Bad Sound

[cgbraggjr]

Having my first go at building a slide show. The sound track, inserted in Project Options, is very quiet at the beginning and there is a lot (A LOT!!!) of background hiss, fuzz and scratching. I get this noise during Preview and in the compiled exe file too. However, when the same sound file is played through Windows Media Player, or Audacity, or Vegas, there is only a small amount of background hiss. I've tried this file in WMA, MP3, and WAV formats - no differences. Can anyone explain this for me?

Thanks - A.

[Alan Lyons]

Having my first go at building a slide show. The sound track, inserted in Project Options, is very quiet at the beginning and there is a lot (A LOT!!!) of background hiss, fuzz and scratching. I get this noise during Preview and in the compiled exe file too. However, when the same sound file is played through Windows Media Player, or Audacity, or Vegas, there is only a small amount of background hiss. I've tried this file in WMA, MP3, and WAV formats - no differences. Can anyone explain this for me?

Thanks - A.

If you have a silence in your track with just hiss/ noise you can use aduacity to sample and remove the noise. Dont remove it to zero as this will give a metalic sound to your overall track. The original cause of the sound is caused by a low sound to noise ratio on your sound card or by poor conections. I assume you record in Aduacity, if so make sure that your highest peak is up around -3db as this will give you some headroom before clipping. If there is not enough sound input then noise takes whats left. The reason why Windows Media Player, or Audacity, or Vegas, have a lower noise output is that they have their own controll over output. This can give a false idea of final level if not matched with your soundcard levels,

Have a look for "Creating Digital Music & Sound" by Chris Middleton published by Rotovision ISBN 2-940361-27-4 a very usefule book.

Alan

[cgbraggjr]

Alan - my point is that there is much more noise when playing this file through PTE than there is playing it through any other sound program on my computer. Something I neglected to mention in my first posting is also that the music itself is distorted. I understand about noise floors, but this is something different.

A.

[Lin Evans]

If you could post a link to this sound track as an mp3 some of us can check it for you and perhaps come up with a solution.

Best regards,

Lin

Alan - my point is that there is much more noise when playing this file through PTE than there is playing it through any other sound program on my computer. Something I neglected to mention in my first posting is also that the music itself is distorted. I understand about noise floors, but this is something different.

A.

[cgbraggjr]

OK, stop press, it's my computer sound driver(s). I took a PTE exe file to my wife's laptop and it played just fine, so I took another look at my computer. I use Total Recorder to capture audio streams, and when I disabled the Total Audio drivers and used the sound card's native driver, all problems disappeared.

Sorry to raise an issue that, as an experienced (although obviously, inexpert) Windoze user, I should have checked first. I was able to play all the PTE exe files I've downloaded from other users, so I did not suspect my computer. It's an interesting question as to why *my* files don't play back properly on *my* computer without futzing with drivers, but I'm not going to worry about it.

A.

[Alan Lyons]

OK, stop press, it's my computer sound driver(s). I took a PTE exe file to my wife's laptop and it played just fine, so I took another look at my computer. I use Total Recorder to capture audio streams, and when I disabled the Total Audio drivers and used the sound card's native driver, all problems disappeared.

Sorry to raise an issue that, as an experienced (although obviously, inexpert) Windoze user, I should have checked first. I was able to play all the PTE exe files I've downloaded from other users, so I did not suspect my computer. It's an interesting question as to why *my* files don't play back properly on *my* computer without futzing with drivers, but I'm not going to worry about it.

A.

It sounds Sorry like your problem is in the sound output part of the card if the file will play on another computer. Check the chain of conexions from card to speakers and try headphones also. You could also try hitting the thing with a big stick. It won't help the computer, but it is far cheaper than Valium