I followed the directions on ohnosec for using audacity for recording audio files. I use them as tail messages and that works fine. The audio quality however is eh so-so and I feel it could be better. I know one thing the normalize feature called for -6 and I ended up bumping it to 0 db just so it could be more audible.
Is there anyone willing to share their experiences? It seems from listening to traffic on allstar the quality of messages could be better.
The audio quality over a 5kc bandwidth-limited repeater at an 8 kc sampling rate is never going to sound like a broadcast FM station (most of them sound like crap anyway), especially if you are using a pc microphone on a $20 headset you’d use for skype or echolink.
···
You have to start with high quality audio and downsample; going the other way isn’t going to get you what you want.
The Allison files included with the release are only 8kc samples. And they sound fine. As does William, etc. if you’ve paid the license fee to cepstral.
So, what are you looking for? Loudness or clarity? Loudness you can fix with Audacity; clarity (or fidelity) can’t be created in an 8kc sample rate unless it was there to begin with; IOW you can’t put in what wasn’t there from the start, and current PC-grade mics are not the way to go, neither is starting from mp3 files or other lossy codecs.
Maybe I’m lucky in that I have a recording studio and pro audio equipment at my disposal, as well as contacts with pro radio and TV voice artists…but I’ve heard great amateur announcements done with simple mixers and a decent Heil or Electro Voice mic, recorded into a wav file, edited, then downsampled to work in Allstar as per the directions in the archive.
But, the beginning HAS to start with the best quality and go down from there, not start with low quality and try and go up.
–
Bryan
Sent from my iPhone 6S…No electrons were harmed in the sending of this message.
On Jan 18, 2016, at 10:16, Robert Newberry N1XBM@amsat.org wrote:
I followed the directions on ohnosec for using audacity for recording audio files. I use them as tail messages and that works fine. The audio quality however is eh so-so and I feel it could be better. I know one thing the normalize feature called for -6 and I ended up bumping it to 0 db just so it could be more audible.
Is there anyone willing to share their experiences? It seems from listening to traffic on allstar the quality of messages could be better.
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To answer your question I want loudness and clarity. I think I know how to fix loudness since that was the first problem I noticed with my first recording.
If I read your email right maybe I am approaching this wrong because I am recording at 8000hz 16 bit. Maybe I should be recording at a higher bit and sample rate and then go from there? I have a half way decent headset to use with my flex radio for remote operations.
I guess I misunderstood those directions I found on ohnosec. You can hear the announcements it’s just that it sounds muddy and you have to focus on what is being said. I think getting more clarity will fix the problem.
I find that boosting the high and mids before converting it to 8khz really helps with clarity
Kd0whb
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On Jan 18, 2016, at 09:13, Robert Newberry N1XBM@amsat.org wrote:
Byran,
To answer your question I want loudness and clarity. I think I know how to fix loudness since that was the first problem I noticed with my first recording.
If I read your email right maybe I am approaching this wrong because I am recording at 8000hz 16 bit. Maybe I should be recording at a higher bit and sample rate and then go from there? I have a half way decent headset to use with my flex radio for remote operations.
I guess I misunderstood those directions I found on ohnosec. You can hear the announcements it’s just that it sounds muddy and you have to focus on what is being said. I think getting more clarity will fix the problem.
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I can only suggest for the way most of you create messages,
That you start with a high quality recording i.e. high bandwidth on a full flavored
format recording.
Convert to formats of your systems capability and desire from there.
If you start with a low quality format recording and convert it to anything, you
will never like the result.
...mike/kb8jnm
···
Byran,
To answer your question I want loudness and clarity. I think I know how to
fix loudness since that was the first problem I noticed with my first
recording.
If I read your email right maybe I am approaching this wrong because I am
recording at 8000hz 16 bit. Maybe I should be recording at a higher bit and
sample rate and then go from there? I have a half way decent headset to use
with my flex radio for remote operations.
I guess I misunderstood those directions I found on ohnosec. You can hear
the announcements it's just that it sounds muddy and you have to focus on
what is being said. I think getting more clarity will fix the problem.
To unsubscribe from this list please visit http://ohnosec.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users and scroll down to the
bottom of the page. Enter your email address and press the "Unsubscribe or edit
options button"
You do not need a password to unsubscribe, you can do it via email confirmation. If
you have trouble unsubscribing, please send a message to the list detailing the
problem.