Just A Minute

JAM Series | JAM Stats | JAM Today | JAM Group

<<<< 3150 >>>>

Incomplete shows

Messages in this topic: 1
BikerDonMay 23, 2009

The solution to edited show components having different volume levels is an easy one.

(Apologies in advance for the length of this email, but it's a pet subject of mine.)

But first my thoughts on editing mp3 files using free software for any of you that are 'not in the know'. There are many mp3 editors available commercially but my philosophy is 'why pay if you don't have to?'.

The easiest mp3 editor to use (in my opinion obviously) is Audacity BUT it converts mp3 files to an uncompressed format to edit them and then back to mp3, or whatever format you choose, when you save it. Obviously this will degrade the audio a little at each conversion. Not ideal.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

The second best mp3 editor I have found is mp3DirectCut. Not quite so intuitive to use but it edits the mp3 file still in mp3 format so no conversions which means no loss in audio quality.

http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html

OK so back to the original question about varying volume levels in edited files...

The solution is easy, once you have extracted the components from their parent files, before editing them together, run a little utility called MP3Gain on them. It normalises mp3 files to a constant volume level. I use it on all my recorded/downloaded radio programs and never have to move my volume control.

http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

It is smarter than most programs that attempt to do the same. The run-of-the-mill programs look through the file, make a note of the 'loudest' part and adjust the level of the entire file so that this loud part is at a standard level. OK so far but if the file has lots of low level stuff and one loud part (as in a loud cheer or clap etc) most of the file will be too low level.

MP3Gain analyses the entire source file and uses 'statistical analysis' (you don't need to know how this works, just press the button :o) to determine how loud the file 'sounds' to our ears and adjusts accordingly. Again, it does this all in mp3 format so no conversions to reduce quality

--
Cheers

Don __o
-\<,
..... O/ O

----- Original Message -----
From: Dean Bedford
To: just-a-minute@...
Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2009 6:46 AM
Subject: Re: [just-a-minute] Re: Two more editions of Just A Minute: #403 Sneezes & #417 The Boot

Matthew - thanks for the very kind comments. I have been called many
things but not inimitable before so thanks for that! It is good to see
Martin getting some credit for his work too.

On incomplete shows, it would be good to work on singling out the better
recordings of course. Can I just say that I encourage EVERYONE to upload
copies of your shows or links to them, even those in more recent times
as your copy may be better quality than those already uploaded.

I can only think of one radio edition and one TV edition where there is
any actual play missing. The radio one is the 1984 show "Marie Celeste"
345/18/5 where about 10 seconds of the first round are missing, so I
would think there are better editions around on most or all of these
other shows.

On a related issue, someone asked about cutting together different bits
of different shows either for quality reasons or because parts were
missing in one version. I had one show where the interference was REALLY
bad and when it was played here in NZ, I was looking forward to
recording a better version. Unfortunately there was a power cut and I
only managed to record the second half of it. I cut them together and it
did work and was better than the alternative. I'm not so sure about a
more patchwork effort but I'd say it could work if you could control the
levels - it would be exceptionally annoying if you were continually
having to turn the volume up and down.

Perhaps Martin or Emile or someone else will have some thoughts on these
issues that I think are very important.

Thanks again for posting Matthew - hope to see you posting again here
soon. :)

Dean

<<<< 3150 >>>>

Back to the Top

Message History

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2019	10	23	12	1	13	5	1	19	12	31	4	14
2018	4	7	21	8	9	37	9	5	19	25	5	14
2017	4	34	22	12	17	20	4	19	23	44	23	16
2016	13	49	39	57	60	87	10	32	24	12	9	23
2015	51	97	32	49	41	54	20	28	0	14	31	16
2014	9	75	68	33	28	33	52	82	51	32	38	79
2013	463	251	98	87	81	192	88	98	86	38	54	27
2012	92	121	180	199	125	88	71	155	118	166	125	144
2011	112	78	71	73	134	225	252	152	62	183	165	63
2010	142	117	153	94	69	49	69	183	82	71	68	75
2009	67	45	42	97	90	149	110	70	63	42	35	39
2008	200	120	175	120	70	109	87	115	71	45	58	38
2007	165	447	132	99	95	57	140	118	74	88	125	99