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#1
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Help! Duelling experts leave me without my .wav file and out $$
I have a PBX-type phone unit, which has an auto attendant, "Thank you
for calling company ABC...." The unit gives you the option of uploading a sound file to the system, ۬so you can have a professionally recorded welcome message. The makers of the PBX unit say the specs for the sound file must be as ۬follows: 8 KHz, 8 bit, mono, u-law, .wav file. I gave these specs to the recording studio, and had the welcome message ۬professionally recorded. The .wav file we received sounded awful, scratchy and unclear when I ۬played it on my iTunes, but I was assuming that was a format issue. ۬However, when I uploaded the file to the PBX unit, it was the same. Now we get into a "He said, he said" situation that I am hoping one of ۬you experts can help me with. PBX company response (small company, tech support manager, admits ۬he's not a sound expert): ۬"The file has to be **recorded** at 8 KHz, 8 bit. A downsampled file ۬won't work." Studio engineer (big-city guy, very experienced): ۬"I've recorded phone prompts before without an issue. I don't ۬even have software that will record at 8 KHz. The lowest I have is 16. ۬Downsampling hasn't been an issue in the past. I've checked the ۬files and no errors are showing." The high-resolution files he sent me (MP3s) are fine - very clear, ۬but I can't upload them to the system (error message says "format not ۬supported). I guess I can play them through my computer and hold the ۬phone receiver close to the speaker, but then we're really not ۬getting what we paid for in either case. Since I'm not a sound expert, I don't know where to turn here. Can ۬someone help? |
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#2
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Help! Duelling experts leave me without my .wav file and out $$
The unit gives you the option of uploading a sound file to the system, ?so you can have a professionally recorded welcome message. The makers of the PBX unit say the specs for the sound file must be as ?follows: 8 KHz, 8 bit, mono, u-law, .wav file. I gave these specs to the recording studio, and had the welcome message ?professionally recorded. The .wav file we received sounded awful, scratchy and unclear when I ?played it on my iTunes, but I was assuming that was a format issue. ?However, when I uploaded the file to the PBX unit, it was the same. Got you so far. You ordered an 8-bit, 8KHz file. It arrived. It downloaded to the PBX OK. It plays. But it sounds bad. Now we get into a "He said, he said" situation that I am hoping one of ?you experts can help me with. PBX company response (small company, tech support manager, admits ?he's not a sound expert): ?"The file has to be **recorded** at 8 KHz, 8 bit. A downsampled file ?won't work." The file you received doubtless WAS downsampled from a higher-quality original. But I thought you said it DID work? (Though the quality was poor). Studio engineer (big-city guy, very experienced): ?"I've recorded phone prompts before without an issue. I don't ?even have software that will record at 8 KHz. The lowest I have is 16. ?Downsampling hasn't been an issue in the past. I've checked the ?files and no errors are showing." The high-resolution files he sent me (MP3s) are fine - very clear, ?but I can't upload them to the system (error message says "format not ?supported). I guess I can play them through my computer and hold the ?phone receiver close to the speaker, but then we're really not ?getting what we paid for in either case. Yes, a 16-bit, 44.1KHz (or whatever) recording WILL sound better than an 8-bit, 8KHz one. But we know the PBX won't accept it. No surprise there. The issue appears to be merely that you're not satisfied with the quality of the 8-bit, 8KHz recording. This is a low specification. But it should be perfectly intelligible over a telephone system. Maybe there are techniques of squashing a recording into this format that could have been applied better. Will the studio have another go? Or post the higher-quality MP3 version on a web page and let us have a try at it. |
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#3
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Help! Duelling experts leave me without my .wav file and out $$
Laurence Payne wrote: Got you so far. You ordered an 8-bit, 8KHz file. It arrived. It downloaded to the PBX OK. It plays. But it sounds bad. Reallly bad, God-awful bad. The file you received doubtless WAS downsampled from a higher-quality original. But I thought you said it DID work? (Though the quality was poor). Correct. It "works" (i.e., you can upload it and hear it). But all parties admit it sounds awful. Including the PBX guy. Awful as in not acceptable quality in any way. Yes, a 16-bit, 44.1KHz (or whatever) recording WILL sound better than an 8-bit, 8KHz one. But we know the PBX won't accept it. No surprise there. The issue appears to be merely that you're not satisfied with the quality of the 8-bit, 8KHz recording. This is a low specification. But it should be perfectly intelligible over a telephone system. It's intelligible, but only just. Lots of noise/hiss. I can "phone in" my own recording (recording it over the phone line), and it sounds 100X better than the "professionally recorded" file uploaded directly. Maybe there are techniques of squashing a recording into this format that could have been applied better. That's definitely the $64K question. Will the studio have another go? I've asked them to. I cross-posted this to rec.audio.pro, and they suggested the problem may lie with the u-laws encoding, so I've advised studio guy to that effect. (This is far outside my area of expertise.) Or post the higher-quality MP3 version on a web page and let us have a try at it. I will definitely try that, if the studio guy can't fix it. Appreciate your feedback. |
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#4
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Help! Duelling experts leave me without my .wav file and out $$
GoldWave might help you out here. It might help you identify what kind of
wave you actually got from the recording studio and it can also convert any kind of wave you have to 8KHz, 8bit ulaw. James.  )wrote in message oups.com... Laurence Payne wrote: Got you so far. You ordered an 8-bit, 8KHz file. It arrived. It downloaded to the PBX OK. It plays. But it sounds bad. Reallly bad, God-awful bad. The file you received doubtless WAS downsampled from a higher-quality original. But I thought you said it DID work? (Though the quality was poor). Correct. It "works" (i.e., you can upload it and hear it). But all parties admit it sounds awful. Including the PBX guy. Awful as in not acceptable quality in any way. Yes, a 16-bit, 44.1KHz (or whatever) recording WILL sound better than an 8-bit, 8KHz one. But we know the PBX won't accept it. No surprise there. The issue appears to be merely that you're not satisfied with the quality of the 8-bit, 8KHz recording. This is a low specification. But it should be perfectly intelligible over a telephone system. It's intelligible, but only just. Lots of noise/hiss. I can "phone in" my own recording (recording it over the phone line), and it sounds 100X better than the "professionally recorded" file uploaded directly. Maybe there are techniques of squashing a recording into this format that could have been applied better. That's definitely the $64K question. Will the studio have another go? I've asked them to. I cross-posted this to rec.audio.pro, and they suggested the problem may lie with the u-laws encoding, so I've advised studio guy to that effect. (This is far outside my area of expertise.) Or post the higher-quality MP3 version on a web page and let us have a try at it. I will definitely try that, if the studio guy can't fix it. Appreciate your feedback. |
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#5
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Help! Duelling experts leave me without my .wav file and out$$
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