MP3 export problem ...please help

[Lanois WannaB]

I am having a problem while exporting MP3s. I need to export a piece of audio that loops seemlessly to be used in Flash. Every time I export to MP3, the file has .036 seconds of blank audio on either end, thus making the loop not seemless. Why does this happen and how can I avoid this? I tried exporting w/o tag information and the same thing happens. Any help would be appreciated.

[Lanois WannaB]

bump

[SoundWrangler]

Funny timing—I was just ranting to someone about this last night!
If you have access to a copy of Flash (there are 30-day timeout demo versions available on Macromedia's site, although lately their Mac downloaders for the "Try It" version seem to be broken somehow), it does the compression without busting your loops (you'll have to learn about its conversion options; they're extremely anti-quality if you don't change the defaults). On most recent Flash-based projects, I've left this in the author's hands, & tried to terrorize them sufficiently about audio quality, that they change the default audio conversion settings to something that won't completely trash the full-res WAV/AIF files I submit.

Doing MP3 conversion in iTunes 4.7.1, the zero value samples introduced at the beginning of the resultant MP3 file amount to 50 milliseconds—a huge gaping hole if you're trying to create a smooth loop; right?

Similar results with the PT MP3 option—which I imagine is what you've been trying?

Audacity (great little stereo edit program; free/groupware; you can download the LAME encoder Lib so that it does MP3 conversions & it even supports VST plug-ins—power to the people!) unfortunately produces similar problems: 25 ms of blank space at the beginning of your converted MP3 file.

Can anybody confirm how the latest version of Peak Pro does with this—similar gaps at the beginning? (Even though that's a lotta dough, just to achieve an MP3 conversion that doesn't bust your loops.)

In short, anybody who can suggest a Mac-based MP3 conversion option that doesn't wreck your loops by introducing blank space at the beginning of the resultant file (short of buying into a fully functional version of Flash solely for this purpose), we're gonna toast your health!

[Lanois WannaB]

Well......that really sucks. So are you saying this is a Mac Thing? Will this happen if I do it on the dark side(Audition on a PC)? This is such crap. I have a project for a museum that needs to have seemless MP3s. When I take my rig up there to do on-site fixes....I will not be able to make seemless audio? Digi please let me know where you stand on this. Are you working on this? Have you even addressed this? Damn I am really pissed about this. They make you pay $20 for the option and it doesn't work the way you need it to. DIGI please fix this!!!!!!!!!!

[SoundWrangler]

Yeah.... But for now, you're working with Flash folks, right? Give them full-res files (WAV/AIF 44 kHz mono/stereo). Then sit with them once as they export the Flash project, & have them show you their audio compression options; give them a few pointers.
Yes, better to control this yourself, but the above method does work...
Since the blank samples problem happens with several different programs, my inference is that the problem may be inherent to the MP3 format, rather than a unique shortcoming of the PT MP3 option itself.
If anyone here can spell out the exact causes for this, it would be appreciated—inquiring minds want to know!

[Lanois WannaB]

I did some testting on Audacity and Audition (PC Versions) using every combination of settings and parameters and still had the same results. Now I feel stupid because I got into a debate w/ a client about how his hardware was not making the loop seemless, but now I see it was probably me. Hmmmm....... anyone out there know how to make an MP3 file w/o 50 milliseconds of blank on each end?