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k92ww · Posts: 1

I do voice overs for a company that requests that I send my completed work as an MP3 file.
After recording a script and saving it as an MP3 file...when I play it back, its all distorted...what am I doing wrong?

Syntrillium M.D. · Location: USA Posts: 5124

Hi there. You first want to verify that after you've recorded into cool edit, that your levels are good and that there is no clipping present. Proper gain staging of a MICrophone signal is key in achieving a good, clean sound. Also, mic placement and how you speak into the mic greatly affects its sound. To avoid things that can cause periodic 'clips' like "P" popping or 'proximity effect' (where you are essentially overmodulating because you are too close to the diaphragm causing a buildup of bass response) you typically want to speak 6-8 inches away from the diaphragm. Monitor your record level in Cool Edit. You should set a comfortable level around -6 or so, to give yourself a little headroom. You can always normalize later. After you've recorded, it's not a bad idea to save your 'original unprocessed' file as a Windows PCM wave. This way, you have an uncompressed, full bandwidth wav file that you can refer back to if you ever want to re-encode at another kbps rate (ie, for MP3). After you've created your wave, do whatever processing you want and then try saving as MP3. Click on the Options button (while in the Save As window) and select your bitrate. Most people nowadays typically choose 128kbps Stereo as their chosen number. It sounds good, and gives you a file roughly 1/10 the size of the original. 160kbps is a little better sounding, and 96kbps is okay, but indeed a bit smaller. You also probably want to select CBR (constant bit rate). This option is located at the top left of the MP3 options dialog.

Let me know if this helped.

---Syntrillium Support