono and it was okay. In stereo, the voice has this very very short 'room' echo on it.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Also I notice a stereo mix down to mp3 seems to increase the distortion markedly -- is there a way I can avoid this?
thanks

Yaakov Asher Sinclair http://www.rabbisinclair.com

<<<Also I notice a stereo mix down to mp3 seems to increase the distortion markedly -- is there a way I can avoid this?>>>

Gargly, bubbling MP3 distortion is a function of encoding bit rate. As the bit rate goes up, the quality and file sizes both go up. In Audacity 1.2 you have to set the MP3 encode rate in Edit > Preferences > Quality (I think).

Restart Audacity to make sure the changes stick.

32 is widely considered the minimum for a mono show, 64 for a stereo show and almost perfect quality is somewhere in the 384 range or higher. The file sizes will change markedly as you change that number. Many people convert their show to mono in order to make the MP3 more efficient and small.

Koz

<<<I mixed this down to mono and it was okay. In stereo, the voice has this very very short 'room' echo on it.>>>

Say that again with different words.

If you listen to your mono show with a stereo system, it sounds funny? Does it make any difference whether it's on-line or not?

Koz