bit depth conversion/resampling

[Eric Stamm]

Does anyone know how I can make my samples clearer? For what I am doing, my samples are required to be in aiff. format with the bit depth at 8 and the sampling rate at 11,025Hz. I've read that it's better to record samples at a higher bit depth and sampling rate and then drop them, as opposed to recording them at a low bit depth and sampling rate. I've done both. I've used every combination of the dither and noise shaping functions for the dropping the bit depth, and I've set the interpolation accuracy on 4 for the sampling rate. Dropping the bit depth from 16 to 8 bit is what really kills me. I get alot of hiss. I'm fairly new at Soundforge (5.0), so is there anything else I can do to get rid of noise and make samples sound clear? If anyone could give me some tips, I would be very appreciative! http://www.audioforums.com/forums/biggrin.gif

-Eric

[djderricke]

Unfortunatly my friend, when going down to a sample and bit rate that low, you will always get some noise. There isn't very much you can do. Why do your samples need to be at such a low sample rate?

[Eric Stamm]

Sorry it took so long to reply, thanks for answering. The reason I need to have samples at such low quality is that I am composing music for the Gameboy Advance. I'm using midi mapping for the scores, then aif. files will be stored and called upon for the actual sound. SFX will be aif. files as well. I picked up this method from another developer for the GBA.
The GBA only has 4MB of memory and I get about 1MB of that to store all music and SFX. Thus, samples will have to take up as little space as possible.
Composing the music is no problem. I just don't want to put a game out on the market with crappy sound. http://www.audioforums.com/forums/wink.gif
I've heard that taking certain frequencies out, namely the extreme highs, will reduce hiss greatly. However, the EQ's that I'm supposed to have on my Soundforge 5.0 (not XP) are not there. Even the Help menu and the "Soundforge Power!" book (for 5.0) says they are under the Process menu, but they are nowhere to be found. Any ideas? Thanks again.

-Eric

[djderricke]

That's strange. I haven't used Soundforge 5.0 for quite some time, so I'm afraid I can't be much help there. 6.0 works pretty well for me. Have you considered upgrading? (Let us know which games you've made music for. I know a couple of people with GBAs)

[Eric Stamm]

That's probably what I'll have to do - upgrade that is. The only reason I didn't get Soundforge 6.0 was because the local Guitar Center had an open box 5.0 version on sale for dirt cheap.
As for games I have done music for - none so far. I am involved in a start-up company hoping to break into the market. We have a couple of publishers interested, and one has said they will offer us a contract if they like our beta demo (they really like what we have done so far, including our business plan). That's why I'm anxious to get the best sound possible out of my samples. If it works out, in a few months our game will be on the shelves of every major distributor. The game is a 2d shooter(flying, but not in space)/rpg called "World Reborn".
Thanks again for your help, I'll probably just have to upgrade.

-Eric

[mrme]

when converting to 8 bit try using 1 bit peak to peak dither and a high pass contour noise shaping. then do a paragraphic EQ

-25db at 6000Hz, 2.5 oct

thats about the only thing i can think might help, but even then it's not going to be great.

good luck

[Eric Stamm]

Thanks, it doesn't have to be crystal clear anyway. There's going to be hiss, I've carefully listened to games on the GBA and they all have some. As soon as I find out why I don't have EQ's in my Soundforge, I'll let you know how your suggestion worked. Thanks again.