Audacity Forum

Hello to everyone,

I'm trying for the first time to upload my games play to Youtube.
The tools: recorded with Fraps; splitted in two parts with Virtualdub; encoded with Vidcoder normal preset; trying to adjust the audio with Audacity 2.0.

The issue: the audio sounds like metallic, I don't know how to better explain it but it's different from the the original gameplay.
I think that the problem started from Fraps because I extracted a sample from the huge (68GB) raw video clip and it has the same issue.
I uploaded an encoded version (4.40MB) online which features the issue at this link: http://www.filedropper.com/demigodsample

Could anyone please have a look at it and suggest the best steps in order to make the sound similar to the original?
Thanks in advance.

Tinkly, metallic audio is almost always caused by multiple compressions. Audacity doesn't edit in native format. It pulls audio into itself in its own high quality format and then exports a new version of the show when you're done. Unless you exported the show in an uncompressed format like WAV, the show will experience Audacity's compression in addition to the original game compression and in addition to whatever Fraps is doing.

Compression systems are all designed to start with a perfect, crystal clear, uncompressed original show and produce one compressed and delivered show for enjoyment, not for opening up and more editing or production.

A recent poster whose whole show was editing on-line audio ran into trouble when they wanted him to compress it for internet delivery. The show turned to tinkly mush when he tried. Too many compression steps.

Koz

kozikowski wrote:Tinkly, metallic audio is almost always caused by multiple compressions. Audacity doesn't edit in native format. It pulls audio into itself in its own high quality format and then exports a new version of the show when you're done. Unless you exported the show in an uncompressed format like WAV, the show will experience Audacity's compression in addition to the original game compression and in addition to whatever Fraps is doing.

Compression systems are all designed to start with a perfect, crystal clear, uncompressed original show and produce one compressed and delivered show for enjoyment, not for opening up and more editing or production.

A recent poster whose whole show was editing on-line audio ran into trouble when they wanted him to compress it for internet delivery. The show turned to tinkly mush when he tried. Too many compression steps.
Koz

Thanks for feedback but I don't understand.

I agree that it's hard to understand and to deal with multiple compressed files, however, I extracted a wav sample from the raw Fraps file and the issue is there right after Fraps recording, I didn't do any multiple compression.
There is NO other way of recording raw gaming other than Fraps, I think that it's the only software which applies a very light compression (hence the resulting huge avi file) to the recording while other software will definitely compress it to the bare minimum.

So what trick can I use in Audacity?

The demo file seems to have 0 kb.

Robert J. H. wrote:The demo file seems to have 0 kb.

That seems strange, I downloaded the file and shows 4.39MB and can play in Windows Media Player, maybe the antivirus blocked it.

The file is behind a graphics "captcha" layer. I emailed the file to you.

It's rough to know what's normal and what isn't. It sounds like normal game play to me.

Koz

kozikowski wrote:The file is behind a graphics "captcha" layer.

That might be browser related issue.

I emailed the file to you.

I don't understand this, where is it?

It's rough to know what's normal and what isn't. It sounds like normal game play to me.
Koz

I agree, you need to listen the audio from within the game then you'll feel the issue.

I sent the sound file to Robert. He may not be able to make it past a captcha. He can't see them.
Koz

I agree, you need to listen the audio from within the game then you'll feel the issue.

So we're resolving a distortion issue on a fuzz guitar.

It sounds fine to me and if there's nothing to compare it to, we're stuck.

Koz

Thank you Koz, I'll trust your judgment.
As you say, it is important to have an ideal recording to determine the difference. Is there perhaps some frequency range that is cut away?