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IAJE Watch Out Column (continued)

from the Jazz Education Journal - Sept./Oct.

by Dr. John Kuzmich, Jr., Senior Columnist

PART II


Digital Audio File Conversion to MP3

Once you make recordings on an audio CD, it is necessary to convert them to MP3 file format. This is because for web use, .WAV files-- the Windows standard for digital audio--offer the highest quality digital sound but are too large for web applications. MP3 is an audio-compression technology that provides high-quality digital audio files at a fraction of the size of .WAV or audio CD (CDA) files and is ideal for portability as well as music downloading, transferring and retaining most of the original audio quality. In essence, MP3 files are the closest thing to a universal file format for music on the Internet.  There are other options; for example, Microsoft's WMA (Windows Media Audio) also yields compressed audio files half the size of .WAV files. 

My favorite music software application for converting large digital audio files to MP3 is Cakewalk's Pyro. It is the only all-in-one system that lets you move your music around to the web and a portable MMP3 music player. It is a complete MP3 and CD software application that can turn CD's into MP3's as well as burn music CD's from MP3 and .WAV files. It also records directly from LP's and cassettes and make jukeboxes for the loading, playing and saving play lists for your MP3 players. It is compatible with hundreds of major CD-R drives.

There are some rather good tutorials that accompany the software product that take the mystery out of downloading, recording and listening to digital music. These tutorials cover "burning" (the recording of a CD using a CD-R or CD-RW drive), "ripping" (which is the copying of CD audio as .WAV, MP3 or WMA). Pyro will even allow superior sound-quality adjustments that automatically optimize for every environment including car, headphones, PC, and laptop. It also customizes your mix with reverb, chorus and EQ (included). It even supports 100% of the DirectX Effects that are particularly hot in digital music today. (For more information on DirectX plug-ins, visit http://wwwthedirectxfiles.com. 

One feature that is particularly useful for creating MP3 files for web use is creating a monophonic MP3 file from an original recording that was done in stereo. Just click for monophonic recording and Pyro will instantly convert your stereo .WAV recording into monophonic file which will be 100% smaller than the same MP3 stereo file converted from the .WAV file.

Pyro 2003 will be released in September and features an updated User Interface that will include Recording and Editing enhancements, Wave Form View, and tightly integrated Audio Cleaning Effects such as De-Click, De-Noise, and Graphic EQ. Pyro 2003 will also provide users with the ability to burn audio CDs from a time-line, burn full-data CDs, and enjoy Hyper Help (a newly advanced, context-sensitive help system).

Webcasting: Audio/Video Streaming


In order to send and play audio and video over the Internet, you need two key technologies: data compression and streaming or webcasting. Webcasters use a variety of media formats: streaming MP3 and music players such as QuickTime, RealAudio and Windows Media. In order to receive a webcast, each "audience member" must have a media player installed on his or her computer; and that player must be compatible with format of the webcast. Prior to the advent of streaming, audio or video files had to be downloaded in their entirety to the end user's computer before the files could be played. This meant you had to wait a substantial amount of time on a 28.8 or a 56K analog telephone modem while the computer downloaded the audio/video files. I used this older, slower technology for my family's 36-day 2001 European music trip. 

If you want to see how slow a 1:18 minute audio file is without streaming, go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/jamming.mp3. It may take 2 or 3 minutes with a 28.8 modem Internet modem connection. No one will want to wait several minutes for audio files or up to 25 minutes for a video-file presentation. When browsing web sites in the real world, a seven-second-or-less wait is tolerable: but several minutes isn't. 

Streaming provides near-instant gratification. Rather than downloading a complete file, the user receives the audio or video as a bitstream. The bits are played in the order they are received, then discarded. Streaming puts the content in front of the user much faster than downloading, and it doesn't consume a lot of disk space on the user's computer. Be aware that Audio and video files can be huge. A one-minute-long CD-quality stereo audio file uses about 10 MB of disk space; and videos are many times larger. To distribute such large files over the Internet, data compression is used in the streaming. Unlike the kind of compression used to reduce the dynamic range of an audio signal, data compression reduces the size of a file so that it can be transmitted over the Internet more efficiently. There are two stage to data compression: encoding and decoding. The encoding stage requires software called an encoder, in which the encoding algorithm analyzes the original file, determines which portions can be omitted or represented with fewer bits, and then creates a new, smaller version of the file. 

Unlike CD audio or WAV files, encoded audio and video files cannot be played back in their raw form. They must be decoded using a software application call a player;. Some popular media players are QuickTime, RealOne Player, and Windows Media Player. Without question, the most widely used media player is RealNetwork's RealOne Player and and its proprietary RealAudio format have the distinction of being the first participants in the streaming media space. The sound quality associated with RealAudio has steadily improved the years and is very good. RealOne Player (free) and RealOne Player Plus are available for both Mac and PC and can be downloaded for free at Real.com    . QuickTime  Windows Media Player  an also be downloaded for free.

To prepare your MP3 files for webcasting, I recommend RealSystem Producer Basic (free) or RealSystem Producer Plus ($199.95) by RealNetworks. These encoders compress audio files into the RealMedia (.RAM) format and simultaneously create a metafile, called a RAM file that references the location of the .RM file on your school web page. RealSystem Producer can do "live" audio or video webcasts, on-demand audio or video streaming and/or synchronized multimeda using a combination of data types.

Using RealSystem Producer involves two separate but easy steps. First, you record and encode from an MP3 file via RealSystem Producer's setup wizard or using "New Session" under the "File" pull down menu (in which you identify the path of the designated file to be encoded into RealSystem Producer). Before you record the file into RealSystem Producer, you need to complete vital information about the file such as title, audio, copyright, etc. as well as the target audience at what baud speed (28.8 K modem) to 56K modem ISDN and into one of six differnt high speed ISDN/DSL/Cable Modem connections from 64K to 512 K) and whether it is music, voice or voice with background file format. Then second part is to go to the "Tools" pull-down menu and select "Create Web Page" in which you will create an audio streaming .rm file which is ready for posting on the web. When you save the newly created web page, you will find that you created three files necessary for the web post: a .RAM file to link to the music encoded file (.RM) ;and an .HTML file all with the same surname for easy posting all in the same web folder.

To see the actual HTML coding for posting an encoded audio file produced by RealSystem Producer for audio streaming, either check my HTML coding below all with the bold words identifying the ram file which links directly tot he same folder on my web page at: http://www.kuzmich.com/BYU2002 where my encoded audio files are all stored.

Web Video Streaming Instruction

For in-depth instructions on how to do video streaming which is more complicated than audio streaming, go my article, The Creative Aspects of Video Streaming in the December, 2000 issue of School Band & Orchestra magazine.  It really is quite an article offering detailed step-by-step instructions primarily for RealSystem Producer Plus and VideoWave III by MGI (www.mgisoft.com). The only other thing you need is a computer with a video-capture card to transfer the video directly to your computer for the software editing applications. The video footage can be either analog (VHS or 8mm) or digital.

Closing Comments

There is no doubt about it, both audio and video streaming are essential ingredients for top-notch school music program web sites. Featuring your students can be an instant public relations ingredient that will get the attention of your students, their friends, parents, relatives, and school administrators. One of the best examples of good public relations can be found at the New Trier High School band program in Winnetka, Illinois. You can view examples of how streaming enhances their music program on their website. In particular, the jazz program, under the able direction of Mr. James Warrick, broadcasts concerts live over the Internet. The concerts are then available for viewing via streaming on the web site 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

From the September/October issue of the Jazz Education Journal. Reprinted with permission of International Association for Jazz Education IAJE. Copyright 2002. All rights reserved.