problem with audio

[St.Thanos]

I have a movie, nad the sound only comes from the left speaker. i encoded it with tmpgenc dvd source creator, and clicked the stereo option..but still just comes out of the one speaker.

I noticed reading around alot of people refer to goldwave.. i have goldwave and sound forge..but are there any guides i can look at to tell me which steps to take or do?

[Cobra]

Clicking the Stereo button shouldn't make a difference - mono audio is outputting the same sound through both speakers, where stereo outputs different sounds through each speaker.

Is the sound like this in the original, before it was burned? If so, open it up in an audio editer like Cool Edit and take a look. You should see that one channel is silent and the other has a waveform in it. In Cool Edit, go to File --> Save and look at the options for the file you're saving. Tell it you want to save a mono file and your problem should be cured.

If you need to save to WAV, I don't think it will let you save it as a mono file. In this case, select the good channel (move the cursor to the upper/lower bound of the waveform, depending on if it's left or right, and you'll see a small "R" or "L" appear by it), right click the selection and tell it "Copy to new". This will produce a mono file, which can be saved as a mono WAV.

If the sound is correct in the original file you are trying to author, then I'm afraid I can't tell you a solution.

Hope this helps,

Cobra

[St.Thanos]

ok, i de muxed with tmpg, so i now have a .wav of it.
looked it up in cool edit (adobe) and it is a left thing.
im playing with it in adobe/ cool edit.
how do i get it, in any format..to where it is left, and right?
2 channels as opposed to 1?

[johns0]

Just copy left channel and paste it into right channel,it will play as mono but thru both channels now,then save.

[St.Thanos]

copy with what?
i tried doin that in cool edit, but it didnt work

[johns0]

I havent used cool edit but there should be copy and paste in the edit in the toolbar.

[Cobra]

If you need to save to WAV, I don't think it will let you save it as a mono file. In this case, select the good channel (move the cursor to the upper/lower bound of the waveform, depending on if it's left or right, and you'll see a small "R" or "L" appear by it), right click the selection and tell it "Copy to new". This will produce a mono file, which can be saved as a mono WAV.

Read my first post more closely. You move the cursor to the part of the waveform (if it's the top channel you have, then the upper 1/4 of the waveform) and you'll see an "L" appearing under the cursor. Highlight the entire waveform, and right click it. Select "Copy to new" and a new, mono file will result. Save this and use it.

You are better using a mono file, as it will be twice as small and will sound precisely the same a stereo file holding the same sounds in both channels.

Cobra

[Cobra]

I didn't have time in my last post because I had to get to a lecture, but I thought it would help if I illustrated what I'm saying since it isn't entirely clear. Open your audio file up in Cool Edit and you'll be presented with something like this, just with one track silent. This has two tracks - just pretend it doesn't:



I've highlighted the areas you must click and drag to select one channel only.

Now, you must make a new file using only this one channel. This is much better than copy-pasting the good channel into the bad one to give a two-channel but mono file - creating a true mono file saves space. You will have selected the good channel, now right click it and select "Copy to new":



You'll be presented with this waveform, which as you can see is mono:



Save this in your desired format, and author your DVD using it.

This should cure your problem.

Cobra

[St.Thanos]

cobra, man i cant thank you enuff.
It worked perfectly.
and the ? in your signature, i called into the local rock station one night from work (3rd shift at a gas station), and asked the dj that. he said he didnt know, but commented about it about 5 minutes later

thanks again man.

one thing tho, im using the trial of the program, but it only let me do 2.21 minutes of it. how can i do this so the entire .wav file does that?

[Cobra]

Anytime. It's just nice to have someone say that once in a while!

Cobra

[teegee420]

one thing tho, im using the trial of the program, but it only let me do 2.21 minutes of it. how can i do this so the entire .wav file does that?

Can't Audacity(freeware) do the same thing here, Cobra?

[Cobra]

Nice one teegee! After much buggeration, I managed to suss the problems Audacity was giving me. Here's how to get this done for free:

Open the file with Audacity. You'll get the waveform appearing. Click the name/button shown and select "Split Stereo Track":



Now, you need to delete the other, silent track. You just click the button shown here (or the other one, depends which of your tracks is silent):



Lastly, and importantly, you have to tell Audacity that you really do want this as a mono track or else it will just save it as stereo with one track silent and you'd be back where you started. All you do is select "Mono":



Just save in your desired format, and that will output a mono file that should work.

one thing tho, im using the trial of the program, but it only let me do 2.21 minutes of it. how can i do this so the entire .wav file does that?

You must have been editing your post as I was typing my reply. I went to sleep as soon as I posted - it was 2:15AM for me (UK), so I didn't pick up on it.

Thanks for the suggestion, teegee!

Good luck,

Cobra

[St.Thanos]

once thank you cobra..
I got it fixed...
thanks as well teegee

[offline]

Good answers Cobra. One bit of difference due to personal taste. I'd duplicate the audio track to make two channels and then use stereo
broadening. If done lightly it can enhance a mono track into a
more realistic sounding stereo.

[Cobra]

Good answers Cobra.

Thanks, I aim to please!

Your suggestion for further audio processing is a good one. Really, all St.Thanos must decide is whether to add stereo effects to the track to make it a bit better or save a bit of space and use the original mono track, diverting extra space to making the video look a tiny fraction better. I have played with those stereo broadening effects and they are pretty good. Definitely an option.

It's not often we get questions on mono sound, is it?

Cobra

[St.Thanos]

ok so how would i go about playing with stereo effects?

cause i need to run it thru some filters still cause it sounds like it was next to the speaker, and has a tinny sound to it.

[Cobra]

ok so how would i go about playing with stereo effects?

I don't think this is possible in Audacity, and the only other package I know of that can do this is Cool Edit. You go to Effects --> Amplitude --> Pan/Expand... and it will let you preview what you're doing before you apply to the entire track.

If anyone else knows of a good package to expand a mono soundtrack to pseudo-stereo, let us know!

it sounds like it was next to the speaker, and has a tinny sound to it.

Don't know what you mean by sounding like it was next to the speaker, but the tinny sound could be sorted with Audacity using the bass boost. Highlight your section and go Effect --> BassBoost... and have a play.

Hope this is of some help,

Cobra

[offline]

One of the easiest tools to use is Nero Wave Editor that
comes with the Nero package. Other people use soundforge and
wavelab with plugins.

[teegee420]

Goldwave has some good filters too. The Parametric EQ might be able to make the audio sound more robust.