I Need Advice on Program To Extract Samples From MP3s
Peter D
digitized to mp3 from old 45s and 78s. This material, though mostly in mono,
is superb quality, a real treat to listen to, and probably represents hours
of painstaking work by the person who did this to preserve the richness of
the music before it deteriorated any more.
Here's the problem. I was able to figure out most of the artists/titles,
except for about ten tracks. For those, I know the song title but not the
artist. I just can't figure them out. For example, one of the tracks is
"Blue Suede Shoes". I have it by Elvis and by Carl Perkins and it's neither,
so who is it? There's "Blueberry Hill" by someone other than Fats Domino.
So I figured I'd ask here, what with the likelihood of people knowing the
song and artist. At least it would provide an interesting, friendly
"contest". I thought I'd make a small bitrate sample of say the first 30
secs of each one, put them on my site, and post a link here so people could
check them out.
The problem is I need some sort of software that will do it easily and
cheaply (free?), something that can run through a folder of mp3s and extract
a low bitrate sample. I'd also like to do it with some of my other music so
I can use them to point people to good examples of songs to dance specific
dances to. Any suggestions? Has anyone else had success with doing a similar
project?
Ed Jay
>I was given a bunch of "oldies", mostly 40-50s stuff, that someone had
>digitized to mp3 from old 45s and 78s. This material, though mostly in mono,
>is superb quality, a real treat to listen to, and probably represents hours
>of painstaking work by the person who did this to preserve the richness of
>the music before it deteriorated any more.
>
>Here's the problem. I was able to figure out most of the artists/titles,
>except for about ten tracks. For those, I know the song title but not the
>artist. I just can't figure them out. For example, one of the tracks is
>"Blue Suede Shoes". I have it by Elvis and by Carl Perkins and it's neither,
>so who is it?
Take your pick:
"Early March 1956. ...western swing bandleader Pee Wee King...hits the
street in early March. It is followed in short order by versions from Boyd
Bennett, Bob Roubian with Cliffie Stone's Orchestra, Sid King, Lawrence
Welk, Roy Hall, Sam "The Man" Taylor, and Jim Lowe."
<http://www.rockabillyhall.com/BlueSuedeShoes.html>
>There's "Blueberry Hill" by someone other than Fats Domino.
>
Ricky Nelson, among others.
>
>So I figured I'd ask here, what with the likelihood of people knowing the
>song and artist. At least it would provide an interesting, friendly
>"contest". I thought I'd make a small bitrate sample of say the first 30
>secs of each one, put them on my site, and post a link here so people could
>check them out.
>
>The problem is I need some sort of software that will do it easily and
>cheaply (free?), something that can run through a folder of mp3s and extract
>a low bitrate sample. I'd also like to do it with some of my other music so
>I can use them to point people to good examples of songs to dance specific
>dances to. Any suggestions? Has anyone else had success with doing a similar
>project?
>
Aren't the samples going to be selected from a menu comprised of hyperlinks
to the selected clip?
Ed Jay (remove M to respond)
Peter D
news:ffai50111mmoge32e...@4ax.com...
> "Peter D" <please@.sk> wrote:
<snip>
> >The problem is I need some sort of software that will do it easily and
> >cheaply (free?), something that can run through a folder of mp3s and
extract
> >a low bitrate sample. I'd also like to do it with some of my other music
so
> >I can use them to point people to good examples of songs to dance
specific
> >dances to. Any suggestions? Has anyone else had success with doing a
similar
> >project?
> >
> Aren't the samples going to be selected from a menu comprised of
hyperlinks
> to the selected clip?
I'm not sure if I'm making myself clear. What I intend to do is make short
(30 sec?) low bitrate samples of the songs and place them in a folder on my
site. That reduces the amount of space, speeds downloads, and keeps the
files 'legal' because they are brief samples. I need to make the samples
before I post them. They should look something like this:
<folder on site>/
Unknown - There Goes My Baby.mp3
Unknown - Little Darlin'.mp3
Unknown - Rock Around The Clock.mp3
Unknown - Come Go With Me.mp3
Unknown - What'd I Say.mp3
Unknown - Blue Suede Shoes.mp3
Unknown - See You Later Alligator.mp3
Unknown - Stagger Lee.mp3
Unknown - Blueberry Hill.mp3
Then I can provide a link to <folder on site> and people can click on the
filename, say "Unknown - Come Go With Me.mp3", listen, and give their guess.
The above I can do. What I need is a program to quickly extract a sample at
a lower bitrate.
Ed Jay
"Quickly" is then the crux of your question. I agree with Jack that Cool
Edit (or Sound Forge - $$$) is a good choice.
Load the song, cut what you don't want, and save as a clip.
I haven't seen a batch tool that will do as you want.
Bob Wheatley
> I'm not sure if I'm making myself clear. What I intend to do is make short
....> <snipped>
I think you're clear.
Cool Edit or most any sound editing software can do the job.
I can get bit rates as low as 20 kbs and 11,025 hz in MP 3 format with mine.
Bob Wheatley
Peter D
news:GSp6c.126889> I think you're clear.
> Cool Edit or most any sound editing software can do the job.
> I can get bit rates as low as 20 kbs and 11,025 hz in MP 3 format with
mine.
Adobe now owns Cool Edit so that makes it out of my price range.
I can do this little job in Sound Forge -- which it turns out I own, though
I'd forgotten :-)
What I'd like to do is find something that can do a batch of files at once.
Like take a CD and create 30 sec samples from the tracks. If I find
something I'll pass it on because I'm sure it's useful to others.
lbrt...@aol.com
files to .wav's. If you have that useless MusicMatch Jukebox thing
that came on some of our computers for free, it has a batch conversion
utility, and of course there are many others around, or even maybe
already on your box if you look around. As for CoolEdit, I use it a
lot but unless it's been recently changed, it won't do mp3's, it wants
.wav's. But you don't need it anyway for what you are doing, if you
are running Windblows. Once you have a .wav, open it in your free
little Sound Recorder. It won't record more than a minute, but it
will open & play larger files. Simply chop off all you don't want
from beginning, end or both (which is about all the applet will do for
editing), and save it at the low bitrate you want. Then convert the
result to .mp3 (or whatever) and you're there, or you may even get
.wav's so small you needn't bother.
"Peter D" <please@.sk> wrote in message news:<spw6c.857067$X%5.848914@pd7tw2no>...
dancer
The program I use to rip samples of mp3s from a CD is called Easy
CD-DA Extractor 6.5. The company just made their version 7 available
today. I'm not aware of any way you could load your mp3s from your
hard drive. When you start the program, the Audio CD Ripper tab will
be selected. The program will automatically load the mp3s from the CD
in your CD drive. Just select which mp3s you want a sample from. Click
on the Advanced tab on the right side to select the start and end time
of the sound sample you want. You can download the demo version at:
http://www.poikosoft.com/download.html
Good Luck
Brian & Pi-Ian
Dance Mix Disc Jockey Service
http://www.dancemixdj.com
B Traven
> The problem is I need some sort of software that will do it easily and
> cheaply (free?), something that can run through a folder of mp3s and extract
> a low bitrate sample. I'd also like to do it with some of my other music so
> I can use them to point people to good examples of songs to dance specific
> dances to. Any suggestions? Has anyone else had success with doing a similar
> project?
A couple of free sound editors are:
http://glame.sourceforge.net/index.var - Linux
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about.php - WIndows, Linux, Mac
- Bb
Bob Wheatley
> I see that no one understands you. First you need to re-promote the files
to .wav's. If you have that useless MusicMatch Jukebox thing that came on
some of our computers for free, it has a batch conversion utility, and of
course there are many others around, or even maybe already on your box if
you look around. As for CoolEdit, I use it a lot but unless it's been
recently changed, it won't do mp3's, it wants .wav's. >
No one here understands him but you? How arrogant is that?
I do an extensive amount of music editing for both the CW and Ballroom
worlds. I use Cool Edit exclusively. I can and do edit some things in MP3
format and can save it in a multitude of formats and bit rates. Cool Edit
also has batch processing which was one of the main queries Peter was
posting.
Since the idea was to make the file smaller to begin with, what purpose does
converting them .wav files have? That's just a silly waste of time.
Bob Wheatley
lbrt...@aol.com
Oh be like that, I'm used to it. :-) Let him go get soaked for a
later edition of Cooledit & spend an hour figuring it out, when he can
convert & do his simple edits in minutes for free. I forgot how the
dance world works in such matters, and how it couches it's arrogance
in silverplated manners while accusing others, sorry<hahahahaah>.
Like I told you months ago, no wonder it's so hard to market dancing
to the practical, blue-collar people who form its biggest marketplace
- Pogo syndrome aboundeth.
"I would like to shit in that beautiful piano, dear." - excerpt from
"Andy Warhol's Last Date."
Ed Jay
Peter D
> lbrt...@aol.com wrote:
>
> >...go get soaked for a...later edition of Cooledit.
>
> Hey, Peter, got Kazaa?
No. I curse that adware laden pos. :-)
But I do have Kazaalite. Tell me more. :-)
Peter D
news:205ef942.04031...@posting.google.com...
> I see that no one understands you.
Well, that's a common problem, but I blame myself more than others for that.
:-)
Seriously, I think people do understand me and are trying to help. Really,
more than anything I need a way to do lots of files via some sort of a batch
system. I have Musicmatch Jukebox Plus but I couldn't find any thing about
it doing batches. Can you tell me how or point me to a web page or something
that can tell me how to do batches?
For now, I can use Sondforge 6. that's preferable to the convert to wav and
use Sound Recorder solution you suggested. Faster, tidier, less steps. But
for lots of files, I need a batch system.
Ed Jay
Of course lite...(Try Diet Kazaa) then search for "Cool Edit."
lbrt...@aol.com
Peter I'm going to back off to minimal mode here after seeing how the
thread has gone. What I will tell you is that 2 months ago and with a
new box & before I was able to load my audio apps, I created almost 50
clips of exactly the description you wish, in no more than an hour
using the method I suggested. I did this by using the MMJB utility
under its File menu to batch-convert to .wav's (which doesn't affect
the original files), then individually cutting the clips as I posted,
then MMJB again to batch convert those clips to little .mp3's. This
included boot-up and making a pot of coffee, and is less time than has
been devoted to the thread.
Peter D
news:205ef942.04032...@posting.google.com...
> I created almost 50 clips of exactly the description you wish, in no more
than
> an hour using the method I suggested. I did this by using the MMJB
utility
> under its File menu to batch-convert to .wav's (which doesn't affect
> the original files), then individually cutting the clips as I posted,
> then MMJB again to batch convert those clips to little .mp3's.
Thank you for the lead re the Converter in MMJB (under File menu). I've been
using the program for almost two years and I never knew it was there. Very
handy, very fast. But it will convert MP3 to MP3 now so no need for the
intermediate WAV step. It doesn't clip the output, but very handy for quick
conversions.
I ran the files through it and converted them to 24kb. They can be found
here: http://www.dolman.ca/music/. Still not what I want re snipping them
into 30 sec samples, but getting there.
BTW, your suggestion really wouldn't be feasible for me. You did 50 files in
a hour. My music collection is at about 24,000 tracks right now. That's why
a batch-based read/snip/convert/write is critical for the bigger project.
:-)
Rich R
Visual Basic to play the first xxx seconds of each of the tunes
and recording the output with something like GoldWave.
Also, if you're really trying to compress the file, you might
consider converting to mono........
Do you intend to burn the clips to CD? My CD burner program
won't handle the odd sample rates......
I'd be willing to help you out with the Visual Basic portion, if
you need it......
Rich
"Peter D" <please@.sk> wrote in message
news:6Hj7c.871461$X%5.411195@pd7tw2no...
lbrt...@aol.com
with it using any of the common apps, done, the rest is auto
processing time while one is off dancing...
"Rich R" <richros...@mchsi.com> wrote in message news:<kEadc.215339$_w.2079624@attbi_s53>...
Peter D
news:<kEadc.215339$_w.2079624@attbi_s53>...
> Peter D, I find your quest rather interesting, how about using
> Visual Basic to play the first xxx seconds of each of the tunes
> and recording the output with something like GoldWave.
>
> Also, if you're really trying to compress the file, you might
> consider converting to mono........
>
> Do you intend to burn the clips to CD? My CD burner program
> won't handle the odd sample rates......
>
> I'd be willing to help you out with the Visual Basic portion, if
> you need it......
I thought of playing and recording in some automated way, but I already have
the data so why create it again? Ideally, a program/batch process that
copies X secs of an mp3, recompresses it at a specified bitrate, and saves
it with a new filename is what I need. With that in mind I'm going to check
out Ufony (interesting name) from http://www.softe.net/
Rich R
The problem I run into is that of extracting "X secs of an mp3".
The .wav format is well documented and is merely a digital
representation of the analog waveform. The .mp3 format is
proprietary and not disclosed to us mere mortals. All the
file edit programs that I'm familiar with first convert the
.mp3 data to .wav format for manipulation, then convert
the modified .wav data back to .mp3 data. These programs
seem to be making use of some sort of DLL, or something
like that, for mp3 conversion.
Give me a couple of specifics to work with, how many seconds
of each tune and what sample rate you'd like to convert to.
Let me play around with it for a bit and see how cumbersome
it'd be. (I understand your problem with 24K+ files, I have
quite a few myself.........)
Rich
"Peter D" <please@.sk> wrote in message news:BPSdc.68441$Ig.5927@pd7tw2no...
Peter D
> Peter D
>
> The problem I run into is that of extracting "X secs of an mp3".
> The .wav format is well documented and is merely a digital
> representation of the analog waveform. The .mp3 format is
> proprietary and not disclosed to us mere mortals. All the
> file edit programs that I'm familiar with first convert the
> .mp3 data to .wav format for manipulation, then convert
> the modified .wav data back to .mp3 data. These programs
> seem to be making use of some sort of DLL, or something
> like that, for mp3 conversion.
>
> Give me a couple of specifics to work with, how many seconds
> of each tune and what sample rate you'd like to convert to.
> Let me play around with it for a bit and see how cumbersome
> it'd be. (I understand your problem with 24K+ files, I have
> quite a few myself.........)
I'd like to create a 30-45 second clip and save it at something small, say
64kbit, something like that. I say 30-45 sec because I believe that is
regarded as 'fair use' re copyright. Along with the resulting lo-fi file, I
see no reason for my efforts to get anyone's attention.Then there is the
smaller hd space required to store the clips.
Rich R
I've succeeded in sending keystrokes to GoldWave from
a VisualBasic program to start/stop a recording session
and play the first xx seconds of a series of .mp3 files with
WindowsMediaPlayer (V9). I added a 1.0 second fade-out
out at the end of each clip, sounds pretty awful without
that.....
I haven't put in the filesave portion of the program and
don't have a plan for file selection yet, so far I've just
used a fixed directory and 10 files. (You learn to crawl
before you learn to walk, right?)
We're close to where we need to iron out the details and
send you this program, but I can't send it via this newsgroup.
I think my "real" email address shows up in these messages,
would you please reply via email so that we can communicate
directly? As soon as I hear from you I'll send you a 60
second clip (485K) of 10 5-sec segments for your evaluation.
Rich (in Indiana)
Rich R
I went ahead a little further, the filesave portion is now working,
along with selection of saveformat. At this point I'm
just waiting for further response from you. It looks like the
program will do everything you asked, only drawback seems
to be that it'll work no faster than it takes to play the clips.
Rich
"Rich R" <richros...@mchsi.com> wrote in message
news:kKcec.11704$_K3.49338@attbi_s53...