Captivate 4 - audio editing issue (distortion heard once published)

[AG-mox]

Hi -- I am working on a 17 minute movie with audio on each page (total project size about 60mb).  I recorded the audio outside of Captivate and imported the .wav files (for some reason the .mp3s sounded too tinny).  When I started the project in November I had no problem editing the files (removing sighs/pauses, inserting silences) and adding to the slides. 

For some reason in December I started running into issues.  I would go to edit a sound file on a slide, it sounded good when played back, but when I previewed or published the sound file I just edited it would have a layer of sound on top of it making it distorted.  Also, I no longer have the ability to add silence at the beginning and end of the audio file (which I was able to do in November).  I add it in edit mode, can see/hear the pause but when I save and close out those beginning and end silences disappear.

I just got final feedback and was making adjustments on two slides but the same thing happened.  The audio files I edited would sound distorted when played back in swf form.  The only way to save the project was for me to open an old archived version, export that audio, re-import to my production project and it worked fine.  But I cannot edit it in Captivate.  If I do, the distortion gets added.

I am publishing as audio quality: MP3, 96kpbs, 44.10 KHz.

Any thoughts?  I like to edit directly in Captivate and don't want to have to do the extra step of editing the audio in another application.

Thanks!

[HopeTC]

I am also hoping to get an answer to this, as I am experiencing the same issues. Distortion added (48Khz, 16000,  mono wav files) and unable to add silence to the beginning of audio.  I am running at Build 1596.

[AG-mox]

I am also on build 1596.  The problem is strange because everything was working perfectly and then just one day this issue appeared and has yet to be resolved.  I am now editing my audio files in Audacity and then importing into Captivate and just adjusting slide timing to the audio I imported.

I also found it helps that you set your project to the highest audio setting.  In Audio -> Settings... I set the Encoding Bitrate to CD 128 kbps and Encoding Frequency to 44.100 KHz.  I left Encoding Speed at 5.

Does anyone out there have any ideas on why this problem magically appeared and what we can do to fix it?

Thanks!

[Guest]

Hi folks,

I would strongly recommend that you update to build 1658 which is the latest build. You can do this by carrying out these steps.

1. Open Adobe Captivate
2. Choose Help > Update...

The 4.0.1 patch addresses a number of audio issues and might help in your situations.

Best - Mark

<a href="http://www.vtc.com/products/Adobe-Captivate-4-Tutorials.htm2"><strong>Learn Adobe Captivate - Online Training course</strong><p>
<a href="http://macrofireball.blogspot.com/"><strong>Visit the macrofireball blog</strong></a>

[AG-mox]

Thanks Mark.  The update did fix the warble-distortion issue.  But I still cannot add silence to the beginning or end of the audio.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

If you want to add silence at either end, your first step will need to be to position the playhead ever so slightly away from the true end or beginning. Otherwise, Captivate ever so helpfully discards the silence. So the silence needs to be inserted between the ambient noise.

Actually, this is a nice segue into a technique you may wish to use. Select a section of the ambient noise and paste it repeatedly. This will eliminate the "dead air" you hear with total silence. Sometimes inserting silence is one of those - "the cure is worse than the disease" sort of things.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Adobe Certified Captivate Training SorcerStone Blog Captivate eBooks

[Noel_Griffiths]

Hi Rick,

Like your suggestion about pasting in ambient noise in audio where to have added silence.

The sudden lack of audio noise is actually quite "loud"...

Nice idea, thanks.

Noel

Staffordshire

England

[shawninvancouver]

I have the latest build and my imported audio sounds terrible!

The original audio files are clean, no hiss, no distortion, however, when previewing or publishing the audio quality has greatly diminished.

What am I doing wrong?

It seems that the degradation occurs during the import from the original mp3 file. I have tried changing the encoding bitrate (even custom bitrate of 320kbps), Encoding frequency of 44.100 KHz, and an encoding speed of 0. BTW, none of these settings seem to make much difference.

What else can I try?

[mvlele]

Hi,

Please install the latest patch update for Adobe Captivate 4.

Launch Captivate 4 and go to menu item Help > Updates.

Download and install the update. Once done, launch Captivate and try publishing your content.

Hope this works.

-Mukul

[shawninvancouver]

Hello Mukul,

Thanks for your reply but I guess you missed that I already mentioned that I have the latest update (build 1658).

[mvlele]

Hi,

As you have mentioned original audio files are clear. Can you please check the audio quality once imported inside Captivate? Once imported play the audio file in library or in audio edit dialog.

Is the audio quality good while playing from these locations?

-Mukul

[shawninvancouver]

The audio degrades immediately upon import. Previewing the sound is also bad... it appears that importing resamples the audio at a VERY LOW bitrate.

But, like I said, I have changed the audio settings to even the highest available settings and noticed no difference.

Perhaps I am only changing the publishing audio settings??  Is some import audio setting that I am not aware of???

[mvlele]

I think if you have the same audio files in wav format, importing wav files should not create this issue.

Give it a try if possible.

Regards,

Mukul

[natwork]

Hello,

Has this issue been answered meanwhile ?

Importing WAV rather than MP3 did not solve the hissing problems in my Captivate 4 (built 1648, french) file.

Quality in original files before importing is good.

What else could I try ?

Thanks,

Nathalie

[fraserYT]

I'm having the same issue. I've patched to the latest version of Captivate 4 and have Audio which I have produced in Audacity. I've tried exporting the audio from Audacity both as WAV and MP3 and the same issue occurs either way.

The audio sounds great when exported from Audacity but as soon as it's imported to Captivate, it sounds like a mobile phone conversation on a bad signal.

I never used to have this problem. It just appeared one day and I've never been able to find out why. I've cranked the audio settings to the highest available but there's no difference between the lowest and highest settings as far as I can here. I'm assuming the audio settings control the output quality only, but my issue seems to be with the original importing of the audio not being of a high enough quality. Where, if possible, can I increase the quality of the audio import?