Adobe Community: Message List - How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 05:52:07 GMT

I've ran across this thread a few times in the past, researching how to change the default "save as" format, and thought the same thing about Bob's replies.

Quite simply, I think the misunderstanding is most of us are not editing .MP3's numerous times. We record as .WAV and save as .MP3's. I know that I record directly into Audition, which could be TV audio, voice work, guitar, etc., I then edit and then save the mix-down to an .MP3, which is then emailed out so radio stations have access to the clips. (I work for a radio prep service.)

I realize this feature request seems small to some, but to me it was a big deal. I still use Audition 1.5 99% of the time because of this missing feature. I usually only switch to 6 to take advantage of the auto crossfading as that makes short work of some of the editing I need to do.

After reading the later replies I think by creating a couple of shortcuts I can do what I need to do. I just did a quick "Ctl-A" to "Select All" and then a "Ctl-S" to "Save Selection As" and it seems to work fine.

Bob, I realize a few seconds, and a few extra clicks, isn't a big deal to most people, but I went back and looked, in the last 10 years I've recorded / edited / saved and sent over 61,000 clips, so, yes, while those few seconds do make a difference, more than that, those few less mouse clicks will cause less damage on someone like me that has serious repetitive stress injures from doing their job.

AudioGuru

P.S. Thanks Adobe for putting this on the radar.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 02:27:24 GMT

I've read this entire thread (many months after it was launched) because I, too, was searching for the obvious default so many have been clamoring for. I appreciate the suggestions of a workaround, but find myself stunned at the oddness of Bob's arguments.

Does he have some sort of authority in the Audition world? If so, I can't fathom being on the receiving end of so many clear consumer requests for something simple, and repeatedly replying to those requests by essentially questioning the knowledge/ability of the consumers.

Bob, it would be immensely simpler to create an update, share the plug-in, and have everyone happy. Those who choose not to use it, wouldn't. The rest of us would face the oh-so-perilous journey of working with mp3.

What am I missing here?

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 09:23:19 GMT

w0lfling wrote:

Since most media is moving from AAC and MP3 to FLAC, it'd be great to have a setup where I could either live record to FLAC, or auto convert all the WAV files to FLAC on first save.

It sounds as though it would make sense to add this to the Export options. Audition could only ever live-record to its internal working format, and that's only available in multitrack mode anyway. But some means of establishing a default Export option and having a single keystroke to activate it does seem like a reasonable option, considering all of the previous discussion in the thread.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 05:03:12 GMT

I have a completely different reason for asking this thread's question; storage.

We have the need for lossless editing, yes, so MP3 is not an option except for distribution. BUT, we are a donation-based organisation where everything is distributed free. We have to save up to buy DIs, let alone more storage. So with the amount of recording we do (twice a day) 0.5GB per track on a 17-track recording and have to archive everything. So that's a lot of wasted space using WAV files. Since most media is moving from AAC and MP3 to FLAC, it'd be great to have a setup where I could either live record to FLAC, or auto convert all the WAV files to FLAC on first save.

Reaper does this, but we can't afford to retrain everyone to use it. At the moment, though, it looks like we might have to.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 15:01:41 GMT

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 11:47:35 GMT

Bringing back scripting in Audition, with file operations included this time (unlike the otherwise earlier AA 3 scripting functions), would allow those who need to customise Audition much more freedom to do so to their own requirements without having to wait for the Adobe development cycle to incorporate new features.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 05:20:39 GMT

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 03:40:42 GMT

Hmmm...mention of Photoshop gives me an idea.

Photoshop has three save options: Save, Save As and (well separated from the other two) a Save For Web option which defaults to JPEG or GIF. This remembers your last settings and keeps using them until you change something.

I wonder if something like this could work in Audition...it gives the default option some need but also protects those of us who DON'T want to save to MP3 the protection of it being a separate command rather than just a default option on the normal ones.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 22:29:27 GMT

Yes, restoring the option that used to be there for every version up until late.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 21:27:09 GMT

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 19:57:58 GMT

I will say, I was up in arms when "Burn to CD" tab was taken out. The amount of clients/Account Executives who would ask for it to be on CD was huge. However, I haven't had to send someone a CD in a very long time since they have been getting it immediately emailed to them. Albiet lossless, it isn't a huge file that needs to go through someone else's email. So there has been some, "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING TAKING THAT OUT!!!?" that really hasn't mattered. Just this one issue we are talking about here. :-D thanks for looking into it.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 19:37:12 GMT

Applications such as Photoshop default to lossless, uncompressed formats for new files. Only if you open a JPEG and don't add layers or other unsupported functions does "File > Save" write a JPEG by default. Microsoft Word doesn't default to TXT when you hit Save. It's a very common approach to make certain the default format doesn't lose any data and continues to be editable.

But as we've discussed, there is obviously a demand for the option to override these defaults, so we'll be taking a look at how to best approach this. Thanks again to everyone for the perspectives.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 19:23:38 GMT

Yes, it's got to be difficult to developers to be sure. I can only imagine if somebody using photography software that it would only save to "TIFF" and never to JPG. (unless you took additional steps) That would certainly cause an uproar. I'm sure the devs have a lot to juggle, but it's safe to say this was a dropped ball. Nice to know they are listening.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 18:36:45 GMT

It's very difficult. The devs learned years ago that dropping or altering even the most obscure features in Audition would cause somebody, somewhere, to complain like stink about it. Which can make implementing features rather difficult, especially when their workings impinge on other features, which have also to be revised. This really came to a head with 5.5, where there were some stark choices to be made about what there was time to include in a working, stable release with an absolute time constraint on it. Audition 3 was arguably the most 'complete' version there's been up to now, but this is getting harder to argue when more, and different, features get added to newer releases.

I think that for myself, a lot of these problems could be solved simply by extending the Settings feature to include more options, especially ones that people complain about. And yes, you could include default pathways and save formats in this quite easily, I would have thought. That way everybody might be happy...

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 18:20:03 GMT

_durin_ wrote:

We haven't been ignoring this conversation! I've added the notes to our feature record, and I think it's certainly bumped the priority up a bit. Thanks to everyone for the detailed workflows and stories supporting the request - these are very valuable to the process.

Well that's a relief. I'm glad I brought the dead topic back to life! To put it bluntly, workflow is life and to throw a few extra steps in it just causes more stress that isn't necessary. I myself do a lot of production but I'm also the IT Administrator. In my lifecylce of audio editors I've seen some really great features out of all of them but Cool Edit was always the one for me and many others. However, with my situation I understand that software changes and so does workflow. Now, try explaining that to people who just don't care and have the same amount of work as I do but don't care about all the fancy features that AA6 can do. They want Cool Edit back. Out of the 3-4 people who I have given AA6 to, only 1 person uses it exclusively. The rest sneek through our Nexgen system and use the Cool Edit that was installed on those systems instead. This, also a bigger issue with the fact that I bought 4 licenses and only ONE IS BEING USED!

Just another point of view to consider.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 22:50:16 GMT

"Unfortunately it isn't a secret. It never made it across from AA3"

ARRRGH!! Really?? So sad. My pitiful workaround has been to build some useful commands in Favorites, map them to function keys then play a "glissando" up the F-keys. Well, I guess in this metaphor it's more like playing an arpeggio, tapping out a quick sequence of semi-automated steps.

On some days, though, the more accurate F-key pseudo-script metaphor would be "throwing softballs at stacked milk bottles in a carnival." I know what I want to accomplish, but I don't have the skills and the game seems rigged!

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 21:38:52 GMT

We haven't been ignoring this conversation! I've added the notes to our feature record, and I think it's certainly bumped the priority up a bit. Thanks to everyone for the detailed workflows and stories supporting the request - these are very valuable to the process.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 21:03:06 GMT

BitBangBoom wrote:

Another tale of genuine business pain caused by the loss of a user-defined default save format: Et seq.

Well as I said before, some thought should be given by the devs to an acceptable workaround as far as exporting is concerned. And hopefully, one of the devs will read about your situation, and take some notice.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 20:41:51 GMT

Another tale of genuine business pain caused by the loss of a user-defined default save format:

Audition is the editor recommended by Wide Orbit for radio stations that use their audio server system. After customization, Audition will show a new special format in the Save dialogue. It's a version of lossless PCM WAV; I'll refer to it here as WO WAV. When chosen, it triggers a plugin that writes a special header into the saved file. That was simple under AA3—just save. The WO WAV format was the default.

After the upgrade to version 6, we had to teach my staff to jump through the extra hoops we've been discussing in this thread. Many are inexperienced part-time operators who are following a recipe for loading files. But no matter your skill level, you can get tripped up by this new flaw—

If you accidentally forget to switch to the special WO WAV format, your save will fail, and nothing in the system will warn you of that failure. It gets worse. If any one of the dialogue settings is off, the save will fail without warning. (And on our workstations, if the bit depth is set to 24, the application will crash.)

The save operation appears to work. You may not know that anything went wrong until the next day when your new commercial simply doesn't play on the radio. (And you might not even know about THAT until the NEXT day when you get a failure report and an email from an angry salesperson.)

It's just too much room for human error. Every new potential mistake in the workflow multiplies the chances of final failure—and Audition 6 introduces three failure points that didn't exist under AA3. This is not a theoretical problem. We've learned to cope with it, but the lessons were not without significant cost.

To be clear: I love Audition. And I am certain this problem will disappear. Eventually the devs on both teams will work out a way to prevent operators from loading incorrect files…or will at least throw a warning on the screen. But for now, our only defense is enhanced diligence.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 18:52:44 GMT

I really think one has to walk in somebody elses shoes. Again, if you bought a new car and if it took 2 steps to turn on the wipers instead of 1 step (and every car you bought before had just 1 step to turn on the wipers) it's not the time of 2 or 3 seconds to turn the wipers on. Time has nothing to do with it. I record between 60 to 80 single mp3 projects a day. Lets go back to the car illustration, that means it would rain on you 60 to 80 times a day with your 2 step process to turn the wiper blades on each time. You know every car you owned beforehand only had 1 step, you would get pretty disgusted in the new 2 step process, even if it only added a couple seconds each time. You probably would want to go out and buy a new car. (if the car didn't cost $20,000 that is)

So please, let's extinguish time as the culprit here. It's not about 3 seconds. It's about convenience and what the end user wants and needs. (and at one time had)

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 09:21:47 GMT

Bob Howes wrote:

Finally, I just did a test and, with the default as wave, it just took me under 3 seconds and 2 extra clicks to "Save As" my wave file as an MP3. I can see this being in the "minor annoyance" category if you're doing a bunch of short recordings every day--but I find it hard to believe that anyone is so booked up and busy that 2 seconds per save is the difference between delivering on time or not.

Quite... and I thought that everybody working at this level knew about the keyboard shortcuts. But there again, if people are having to keep their noses absolutely to the grindstone every single second of the day, then maybe they never get the time to discover them!

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 04:31:52 GMT

Melissa_Voicer wrote:

It's very simple: because the CLIENT asked for it! You can save the original wavs if you feel there will be cause for revision later, but ultimately, you do what the person who pays you wants you to do.

For the record, although I've had clients request DELIVERY as an MP3 (and these requests are getting few and far between) I've never once had a client ask me to produce in MP3.

I find it hard to believe that people are using a programme as expensive and capable as Audition to simple record then deliver an MP3 without any processing whatsoever. However, this being the case, maybe some form of option to set your default to MP3 would be the solution. However, I'd want it very hidden and failsafe to prevent me from accidentally enabling this option during the production process. That's the rub--a default is a default and Audition can't know whether you're saving an intermediate step (which should be in wave) or a final product (that you might want as MP3).

Finally, I just did a test and, with the default as wave, it just took me under 3 seconds and 2 extra clicks to "Save As" my wave file as an MP3. I can see this being in the "minor annoyance" category if you're doing a bunch of short recordings every day--but I find it hard to believe that anyone is so booked up and busy that 2 seconds per save is the difference between delivering on time or not.

As others have said, an interesting discussion.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 01:03:47 GMT

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 22:36:33 GMT

BitBangBoom wrote:

(I still haven't found the secret scripting language, if it still exists in Aud6.)

Unfortunately it isn't a secret. It never made it across from AA3 to the newly coded CS 5.5, CS 6 or CC.

I blame it all on Mac users also wanting a version of Audition which we PC users had used so successfully up until then.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 20:42:45 GMT

Twisted Wave…hmm, can run in a browser?? Cool. Looks good.

I admit, the loss of a user-defined default save format KILLED me. I couldn't believe it. That's what brought me to this forum in the first place; I was certain I was just looking in the wrong place. The workarounds saved the day.

The jump from Aud3 to 6 is huge. I still haven't figured out looping on this new version, because I don't need it that often. I'm glad to know this community exists. I'll be back with questions, I'm sure.

Marty Bishop

on iPhone

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 19:39:10 GMT

Agreed on a great thread. One where you can agree on everybodies point. Especially the last couple of of comments like yours that give some degree of direction for people. Everybodys needs are different here, and if a program is to be for the majority of users it should probably have features that compliment that. CS.6 has so many features it will pratically bake a cake for you. Features that some of us will never use or have heard of. Default saving is a biggie. You have found some workarounds for your production which is good. My path of least resistance was purchasing a program called twisted wave. How I save now:

Step one: Hit the "A" key (assigned to be "save as")

Step two: There is no step 2. It defaults to my last setting.

OK, I'm lying now. I do have to put a name on it and hit save again so I'm exaggerating but you get my point, it's simple, for a simple guy like me.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 18:13:20 GMT

This has been a fun thread to follow! Not only because it's so, um, lively, but because I have empathy for everyone here, and have found myself agreeing with each argument. In a single day I might have to harangue new employees—perhaps a little too passionately—about the evils of recording and editing your work files in MP3…then turn around and hammer out a string of MP3 voiceovers without bothering with an intermediate save…then store a dozen mixdowns in a format that is NOT Aud6's unchangeable default

So I feel your pain.

The change to Audition 6 killed me. So much of my Aud3 workflow was rendered useless. Adobe says my custom presets should have transferred, but I couldn't make it work; I had to rebuild dozens of presets and Favorites. (I still haven't found the secret scripting language, if it still exists in Aud6.) Plus, my new workstations are incredibly crashy. I won't even start to get into that nightmare here.

I guess I should probably get around to having a point. I've got two: First, I eventually learned keyboard shortcuts that solved my default format problem and let me work really fast. Let me share one more. In Prefs, I mapped a key combo that existed in Aud3; it creates a mixdown of a multitrack session that is NOT named or saved anywhere. (Why? Because I don't want to save it in Audition's default format, which is what the traditional Mixdown command does. My unsaved mixdown is a way to intercept the file before it gets committed, and during this interception stage I can use other commands to save it in MY preferred format.)

So here's what happens when I'm satisfied with my session, in rapid sequence:

ctrl-alt-shift-M (mixdown but no save)

ctrl-A (select all)

ctrl-alt-S (Save Selection As, described in an earlier post)

Type filename for my WAV

Enter to save

(OPTIONAL EXTRAS)

ctrl-shift-E (to Export, which is set as high-quality MP3 for distribution.)

Type name

Enter to save

ctrl-shift-E again

tab-arrow in dialogue (to change save location and to alter the bitrate for a much crummier, lo-fi "listening copy" that's too ugly to steal.)

Type name (appending “for approval only")

Enter to save

Wow—looks like a lot, when I write it all down. But honestly, it takes just seconds. I can automate with Batch, but for a single finished file, this is just as fast and happens now by muscle memory.

I said I had another point, too, and it's this: I want to say thank you to all of you who have contributed to this thread. It's been enlightening and entertaining. I'm glad I stumbled across this feisty smart crowd.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 12:47:15 GMT

It's very simple: because the CLIENT asked for it! You can save the original wavs if you feel there will be cause for revision later, but ultimately, you do what the person who pays you wants you to do.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 07:06:45 GMT

Bob Howes wrote:

I don't want to be contentious...I know everybody's needs are different. However, I have a question for all of you who record then save straight to MP3 for the client: why are you using a programme like Audition?

I get what you are saying Bob and this has nothing to do with the audio that I create with Audition. In my case, it's a saved session. If the session has no changes then I dub the session live into our Audio Server to be played. I save said MP3 for the client to hear. Two completely different situations here. It's not a matter of "OMG THIS SOUND LIKE AN MP3!" because it honestly doesn't matter. It's going over FM air waves and most won't hear the difference anyways. Especially through their post process $50 deck they bought from WalMart.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 07:00:52 GMT

You see Steve, this is what is called useful help. Thank you Marty for this. I'll give it a try on Monday and see if I can make this a routine of mine. Mostly just export probably.

but I think that some consideration might be given to an easy MP3 export option for those who claim to have zero time available for anything during their working day...

Are you kidding me? How much work do you do in a day. It's not a matter of claiming to have zero time, it's wanting to put that extra bit of time I could have spent doing a better job on a spot.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 06:09:05 GMT

I'd like to share a fast trick for getting your files saved the way you want them, with the same format and settings every time. It only adds one keystroke to your workflow. Instead of ctrl-S to Save, do this:

crtl-A (to Select All, highlighting the entire recording)

ctrl-alt-S (to Save Selection As…)

That's it. That's the whole trick. The first time you Save Selection As, you'll need to define your preferred settings in the dialogue. Apparently MP3, for a lot of you here. From then on, Save Selection As will default to those settings. (It remembers the last settings you chose for SSA. So don't ever change them.)

That's not the same behavior as Save, which defaults to the format you just opened, or Save As, which defaults to standard PCM WAV.

You can take this one step further. My required format is a specialized type of WAV that triggers a plugin. But I also frequently need to make mp3 copies of the same finished file. For that I choose Export, which is ctrl-shift-E. (I'm doing this from memory, so I may be mistaken on the keystroke!) Just as SSA will retain settings from the last SSA, Export will remember settings from the previous export. As long as I don't change anything, that's always MP3. I can tab-arrow in the dialogue box to change the bitrate if I want.

A typical session ends with a mixdown followed by these rapid keystrokes:

ctrl-A

ctrl-alt-S

Type filename (for WAV)

Enter

ctrl-shift-E

Type name (for MP3)

Enter

Two files, saved to two different drives in different formats, in a couple of seconds. Not quite as fast as the selectable default format I had in Audition 3. But I'm more than happy to trade that for time compression across entire groups of clips. That is just miraculous. That and the ability to change one clip without ungrouping and tediously regrouping. Why, it's changed my life.

Marty Bishop

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:34:40 GMT

Excellent. That could be a workaround for those that wish for a way to default their saves. Nice of you to suggest that!

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:22:27 GMT

OK, I understand.

Just been having a play in CS6 and if you use Export File instead of Save As then it does remember the format between closing and reopening Audition. Also it is available as a Keyboard Shortcut so it could be made very quick and easy. Hope this might help.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:11:41 GMT

MP3's go out all day. Can't save morning mp3's to be batched in the afternoon. All time sensitive. When they are done, they need to get to their destination asap.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:07:44 GMT

Or safely save them all as .wav by default and use the Batch Process to save them all out as .mp3. You then have a safety .wav uncompressed back up file should you need to go back to any of them in the future.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 12:49:47 GMT

but I think that some consideration might be given to an easy MP3 export option for those who claim to have zero time available for anything during their working day...

You are correct Steve. Think of it this way. When you turn the wipers on in your car you twist the handle on the steering wheel. Now you buy the same type car, newer model, and you have to always open the glove box FIRST then twist the knob on the steering wheel to get the wipers to work. Nobody dies. It takes but just 3 seconds to open the glovebox. How much time does it take to do that really, and why lose sleep over it.

But then again, how would one feel having to go thru that hokey pokey motion just to do something each time? That's the rub. Which by the way, if my illustration with rain was like voiceovers, I would be turning my wipers on about 60 times in one day. That's a lot of glove compartment openings lol.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 12:44:25 GMT

Actually Bob, it's not contentious and a good question. I can only speak for myself but I'm certain many have followed my footsteps. Being in radio and voiceovers for a long time, back in the 90's we looked for a program that could do production and v/o editing. The program was called "Cool Edit" by Syntrillium. I used that for years until finally Adobe purchased Syntrillium. Then I upgraded to Adobe Audition 1.0. Then 1.5. 2.0. Then 3.0. Then finally CS.5. Every time I bought the program it allowed me to have a default save until the latest version. What a company wants is a loyal customer that continues to open their wallet over and over again. That was me. Now, because a decision was made, for whatever reason, not to include a default save, Adobe has pushed me to, yes, get another program which is not Adobe. Now I am pleased with that program and while I still have CS.5 I probably won't consider a future program from Adobe. Perhaps a audio programmer said "hey, the end user should NEVER default to mp3, that's not good for them". I don't know if that's true or not, but the reality is it forces people like me to look elsewhere.

And that's not good for the people that make the software.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 09:28:25 GMT

charlieboy808 wrote:

I think a lot of the people in favor or the WAV setting are completely missing the point.

No, we heard the point, for what it's worth. Still don't want anything like MP3 as a default, but I think that some consideration might be given to an easy MP3 export option for those who claim to have zero time available for anything during their working day...

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 09:25:43 GMT

I don't want to be contentious...I know everybody's needs are different. However, I have a question for all of you who record then save straight to MP3 for the client: why are you using a programme like Audition?

Audition is an extremely capable audio editor and comes into its own when you're editing together multiple takes, applying EQ, adding compression, limiting or any of hundreds of other processes. If doing any of that, you need to be in wave.

If you genuinely don't do any of that, then a bit of free ware like Audacity or even Windows recorder is completely capable of doing a recording and saving to MP3.

That's the bit I don't understand. I've recorded thousands of hours of voice overs in my day and never not needed to do at least some processing before it was finished.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 04:40:35 GMT

I think a lot of the people in favor or the WAV setting are completely missing the point. The fact that it isn't an option is really annoying. I myself need to go through thousands of voice tracks that I'm sent on a regular basis, add a beds, SFX, and any other bells and whistles to make a spot. Once I'm done with this it is either dubbed straight into our audio server to be played on air or (and this is the key feature right here) saved as an MP3 to be given to the client through email. Every time I have to click through to get to the BOTTOM of the list to get to MP3, I'm wasting time that could be spent on the next element. Am I exporting the entire session to WAV? Nope, I just save the session. If there are changes because (and most people in spot production understand this) the client has a change, I just open the session. I am a very keyboard intensive worker and so far the only things that have helped me save time is tabbing to file type, hit "End", and then Up on the keyboard. HOWEVER, you can't just push "Enter" from there, you would then need to Shift+Tab up to the directory field or tab all the way to save on the bottom of the pop-up menu.

I don't care what the Pro-WAV format people have to say. It's not a matter of quality to some of us, it's a matter of time that we don't have.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 20:27:26 GMT

To my knowlege there has been no attempt to update CS6 to default to whatever standard you want it to be. Perhaps somebody here has learned of it, but I've contacted Adobe and nothing yet. I feel your pain. My workaround was to purchase another program, which I'm sure is not in Adobe's master plan. But you and I need to be productive and your 7 step scenario as opposed to 1 step sounds worse than cumbersome and more like impossible to translate to your staff. Especially since CS6 will do just about everything under the sun! Not having an opportunity to have a default save is like missing turn signals on a car for heavy producers.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:51:24 GMT

Well, this is a bit heartbreaking. We're jumping from Aud 3.0 to Aud 6.0. I'm working with a test machine before rolling it out to staff, and was dumbfounded when I could see no apparent way to set a default save format. If I understand the discussion here, this was a design decision by Adobe.

Has anyone found a workaround? If you primarily save to one specific format, can you tell me how this has affected your workflow? Advice, anyone?

If Adobe is reading this, count me in with the many producers who are disappointed by the disappearance of the default format prefs screen. Here's why: Ordinarily, there are only two formats I use. One is a custom WAV format, 44.1kbps, 16 bits. It triggers a special plug-in that writes a custom header. When it was set as the default, then my Save operation involved a single keystroke.

But now it seems I have to run the gauntlet of a Save dialogue with multiple pull-down menus. Worse, I have to teach my staff, many of whom have very limited experience, to ALWAYS look at EVERY menu in that dialogue and select the same ones. A wrong setting in bit-depth, samplerate or channel number will NOT trigger a warning—but the exported file will later fail in our playback system. My one-click operation is now a several-click operation, with several areas for error to creep in. Adobe, really?

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 23:24:08 GMT

Hi - I appreciate the concerns about preserving audio fidelity and accidents, however..

My workflow has slowed down after "upgrading" from Audition 2 to the lastest CS5.5 due to the lack of presets - both for Save As as well as Export As...

Could you not at least provide us this option so that if we choose to use other formats, it doesn't slow us down..

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:54:55 GMT

Usually the way we work it is we save it to the cloud or server as an mp3 and the client downloads it. If they lose a copy they can simply go back to the cloud or server and download another mp3 copy. Again, no need to save as a .wav since that would be another step we don't have to take.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:37:22 GMT

Still I would always keep a .wav safety copy for some time afterwards in case anybody came back wanting changes or lost their .mp3 copy.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:02:21 GMT

Yup. That makes more sense. The work I do involves churning out the "finished product" rather than just a raw voice. I'm adding music, effects, etc. etc. in multiple stages.

The one comment I'd make is that, if there's ever a chance that you do several sequential recordings, save them, then go back and do your editing, I'd still not use MP3 for the initial recording. However, if you record, edit, then go back and save every time then your request makes total sense.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:41:00 GMT

Thanks for explaining.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:56:22 GMT

We are doing the same things you are, just not processing after the fact (we usually have our pre-amps set "once and done" or clients require a "no processing" completely dry read)...we also rarely add music or sound effects. This is why we are able to complete our edit in "one pass/one save." The editing we do is to eliminate second takes, remove breaths, adjust spacing, etc. In other words, we are only saving to a lossy format one time...and that is required by (most of) our clients.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:33:23 GMT

Yes we edit. As Melissa said, we "eliminate breaths" or "adjust spacing" so a hand held recorder wouldn't work.

Re: How to change the default audio filetype in CS5.5?

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:21:55 GMT

Are you actually doing any editing on these VO files before saving them as .mp3s ie. just using Audition as a recorder? If you aren't editing why not record them straight to .mp3 using something like a Zoom H4n.