VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Mandy Nelson · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:44 pm Post subject: A little help with audio

Boy oh boy...do any of you work in flash? Client is putting the audio in and it's coming out, um, horrible. Before I spend hours trying to change things on my end I thought I'd check in here. I have all of the original files in 48k, 16 bit, mono wav. Is there an ideal size they should be so that they don't sound so tinny or distorted?
_________________
006 member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Mic. Bonded by sound.

Manfillappsoc: The Mandy and Philip mutual appreciation Society. Who's in your network?

Have you seen my mic closet? ~ me to my future husband

todd ellis · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:12 pm Post subject:

flash typically likes uncompressed audio formats like .wav of .aiff - so i don't see a problem there. as the files are imported into flash they are converted/compressed to .mp3 - so the issue may lie there.

sorry - not much more help than that, except to say i doubt it's your audio causing the malfunction.
_________________
"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

Deirdre · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:12 pm Post subject:

Here's what Flash Help says:

Mandy Nelson · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:23 pm Post subject:

I thank you!
_________________
006 member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Mic. Bonded by sound.

Manfillappsoc: The Mandy and Philip mutual appreciation Society. Who's in your network?

Have you seen my mic closet? ~ me to my future husband

todd ellis · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:41 pm Post subject:

so, does 44k, 16-bit help?

i didn't know about the "divisible by 11" thing. that's interesting.
_________________
"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

bobsouer · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:59 pm Post subject:

Mandy,

The first thing that came to mind for me, too was converting your audio to 44.1Khz first and then re-import.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

Eddie Eagle · M&M Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Posts: 2393

I've been using the Allock video to flash converter and it works pretty well. I get good audio out of it. It allows audio to be converted from 80 kbps to 192 kbps and a range of 11025 to 44100.

Chris Ratliff · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:22 pm Post subject:

Mandy, I'm afraid I can't help but I can offer another view. I "re-did" (pardon the southern slang, it comes out when I blog and message) a web flash for a national product. The original that was used, which was offered for reference, really really really sounded like junk. Probably much like what you're talking about. That tells me some clients don't care what it sound like. Hey, I don't question. I just give the best I've got and let them worry about the how to's.
_________________
Chris Ratliff VO's
www.ChrisRatliffVO.com

"I have nothing more to say at this time. That is all"

bransom · DC Joined: 06 Nov 2008 Posts: 650 Location: St. Louis, MO

Hi, Mandy,

I do a lot of work in Flash and one thing to watch out for is Flash's default "Publish" settings — it defaults to truly awful audio quality, treating final compressed size as far more important than quality. To fix:

Click the File menu, choose Publish Settings. In the window that opens, click the Flash tab (it doesn't look like a tab but it is). You'll see settings for Audio Stream and Audio Event. Even a small bump up in the bit rate of these, say from the default 16 kbps to 24 kbps, can make a big difference. When possible, I choose 48 kbps or higher.

And, as others have said, when importing to Flash, start with a WAV or AIF file.

Hope this helps...

Mandy Nelson · Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 8:09 am Post subject:

Bob, I could just hug you! I forwarded the message to the client and he was ever so grateful. He's a full-on animation guy who is only just starting to design more stuff with sound (much to my happiness because he's amazing and likes working with me).

Thanks to all for your taking the time to answer. I knew I was coming to the right place. *warm fuzzy feeling*
_________________
006 member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Mic. Bonded by sound.

Manfillappsoc: The Mandy and Philip mutual appreciation Society. Who's in your network?

Have you seen my mic closet? ~ me to my future husband

bransom · DC Joined: 06 Nov 2008 Posts: 650 Location: St. Louis, MO

Hi, Mandy,

I'm glad it was an easy fix!

Working with audio in Flash always requires a bit of trial and error. File sizes DO matter on the web, and the audio file is usually the single biggest item in the Flash file. My usual method of working with it is to set the Publish settings pretty high so at least during the animation phase, I don't have to listen to crap. When it comes time to really begin testing, I start dialing down quality and watching the effect on file size. There's usually a semi-happy median that can be reached where the audio isn't too awful and the file will still load in a reasonable time.

Deirdre · Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 8:28 am Post subject:

Yay! I knew there were options for audio resolution, but I couldn't remember where they were.

Thanks for this spiffy info!
_________________
DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

Mandy Nelson · Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:44 am Post subject:

Phew - I'm glad to say I got a sneak peak a bit ago and it is sooooo much better sounding now. Thanks again.
_________________
006 member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Mic. Bonded by sound.

Manfillappsoc: The Mandy and Philip mutual appreciation Society. Who's in your network?

Have you seen my mic closet? ~ me to my future husband