Why won't Audacity work on my recording?

[Gale Andrews]

I just tried to send you some 'silence," It was a tiny little clip, but it was 48.4 MB.

The noise sample only needs to be a second or two. You can attach that here as a WAV file.

Gale

[Niku]

Okay, here's a very short sample sent to you directly from my computer. I am no longer able to use DropBox for this purpose. It keeps telling me, "One or more names or email addresses you entered are invalid." Anyway, here's the "empty" part of my recording at the beginning before the poem begins.

[steve]

How are you making these audio clips? Are you using Audacity or some other application?
How did you make the original recording? Did you record with Audacity on a Mac computer or with an App on your phone?

The reason that I'm asking is that despite us repeatedly asking for audio samples in standard 44100 Hz, 16-bit WAV format, your samples are still in a low quality 8000 Hz format. The default export format for Audacity is 44100 Hz, 16-bit WAV. The default recording format in Audacity is 32-bit float, 44100 Hz PCM, which is ideal for high quality recording, editing and processing. 8000 Hz sample rate is too low, and is unsuitable for high quality work. We cannot make silk purses out of pigs ears - no-one can.

If you use a low quality format, then the results will inevitably be low quality and there's little that can be done about that. To stand any chance of improving the sound quality, you must make the recording in a high quality format (such as 16-bit 44100 Hz WAV, or better), and remain in a high quality format until you have finished editing/processing it.

This is the info about your latest sample:

Code: Select all

Complete name                            : ./The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 2-cr1.wav
Format                                   : Wave
File size                                : 172 KiB
Duration                                 : 5s 468ms
Overall bit rate mode                    : Constant
Overall bit rate                         : 257 Kbps
Album                                    : Angel at Radio Shack
Track name                               : The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Performer                                : Omar Khayham
Composer                                 : Omar Khayham
Director                                 : Omar Khayham
Genre                                    : Pop
Recorded date                            : 2007
Original source form/Name                : Angel at Radio Shack
Comment                                  :  00000000 00000210 000004B0 0000000000B88D80 00000000 001BA200 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
Encoded by                               : iTunes v7.1.1
BPM (beats per minute)                   : 120

Audio
Format                                   : PCM
Format profile                           : Float
Codec ID                                 : 3
Codec ID/Hint                            : IEEE 
Duration                                 : 5s 468ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 256 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 1 channel
Sampling rate                            : 8 000 Hz
Bit depth                                : 32 bits
Stream size                              : 171 KiB (100%)

[Niku]

First,I have to say that I don't know why that song was sent rather than the silence I had intended. I was NOT trying to be smart. I just don't understand how that could have happened, and I apologize for it.

I'm not sure how I made the recordings. At first I thought that I had made them many years ago with Wiretap, but now I think that I lost all of those recordings when I had a computer catastrophe with another computer. Now I think I did it with a little gadget that you can hold in your hand. I can't find it now, but it's little silvery-colored drum about 1/2" thick and 2" in diameter with wires at each side.You plug one end into the turntable, or whatever, and the other into the computer and play. That's it. It does a great job, and so easily.

I don't think that I have more than one or two ORIGINAL (I have numerous copies) audio files in my computer that are not in the MP3 or MP4 format. The reason is simple: The other files took up too much room, so I converted them. When I was using Wiretap, I had it set to import into the MP3 format, and whenever and wherever else I found those files, I made it a practice to convert them into MP3 or MP4. I might have missed some, but that was my practice, still is. I have no regrets about that. One of my proudest accomplishments was in compressing a 90-minute musical production on CD into a 3.5 MB file. It sounds fine to me, and I can export it--without DropBox. By the way, I bought the records in 1960, but I'm not sure when I made these recordings.

I've said the following before, but I'll repeat it, since it's crucial: I am not interested in "high-fidelity" as such. I'm only interested in producing recordings that sound fine to me. Given a satisfactory--to me--recording, my only concern is in removing irritating noises. I don't know what more I can say on the subject.

Oh, there is one last thing. Less than an hour ago, I learned that I can buy another box of those 4-LPs for a reasonable amount, so my interest in using Audacity has lessened considerably. I still intend to try to master its use as sort of an intellectual challenge, but it's fair to say that my passion for doing so has lessened considerably. After all, I said the same thing about Calculus a few months ago, but I never got started in that.