Free-ish MP3 Audio Editor?

KrunkMcGrunk

Here's the score:

I've got a microSD card for my phone, which was a cheap wonderful little device. I'm incredibly glad I got it because it allows me to swap pictures and audio files between my computer and Phone. My phone doubles as a voice recorder (journalism student).

Anyhow, I want to chop down some MP3s and use them as ringtones. I can't use full-length songs because they are either too long or too large for my phone to use as a ringtone (it wouldn't specify which). Is there a program that you guys can recommend? I'm not looking for anything special. I just want something that I can chop songs up with. Freeware is preferred, but if it's less than $10, I can deal with that.

Thanks!

KrunkMcGrunk

Ha, took me about 5 minutes to find Audacity. But now it seems to have fucked with my laptop speakers somehow. They seem to have lost any bass they had (I know, it's hard to believe) and the audio quality has dropped significantly.

Any ideas?

GrimReaper

On-board sound chips on laptops/motherboards are the kind where the actual processing is all done in the driver itself. Have you considered downloading the latest driver?

It may just be a driver issue.

sir_pinch-a-loaf

I use Audacity quite a bit, and I like it a lot. If you can sort out your sound/speaker issue, I\'d recommend it.

shutz

You probably play the original mp3s in a media player such as Winamp or Windows Media Player, where you've enabled some bass-boosting EQ settings (it's what I do when I don't have a good set of speakers plugged in.)

When you play the same files in Audacity, you get how the file sounds by itself. Try using headphones if you can't just use a better pair of speakers, you'll get better results.

Audacity is great for simple sound file editing, and can even be used for multitrack editing and recording. It's no home studio, but it can get the job done , and it's still simple to use.

Also, for making ringtones: the file size and duration limits tend to be different from phone to phone and carrier to carrier, but a good rule of thumb is to never go over 20 seconds (you can try 30 and 25 seconds, in case that works.) Also, if you need to reduce file size, you can again use Audacity to resample the files down to a lower sampling frequency, since the speaker on most phones is so shitty anyway.

First, mixdown to mono, unless your phone actually has two separate speakers for playing ringtones. Then resample down to 22,050 Hz or even 11,025 Hz (the latter is about AM Radio quality, and about as good as you're going to get out of most phones. It'll sound shitty on your laptop's speakers or headphones, but as a ringtone, it'll probably sound better.

deadonthestreet

Itunes can do it.

Get info->Options

Just back up the original file first.

GrimReaper

shutz wrote: »

Also, for making ringtones: the file size and duration limits tend to be different from phone to phone and carrier to carrier, but a good rule of thumb is to never go over 20 seconds (you can try 30 and 25 seconds, in case that works.) Also, if you need to reduce file size, you can again use Audacity to resample the files down to a lower sampling frequency, since the speaker on most phones is so shitty anyway.

First, mixdown to mono, unless your phone actually has two separate speakers for playing ringtones. Then resample down to 22,050 Hz or even 11,025 Hz (the latter is about AM Radio quality, and about as good as you're going to get out of most phones. It'll sound shitty on your laptop's speakers or headphones, but as a ringtone, it'll probably sound better.

A note on the sampling frequency, I made an MP3 of the Speedball 2 music for my mobile. It will happily play it if the sampling rate is 44,100 Hz but will not play it if it's anything less.

This was a while ago, the mobile phone in question is a Sony Ericsson K750i.

shutz

GrimReaper wrote: »

shutz wrote: »

Also, for making ringtones: the file size and duration limits tend to be different from phone to phone and carrier to carrier, but a good rule of thumb is to never go over 20 seconds (you can try 30 and 25 seconds, in case that works.) Also, if you need to reduce file size, you can again use Audacity to resample the files down to a lower sampling frequency, since the speaker on most phones is so shitty anyway.

First, mixdown to mono, unless your phone actually has two separate speakers for playing ringtones. Then resample down to 22,050 Hz or even 11,025 Hz (the latter is about AM Radio quality, and about as good as you're going to get out of most phones. It'll sound shitty on your laptop's speakers or headphones, but as a ringtone, it'll probably sound better.

A note on the sampling frequency, I made an MP3 of the Speedball 2 music for my mobile. It will happily play it if the sampling rate is 44,100 Hz but will not play it if it's anything less.

This was a while ago, the mobile phone in question is a Sony Ericsson K750i.

I should have remembered this. Many MP3 decoding chips have trouble with any audio that is at a different sampling rate than regular CDs (44,100 Hz.) Some of these chips are used in cell phones.

But I bet my first point still stands: I'm sure the OP was using a bass-boosted EQ when playing the original files.