Horrible Screeching Sounds on my imported tracks

[mrlopez2681]

I have dowloaded audacity so that I could take the soundtrack from video files I have on PC and burn them onto a CD in mp3.

After I import the file and play it back, it is constantly speeding up and slowing down, and making these horrible loud screeching sounds every few seconds. Every file I import does the same thing - this horrible loud screeching sound occuring constantly over the soundtrack.

Any help in fixing this would be appreciated.

--Adam

[steve]

After I import the file and play it back,

Have you tried playing the file in a media player? Does it sound OK? What format is the file?

[mrlopez2681]

Thank you so much for your reply steve.

Ok - I guess I am totally confused.

I have no idea what to do after I import the file -

I open Audacity and then click 'FILE' and then 'OPEN...', and then browse my pc for the desired file.

I am trying to extract sound from an MPEG video file - so I select it from the files on pc.

Next, a box appears that says "importing mp3 file".

Now my MPEG video file is imported, but when I hit the "PLAY" button and the Audacity player plays the track back, there are all of these horrible loud screeching sounds over the soundtrack, and the music keeps speeding up and slowing down.

I have exported the file as both Wav and as ogg and played both back in windows media player - the screeches, etc. are still there. When I tried to export as MP3, I was prompted that I must have the LAME encoder.

All I am trying to do is to take the soundtrack from my video file and make it into an mp3.....what to do??

Thanks everyone for your help and attention.

--Adam

[steve]

Audacity does not support video or video files. The horrible loud screeching sound over the soundtrack is the picture.

There are various ways you can "extract" the audio track:

1) Digital extraction - this is the better method as it is quicker and the sound quality may also be a bit better,
To do this you need to use another program that can process the files and save just the audio stream. You can do this in several video applications, or with some encoders (transcoders). The program that I would try is called SUPER http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html This program is free, but downloading it is a bit of a pain as you have to follow a trail of download links before you get it. Using Super you need to set the output format to "WAV (audio only)" which can then be imported and edited in Audacity.

2) Use VLC player to transcode the file to WAV (use the Wizard in the file menu). This is not as straightforward as it sounds and is probably not the best choice unless you are very familiar with VLC.

3) Play the video in a suitable player and record the soundtrack in Audacity. To do this you will need to use the Windows Mixer to set the recording input to "Stereo Mix" (may also be called "Mix" or "What U Hear" depending on your hardware).

[bigmikew1]

i have the same problem. but its with mp3 files not video. any song i import does this. i play the same songs in itunes and windows media player and this noise isnt there. in audacity its whenever the bass hits. and when i export a file it keeps the noise.

[steve]

i have the same problem

I bet you don't

but its with mp3 files not video.

I was right - not the same problem.

in audacity its whenever the bass hits.

Probably distortion - is the waveform reaching the top and bottom of the track (+1.0 to -1.0)?
If so, reduce the recording volume.
If not, then it is probably distorting before it gets to Audacity, so turn down the output level of whatever it is that you are recording from.

[bigmikew1]

oh ok. yea it is reaching the top and bottom but im not recording it. i dragged the file into audacity. recording volume? how do i turn that down? i don't see it newhere. it never used to do this b4. it just started happening recently. thanks for ur help.

[steve]

It's OK if the wave just reaches the top and bottom as in the top track in this picture, but if you look at the lower track, you can see that the peaks have been "clipped" (flat at top and bottom). The lower track sounds distorted (because it is).

clipping.gif (5.01 KiB) Viewed 5539 times

If your imported track is clipped, then that's because the track is clipped, not anything that Audacity is doing to it. If it is not clipped but is more like the top track in my illustration, then it could be your sound card, amplifier or speakers that are overloading, in which case, turn the volume down in the Windows Mixer.

mixer.gif (11.11 KiB) Viewed 5540 times

[bigmikew1]

yea it's like the 2nd picture

thanks man. i jus turned the volume of the track back down with mp3gain.