Leaderboard

Ralph, I also use Windows Media Player to rip tracks from CDs - but I rip to WAV format (which is also lossless). I try never to work with MP3 because this is a heavily compressed file format. If you load an MP3 file into a sound editor (in my case Audacity) do some edits on it and then export it as an MP3 file, you add a second lot of compression to the first. This can result in poor quality sound. If you rip the same file as a WAV, take that into such as Audacity, do the same edits and then export as a WAV, you preserve all the original sound quality. Before you download your tracks as MP3, check what bitrate they are going to be. Many downloadable tracks come as only 128kbps. To get sound quality close to that of WAV files (i.e. CD quality) you need 320kbps MP3s. Peter

PTE does not indicate visually what you want to see. PTE does not change the waveforms if you change the volumes via project options or envelopes, and you will not see what happens to the mixed soundtrack. There is a simple workaround to check the final mix: Export the show as a video (perhaps at a low video quality and low resolution in oder to have a quick result). Open the video as an audio clip in Audacity and see if there is any clipping. Regards, jt

In Audacity you could try Effect > Normalize on each clip and then export each clip to a new file. The Normalize effect will set the peak levels of all the clips to the same value (raising or lowering the level of the rest of each clip in proportion). Any significant difference between the clips after normalizing will be the natural dynamic within each of the clips.

i use a Vu meter For example: http://www.vuplayer.com/other.php Denis

Clipping on a waveform indicates that the sound file has been badly engineered. Usually it indicates that the original signal has been recorded at too high a level. Alternatively it can indicate that the gain has been raised to too high a level during mixing. There is no cure for clipping once it exists. It has to be avoided at every phase of the sound engineering process. It is usually accompanied by audible distortion of the sound. This may not be apparent on typical PC loudspeakers but will almost always be apparent on good quality hi-fi loudspeakers. If you have not altered these files with a sound editor (e.g. Audacity or Audition or equivalent) then the original recordings have been badly handled but the original sound engineers. One final point. PTE does not change the shape of the displayed waveform to reflect any of the changes (fades or envelopes) that you might apply to the audio clip. It always shows the original waveform. regards, Peter

No screen shot?