2 Replies Latest reply: Apr 8, 2009 6:35 AM by TPrentiss RSS

    Tin Can Voice

    Rich146 Community Member
      I posted this to the Flash General Forum and wanted to post here for more input since you all are probably more sound focused.

      I am doing some education naration and no matter what I do I still get the "tin can" effect.
      Could you please listen to my narration and look at my methodology? The narrated file is at richgilman.com (or http://216.219.188.90/).

      My Methodology:
      1. Record in Adobe Soundbooth CS3 at 96k htz (sounds great)
      2. Save as mp3 24kbs/sec, Best Quality, Mono (sounds great)
      3. Import to flash with these settings: mp3, 24kps, Quality Best.
      4. Publish: Audio Stream MP3, 24 kbps, mono.

      The one curious issue I see is with the Sound Properties in Flash which says at the bottom "24 kbps Mono 247.6kB, 13.6% of original" WHY WOULD IT BE 13.6% OF ORIGINAL WHEN THE ORIGINAL IMPORT IS A SMALL MP3? (this can be seen on the web link richgilman.com)

      Thank you for your time.

      Rich Gilman
      richgilman.com
        • 1. Re: Tin Can Voice
          _durin_ Employee Hosts
          Hi Rich,

          I'm not a Flash guru, but the screenshots you show look like it's recompressing your mp3 file. The source file is 1820.2K, and it looks like, after recompressing that file with the settings you have there, it's going to shrink to around 247.6K, or a 13.6% reduction in file size. That is also probably the reason for the tin-can effect - if you listen to "full_pulse_arrest_01.mp3" in an audio player, it probably sounds pretty good. But it's going through a second compression process, which is going to degrade the data significantly at those settings.

          I think you can set that Compression: dropdown to "Default" and it will just use the original source file without any additional compression applied.

          That's my best guess as to what's happening. Hopefully, the folks in the Flash forum have more specific information for you.

          Durin
          • 2. Re: Tin Can Voice

            We've gotten rid of tin can voice by building an inexpensive portable sound booth. It cost around $35 for the acoustic foam and a collapsible fabric cube.

             

            See Harlan Hogan's instructions here: http://digitalprosound.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=89503

             

            When I go back to previous training to add a slide, I can't believe how tinny the sound was, even though I was using a Snowball USB mic from www.bluemic.com. Using the portabooth, my voice is much richer. Might be worth a try.

             

            Tim Prentiss

            tim@stayhomecollege.com