Turns out I needed to be saving the file at 44,100Hz for a sampling rate and I had saved it at 32,000Hz. Everything seems kosher now. Thanks for the offer to help Justin. I really appreciate it.
As a side note, I would suggest checking your file settings before recording audio files to make sure they comply with any other software you might be using. Hopefully that’ll alleviate some headaches for you.
Everything seemed to work great recording my Skype conversation. I posted the mp3 file to my podcast and everything sounded great. I also have a Joomla site that I use for my podcast and I’ve been using the AllVideos plugin to stream my files on the site. When I tried to add my short interview, it sounded like Alvin, Simon and Theodore (Chipmunks). So I found the forum for the plugin on its respective site and it turns out it was recorded in a bitrate the plugin doesn’t like. The default settings for PrettyMay are 32000Hz for the sample rate and 64kbps for the bitrate. The forum had a list of different combinations that work/don’t work using the Lame codec. Yes, that’s the actual name of the codec.
I’ve been using Adobe Audition to edit my podcast files. So I went back and tried to re-save the mp3, using the Fraunhofer codec, with different combinations of sampling and bit rates. I also checked to make sure it was being saved in CBR(Constant Bit Rate) mode instead of VBR (Variable Bit Rate). No luck yet. I posted my plea for help on the forum. Hopefully somebody will be able to help me. I’ll let you know what happens.
Last night I used PrettyMay to record a web cam conversation between myself and one of my podcast fans. Justin suggested using Gizmo, but I didn’t have time to install it and test it out beforehand. Next time I’ll have to give it a try.
PrettyMay gives you a free 15 day trial. It’s pretty simple and easy to use. I downloaded it, installed it and then you just open it up. As soon as you start a web cam PrettyMay recognizes it and asks if you’d like to start recording. Pretty handy.
Gizmo, on the other hand, is totally free. I was checking out their web site and there are some pretty nice features like conference calling. It’ll also interface with Google Talk, Yahoo, MSN and Windows Live.
I don’t use Skype a whole lot. I’ve used it mainly at work to help professors connect to authors and guest speakers during class. This is a very cheap and inexpensive way to have a “video conference” with somebody during class without having to pay for plane tickets, hotel rooms and meals. Some professors have wanted to record this conversations. We have some sophisticated software that could do that, but we don’t have licensing to install it wherever we want. I also thought it might be useful to record some things through Skype for my podcast, so I started looking into some options. I found this site - How to Record Skype Conversations - which talks about a lot of free/inexpensive software out there to do this. I was mainly interested in just the free stuff because I didn’t really want to pay out anything if I don’t use it more than once.
I downloaded PrettyMay and installed it. You get a 15-day free trial. It seems to work pretty well. Records both the audio coming out of my speakers and my microphone. On playback things sounded a bit weird, but that’s just because I was getting some feedback due to microphone/speaker placement in my office. Usually when you’re doing something like this a headset works much better to reduce feedback and weird noises.
I also downloaded PowerGramo Recorder, but haven’t installed it yet. These both had free trials and sounded like they worked ok. If I give PowerGramo a shot, I’ll let you know what I thought of it.
Recording Video is a little bit more complicated than just audio. I did a few searches and read about a few different things. All the software I found just records streaming video on your screen. We have Camtasia here at work. Seems like that would do that same thing. One thing to keep in mind is that you don’t necessarily record both cameras. If you do the picture-in-picture thing you’ll get the big picture of whomever you’re talking to with the little corner picture of yourself. Some professors have setup mini-DV cameras in the back of the room while doing this to capture everything. Seems a little bit backwards, but they can then record the students in the room as well.
Well, the people have spoken and they will have what they want. I didn’t take any pictures right after it happened. After it finally stopped gushing, I squeezed it a little bit and the fat in the end of my finger started coming out. Kinda gross….and kinda cool. These pictures are from a couple days later. It’s been healing up quite nicely. Some of the cut is already closed up so it doesn’t look quite as big.
“The IT guy at my new job hunts and pecks…then he broke my computer.”
Tell me if I’m wrong, but this sounds exactly like several geeky cartoons I’ve read in my day. Freaking hilarious if you ask me.
Update:
“He jerked the mouse too hard and pulled the monitor cord loose…he seriously almost threw the system away b/c he thought it died”
I was trying to cut some mold off my big block of cheddar. I wasn’t being too careful. The knife slipped and luckily my finger cushioned it from hurting my cutting board too badly. I wadded up some paper towel and kept pressure on it for a good 45min but it was still kinda bleeding. So I decided it was time for a band-aid, but maybe I should clean it first, right? So I squeezed some anti-bacterial soap on it. Earlier Liz had asked me how bad it was hurting. I gave it a 1 on a scale of 10. I think I have a pretty high pain threshold. Well, after that soap I think it graduated to a 3.5 or so.
After rinsing off my little digit I got a band-aid on there. I wanted to post a picture but Liz is afraid to look at it. I just think it’s cool cause you can see the fat in my finger. I guess I’ll have to see how it looks in the morning.
I just thought I’d share about my current setup at home. I’m sure you all remember back in January/February when I was all excited about my new machine. Well, then our place flooded, got moldy, I was deathly ill for a month and my sweet machine was sadly going to waste. I know have everything pretty much setup. I just need to pick up the room it’s in. I’ve done the dual monitor setup before and it’s nice, but not nearly as nice as having two machines. Some people do KVM switches so they have just one monitor and mouse. That can be cool, but then you can’t be typing things on both machines at the same time. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not totally ambidextrous. It’s not like I can type on both keyboards like playing an organ or something. Although that could be something to aspire to.
When I was a kid I used to read biographies on all kinds of famous people. One of the great composers, Mozart I believe, used to play the piano and read books at the same time. I thought that was so cool that I memorized my scales book and would go through all my finger exercises on the piano while reading a book. My mom probably thought I was nuts. I guess I could aspire to type on both computers at the same time, but I don’t think it’d really be worth the hassle.
Justin - let me know how that sweet new video card is working out for you.
I think I’ve probably talked on here before about how much I love the BP gas station here in town. The people are cool. The food is awesome. They listen and actually talk to you when you’re in there….and I just like them. Today Liz and I had been out walking for a good hour and we stopped at the BP to get something to drink. I soon found out my wallet was not in my pants and I felt pretty stupid up at the counter with my fountain drink. The person there was like, “that’s ok. just come back and pay for it.” So I did. I got to walk the 9 or so blocks home with a refreshing beverage and then hoofed it back to deliver my 74 cents.
I used to write on here all the time. Now, I just seem to be busy. Anyways, as most summers seem to be, this one was been wedding filled too. Last weekend was a trip out to Louisville with Robby and Joezinga to see Bendog and company. His dad rented out one of those fancy boxes at a baseball game so we all got to hang out, eat free food and watch the game. Afterwards we went over to David’s house where I was introduced to Guitar Hero I and II on PS2. All I can say is, “Where have I been?” These games rock. I feel a little addicted even though I played all of 30 min. I’ve been looking around on Ebay here and there to see if I can find it cheap. Not really happening, but who knows, maybe I’ll pick it up some day.
This weekend happened to be Sara and Lando’s wedding. I wasn’t super involved with this wedding, which was kind of nice. It seems like I’m in 3 every summer. In fact, I believe this is the first summer I haven’t been in a wedding since 2001. I tried to help out here and there by running messages, keeping Arya occupied and chatting away with the relatives. Some of them I see every once in a while like Josh and Ashley, Justin and Candice, Lee, Kenny, Grandama Ruth, etc. Others I met for the first time, like Betty and Carrie, and some I only really see at things like weddings. Those would be people like Donna, David, Courtney, Lindsey, Tristan and Rita (who also goes by Ria and Ita silent ‘R’). I made a big mistake by calling Ken, Kenny. He didn’t seem to like that too much, but I know how he feels. Nobody likes being called the wrong name. Currently Arya’s in that stage where she continually says, “What’s that?” or “Who’s that?”. She always comes up to me, pats me twice and then says hi or asks who I am. Eventually I just told her she already knows who I am. It almost sounded like she tried to say my name, but I’m not really sure. Kids at that age make so many sounds it’s hard to know if they’re always forming words or not. All in all it was a good time.
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