Aztec Media

Several listeners of the www.chvrchespodcast.com have said they have audio playback issues with some of the podcasts.  After several weeks of testing, I was able to get the weird sound issue to happen on my Apple iPod Touch.

So I created several example files to post to see if others can reproduce consistently. These are recorded originals from my Marantz (one in MP3 format and one in WAV):

• Download Marantz MP3 44.1 (Original).MP3 (235.9K) [Original]
• Download Marantz WAV PCM 44.1 (Original).WAV (2594.6K) [not expected to play on an iDevice because it is WAV format]
• Download Marantz WAV PCM 44.1 (Exported as WAV 16-bit PCM).wav (1243.4K)  [not expected to play on an iDevice because it is WAV format]

The following were imported into Audacity 2.1.2 on Windows and exported out:

• Download Marantz WAV PCM 44.1 (Exported as MP2 160kbps then to MP3).mp3 (113.5K) [Export #1]
• Download Marantz WAV PCM 44.1 (Exported as WAV 16-bit PCM then to MP3).mp3 (113.9K) [Export #2]
• Download Marantz WAV PCM 44.1 (Exported MP3 Constant-128kbps-JointStereo).mp3 (113.9K) [Export #3]

If any of these MP3s don't sound right [Original or Export #1, #2, #3] on your computer or iDevice, then can you please let me know at: [email protected].  Thanks!

Update #1 (9/30/2016 11:15 AM PT) - My friend Victor was not able to find any sound quality playback issues on his iPhone 7 or iPad Pro.  Neither could play the WAV file but that is expected.  The WAV file sounded fine on his Mac.

Update #2 (9/30/2016 11:15 AM PT) - These MP3s all sound AOK to me on my iPad Air 2 in the Chrome browser.

Update #3 (10/2/2016 1:45 PM PT) - The first original MP3 and Export #2 and Export #3 make no sound on my iPod Touch running iOS 10 using Safari browser. Export #1 sounds like high-pitched clicks and beeps.

Update #4 (10/14/2016 - 9:11 AM PT) - These seem to play find on multiple Android devices, Windows PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, and Linux Desktop OS via multiple browsers.  I verified the podcasts play via iTunes also on various platforms other than iPhone 6 devices.

Update #5 (10/14/2016 - 11:43 AM PT) - These are two new test files after swapping all the cables I am using in my recording study.  RAW MP3 directory from Marantz and then an output of the Marantz MP3 from Audacity:

• #A.) Download Swapped-Cables-Marantz-MP3-Original.MP3 (280.0K)
• #B.) Download Swapped-Cables-Audacity-MP3-Output.mp3 (112.7K)

This is not meant to be a definitive list, but just a list of possible software solutions for podcasters to consider when they want to record a Microsoft Skype call.  These have been mention to me in the past by a podcaster who at the time said they worked for them.

For Windows:

• MP3 Skype Recorder
• PowerGramo
• SoundTap

For Macintosh:

• Audio Hijack Pro

For Linux:

• TBD

Personally I've only used Audio Hijack Pro and then I do all my editing in Audacity (Mac, Windows, Linux).

There is a new version of Audacity v1.3.7 (beta) and I've loaded it up on my Mac Book Pro. I used it to mix down the Jersey Boys Podcast #66 without any issues.  I've been using the previous version - v1.3.6 (beta) - without any major problems, and I consider this release to be production quality.

Some of what I think are the most important fixes and updates include:

• Fixed periodic exported stereo files issues
• Fixes for Nyquist effects, Compressor and Noise Removal
• Fixed WAV corrupted issue related toi overwriting the same file
• MP3 and WMA now export correctly with all supported metadata
• Platform-specific bugs for: Vista, Windows, Mac, Linux
• Improved F11 Full Screen mode
• Improved Windows DirectSound API support
• Improved latency correction using fixed correction value

Another Audacity related item of potential interest, is that the audio for my presentation at the New Media Expo 2007 has been posted to the Podcast Academy site.  Here is a link to the PDF slides and a screencast QuickTime movie of the slides.

You might have a pretty good online training experience listening to the audio from the Podcast Academy site and watching the QuickTime Movie at the same time.

I will be presenting at the New Media Expo 2008 (August 14-16, 2008) a "Getting Started With Audio Editing" session using Audacity from 2:00-3:00 p.m. in room N245 on August 14, 2008.

I have created a set of WAV files that will make up my examples and demos that folks who are attending might want to download if they plan to try to follow along during the presentation.  The link is here (34-MBs .zip file).

I also have posted a copy of my Audacity 101 DAU eLearning 2008 workshop slides in PDF format, and a link to a Blip.TV movie that includes the screencasts that are embedded in the presentation. Unfortunately the movie is not sync'd with audio so you have to work your way through them without narration.

NOTE: I will be doing my demos at PME 2008 using the Audacity v1.3.5 (beta) release.

There was a question the other day on the New Media Expo Pathable Community mailing list about how to record phone conversations via POTS connections. 

I use a Telos-One-R (R = rack mountable) that I picked up on eBay and this is a diagram of my setup:

The Telos One comes highly recommended from two very smart audio gurus at IT Conversations: Doug Kaye and Paul Figgiani. 

Paul has posted some great resources about the topic over at Podcast Rigs especially this post "Telos One, Talkshoe and Skype." There is also a great podcast with Doug Kaye (MP3) over at Podcast Academy that covers this topic.

Both Paul and Victor Cajiao at the Typical Mac User Podcast helped me setup the configuration of my unit - which is done manually with a small screw driver. I also borrowed Paul's unit diagram of a Telos One for my picture.  Thanks Paul!

I am pretty happy with how this is working now, but I would recommend doing some post production processing on the phone track (usually your guest) with something like SoundSoap.

The very long running "audacity-users" mailing list has migrated over to a forum. 

You can learn more via this link: http://www.nabble.com/audacity-users-f472.html.

If you have a question about Audacity, this looks like a great place to post the question.

Online registration is now available for the 4th annual New Media Expo 2008 in Las Vegas, NV from Thursday, August 14 through Saturday, August 16, 2008.

I will be presenting an updated version of my "Getting Started With Audio Editing - Hands-on With Audacity" interactive session at this conference.  This presentation is in the "Track 1: Audio and Video Creation 101" series, and will be held Thursday, August 14, 2008 from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm.

If you are new to podcasting, audio editing, or to the open source multi-platform Audacity audio editing and production tool, then this will be a great session for you to attend.  This year's expo looks to be as good or better than previous years. 

If you can't wait for New Media Expo 2008, here are some references that I've done on the topic of audio editing with Audacity:

• PNME 2007 - Audacity Presentation In QuickTime Format
• PNME 2007 - Getting Started With Audacity Slides
• Podcast Academy 3 - Audacity 101 Slides (June 2006)
• Blog Post "What Gear Do You Need To Podcast" (January 2005)

The audio for my PNME 2007 presentation is available via Podcast Academy.

NOTE: There is an audio version of my Podcast Academy 3 presentation in the archives of Podcast Academy, but those are being transferred from GigaVox Media at this time and are offline.  As soon as link becomes available, I'll post it.

A new version v1.3.4 (beta) of Audacity has been released for Windows and Linux.  The latest version for the Macintosh is still v1.3.3 (beta).

This new version has a host of new features and user interface improvements.  According to a press release here are the major ones:

• New Welcome Screen with introduction to Audacity.
• New 'Mix and Render to New Track' command.
• Support for VAMP audio analysis plug-ins.
• More keyboard shortcuts and navigation.
• Reworked solo/mute handling.
• New preference: Select all audio in project, if none selected (on by default).
• New preference: Beep on completion of longer activities.
• Envelopes: Many fixes when copying, pasting, or repeating.
• Many translation updates.
• Metadata editor added for OGG, FLAC and WAV/AIFF exports.
• Metadata import improved.
• Muted tracks are no longer audible in the exported mix.
• Improvements to latency correction.

I have installed this on two Vista PC systems without any major issues, but I do most of audio production editing on a Mac Book Pro so I have not completely run this new version through the paces.

The AztecMedia.net's TechNewsRadio show is part of the great FriendsInTech (FIT) group.  We have been doing special Christmas and Halloween productions since 2005.

The latest one is called "It's the Great Server Chuck and Kreg" and it was posted on 10/24/07.  It is family safe and only about 12 minutes long.

This year I volunteered to be part of the post production and helped with the mix down of scenes into the final version with Kevin Devin.

I learned some great lessons:

1. Work with the best people possible. The FIT team is giving, helpful, encouraging, insightful, and very talented. It makes the project very enjoyable and you'll have fun doing it.
2. I did all my editing of my parts (the outside scenes) in Audacity.  I didn't have any major problems or issues other than at times the scenes mix downs were very complicated with 24+ individual segments.  I ended up in situations like this to do 3 intermediate mixes with each one having ~8 individual segments.
3. Having a vast special effects (SFX) library of audio is very helpful. Using sites like freesound is good, but some of the royalty free material other FIT members had was very impressive.
4. When recording lines in a remote situation take at least three takes for each line.
5. It really helps if you can do your remote lines recording with another person saying the other lines around your lines.
6. Use a wiki to develop the first drafts of the script, but then migrate to a script writing tool for final production.
7. Scripts file names and titles within the document should have version numbers or clear dates on them so you know what you have is the most current one.
8. Tools like BIAS SoundSoap2 for cleaning up audio are pretty important if someone makes their recordings in a noisy environment.
9. All the spoken word parts of a production should be processed with the same RMS settings.  We also ended up running them in bulk through The Conversations Network's Levelator.
10. Using MP2 files for distribution during post production is very efficient and doesn't diminish quality.

Thanks to fellow Friends In Tech member Kevin Devin I have posted my Getting Started With Audacity Presentation in QuickTime format (126-MBs) from the Podcast and New Media Expo (PNME) 2007. This is the output form Apple's Keynote with the embedded screencasts that I presented during the session. 

There is no audio yet of the actual session so you will not get to hear in the movie what I said during the screencasts or slides right now.  If you are a conference attendee you should have gotten an email with details on how to get the audio.  If you weren't a conference attendee then my recommendation is that you subscribe to the Gigavox Media's Podcast Academy channel.  It should be released over the next 6-8 months.  I will link to it when it does come out. 

More information in general (including PDF slides) about the presenation has been posted here.