RE: FLASH: Compress Size

[Heather Perkins]

<BobMerrill wrote:

>I hope you are not nipping off frequencies over 11khz on music tracks.

>That's like putting cotton in your ears. Assuming the end user has a decent

>pair of speakers. I have 3 sets I use for testing. The set with the sub

>rivals my home theater except in volume level.


The "brickwall" filtering before import and ADPCM compression doesn't

sound good for all material, so I test first--but doing some pre-processing

before import and compression can make the stuff sound better when it's

shocked. At least that's been my experience.


The 22kHz and 11kHz ADPCM compression codecs in Flash3 nip off a _lot_

more than 11kHz. At least if I do the EQ before import, I have some control.

The Flash4 MP3 codecs are a _lot_ more forgiving, so I can probably put

away my torture-tools soon....but the ADPCM codec is a trade-off between

quality and file-size, and we need to keep delivering Flash3 .swfs for a while.


Our user-base varies so much in platform, system and browser it isn't

even sure some of them have a soundcard--but I try to make the audio

sound good on all systems, including crappy computer speakers, good

computer speakers, and headphones....


Believe me, I'd love to deliver 44.1k/16 bit stereo at all times. (Or

more....those DVD specs got me drooling)....but my job is to make the

Flash shockwave soundtracks as tiny as possible. Sometimes, that can

be mean making really brutal decisions before import and upon compression,

alas. If you have a different method, I would love to hear it, I'm always

looking for new ideas to try.


- HP


PS - How are developers on this list handling the Flash3 vs Flash 4

issue? (eg, the fact that millions of people have the 3 plugin, but

Flash4 is what we all want to be developing in and for?) Do you

author two versions, one 3 and one 4, and sniff visitors for plugin

versions, or ...?????


>> -----Original Message-----

>

> From: Heather Perkins [SMTP:hperkinsmail [dot] teleport [dot] com]

>> Subject:Re: FLASH: Compress Size

>>

>>

>> >Also, I thought it was best to import everything at the highest quality

>> and

>> >let Flash do the compression on publishing (according to the user's

>> >settings).

>> >

>> >Am I mistaken?

>> >

>> >Bernard C

>>

>> No, I guess I was thinking that it is good to get the audio down to

>> 22050Hz 16 bit mono before import, to have more control over

>> the downsampling. I like to normalize, EQ to nip off frequencies

>> over 11kHz, and do some other pre-processing first...but you're

>> right, importing at 44.1k or 22050Hz probably doesn't affect the

>> output .swf size at all. Sorry for the confusion.

>>

>> - HP



Heather Perkins

Senior Sound Designer, EGN Content Studios North

http://www.egreetings.com

http://www.teleport.com/~hperkins


Chaos, panic & disorder...

My work here is done.


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