Topic: Audacity and/or Spark XL Help Needed...

[Nick Graham]

So, after taping a show last night, I figured I'd give both of these programs a chance, see which one I like better, and stick with whichever one won out. However, I've ran into major problems on both....

Audacity - I tracked the show by setting labels at the start of each track point, then chose "Export Multiple" to save the individual tracks. The problem is this - the tracks it saves are 16 bit (the show was recorded in 24)! No matter what setting I change, it always exports as 16 bit. Am I missing something here?

Spark - When using the batch converter to dither from 24 to 16 bit (I already have the show split and named in 24 bit), is there a way to specify the output file's name? My files which were named "theloft2006-06-23.mk4.d1t01", etc. came out as "theloft2006#5"...only #5 was actually d1t01, #3 was d2t04....absolutely random naming scheme.

Any ideas from the mac audio gurus?

[scb]

maybe spark doesn't like the periods?

[Brian Skalinder]

Audacity - I tracked the show by setting labels at the start of each track point, then chose "Export Multiple" to save the individual tracks. The problem is this - the tracks it saves are 16 bit (the show was recorded in 24)! No matter what setting I change, it always exports as 16 bit. Am I missing something here?

What settings did you change in Audacity?  Try Edit | Preferences | File Formats | Uncompressed Export Format.  Just tested this on my Win2K PC and it worked fine - exported the proper bit-depth and sample rate to all the multiple WAV files.  FWIW, to change the bit-depth and / or sample rate of the Project or of the WAV you're exporting, do the following:

Editing Bit-Depth

• Set Edit | Preferences | Quality | Default Sample Format to the desired precision at which you'd like Audacity to perform edits (32-, 24-, or 16-bit).  If you perform an edit, this is the bit-depth the s/w uses to perform the edit, and the bit-depth in which the s/w returns the processed data.  Alternatively, you may use the black triangle drop-down to select Set Sample Format | < your desired edit output bit-depth >.  FWIW, I do all my edits at 32-bit and then dither down to my preferred listening bit-depth.
  
  

Bit-Depth Changes and Dithering

• Set Edit | Preferences | File Formats | Uncompressed Export Format to the desired bit-depth, presumably 16-bit for CD-compatible files or 24-bit if either <a> you've edited with 32-bit precision, or <b> you're simply tracking a 24-bit source and don't want to change the bit-depth.  (Note:  to set the value to 24-bit, select Other | WAV (Microsoft) and Signed 24-bit PCM).
  
• If you want to dither to the bit-depth you select above - like going from 24- to 16-bit, or from 32- (after applying edits with 32-bit precision) to 24- or 16-bit, set Edit | Preferences | Quality | High-Quality Dither to something other than None.  I like Triangle, personally.
  
  

Sample Rate Changes

• To change the WAV header only, use the black triangle drop-down to select Set Rate | < your desired sample rate >
  
• To perform actual Sample Rate Conversion, set Edit | Preferences | Quality | High-Quality Sample Rate Converter to High-Quality Sinc Interpolater and then back in the WAV editor window click the Project Rate button in the bottom left corner and select the desired sample rate.
  
  

[Nick Graham]

maybe spark doesn't like the periods?

Not sure, but I'm gonna experiment with different naming techniques and see what happens. FWIW, last night I didn't rename the files after splitting the tracks - so they were all named marker 1, marker 2, etc. I dithered using those names, and the output stayed the same namewise....so you're probably onto something. If nothing else, leaving the files named that way at least makes the 16 bit output files identifiable without listening to each one.

+T

What settings did you change in Audacity?  Try Edit | Preferences | File Formats | Uncompressed Export Format.  Just tested this on my Win2K PC and it worked fine - exported the proper bit-depth and sample rate to all the multiple WAV files. 

HUGE +T

Worked perfectly. Kind of a strange workaround...it'd be nice if the output files defaulted to whatever the original bit depth/sample rate was, but no big deal.

Thanks a ton!

[scb]

maybe spark doesn't like the periods?

Not sure, but I'm gonna experiment with different naming techniques and see what happens. FWIW, last night I didn't rename the files after splitting the tracks - so they were all named marker 1, marker 2, etc. I dithered using those names, and the output stayed the same namewise....so you're probably onto something. If nothing else, leaving the files named that way at least makes the 16 bit output files identifiable without listening to each one.

+T

i always leave them as spark has them, except i put in a leading zero on the  single digit tracks to make them Marker 01, Marker 02, etc insted of Marker 1, Marker 2

[MattD]

i always leave them as spark has them, except i put in a leading zero on the  single digit tracks to make them Marker 01, Marker 02, etc insted of Marker 1, Marker 2

I know nothing about this, but would that operation be AppleScriptable?