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Audacity Question....HELP!

by Coyotex
13 replies
I downloaded the mp3 from Instant Teleseminar of a seminar I did recently. From IT it is 7.82 MB. Put it through Audacity - made no changes. Opened the file with audacity and exported it as mp3. It is 41.7 MB.

OMG! That's a MASSIVE difference in size. Can anyone explain this to me and PLEASE tell me if I'm doing something wrong. I have everything at the lowest settings possible and use mono, not stereo.

Please also let me know if there is a fix for this as well.

Thanks.

Drew.
#audacity #questionhelp
  • Profile picture of the author JasonFinch
    I am not sure - but I will google it and see what I find for ya
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    Audacity to MP3 uses the LAME encoder. I suggest you dig
    around for information about troubleshooting the encoder.
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  • Profile picture of the author Coyotex
    Heck, I don't even know what this LAME encoder thing is. I know it's part of Audacity, but all that technical stuff I haven't a clue about.

    all I want to know is if I can make the files from Audacity smaller.

    I'm sure there are people on WF who use Audacity to create audio for business purposes and, therefore, would want a smaller size file.
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    CFO
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    • Profile picture of the author ccIowa
      Hi Coyotex,
      I've had a similar problem. Take your file from Audacity and keep it as a wav file. Then go to zamzaar.com and upload your wav file and convert it to an mp3 file. It seems to work.

      Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author Coyotex
    Thanks Iowa! It's actually zamzar.com (at least that's where I'm looking) and it seems pretty helpful. One thing though, I'm reading the FAQ's and it says there are ads on the free account. Have you experience ads in your conversion? I'm taking it to mean they place some sort of ad somewhere in the conversion. Anyone else understand that?
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    • Profile picture of the author ccIowa
      Hmmm, I've never seen that or seen an ad on anything I've converted.

      I guess just give it a try and see what happens. You aren't out anything because you have your original file in tact.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tsnyder
      Originally Posted by Coyotex View Post

      Thanks Iowa! It's actually zamzar.com (at least that's where I'm looking) and it seems pretty helpful. One thing though, I'm reading the FAQ's and it says there are ads on the free account. Have you experience ads in your conversion? I'm taking it to mean they place some sort of ad somewhere in the conversion. Anyone else understand that?
      LOL... no... there are ads on your account page. They don't
      insert ads into your converted files.

      Tsnyder
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      If you knew what I know you'd be doing what I do...
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  • Profile picture of the author jondavidson
    Yeah, sounds like it uncompressed to a WAV file.
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  • Profile picture of the author Manuel Viloria
    Originally Posted by Coyotex View Post

    I downloaded the mp3 from Instant Teleseminar of a seminar I did recently. From IT it is 7.82 MB. Put it through Audacity - made no changes. Opened the file with audacity and exported it as mp3. It is 41.7 MB.

    OMG! That's a MASSIVE difference in size. Can anyone explain this to me and PLEASE tell me if I'm doing something wrong. I have everything at the lowest settings possible and use mono, not stereo.

    Please also let me know if there is a fix for this as well.

    Thanks.

    Drew.
    What were the settings for your mp3 file?
    In Audacity, I use a project rate of 44100 Hz and 128-bit.

    Kind regards,
    Manuel Viloria
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    >> Get More Traffic Now www.ManuelViloria.com <<
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  • Profile picture of the author Coyotex
    I still don't think my original question was answered. I understand to convert WAV to MP3 with that zamzar thingy, but let me ask my question another way.

    When I did a recording with Instant Teleseminar and it's a 7.82mb size file, why, after I take it through Audacity and actually EDIT STUFF OUT does it come out of Audacity over 7 time bigger? (just shy of 42mb)

    That just doesn't compute in my brain. I use all the smallest setting and everything. Is there something else I can do to keep the files smaller?

    Does anyone do any recordings through Audacity for business purposes?
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    www.TopFitnessStrategies.com

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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Gosse
    Sometimes the bitrate you export to is higher then the original. This can cause bloated files.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
    Yes it does sound like a bitrate problem. If it is just talking 24 kb/sec is supposed to be good but sometimes I download mp3s that are over 100 kb/sec, like they are classical music for high end sound systems for people who don't use a gearing aid(!) I use Sony Sound Forge (on sale not long ago for about $50) to tune them down to 32 kb/sec. That makes a huge difference in file size.

    I haven't used audacity but expect you should be able to choose the bitrate somewhere in it.

    Good luck with all that.
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