Audio AIFF file WAY to BIG for DSP

Question

Level 1

140 points

Audio AIFF file WAY to BIG for DSP

I am trying to finish burning my DVD studio pro project and am out of room. I noticed that my AIFF file is 1.3 GB!!!

My question is this:

Is there a way to reduce this AIFF file size without compromising quality or use another format that DSP understands like AC3 and in turn be much smaller file size?

Thanks.

Power Mac G5, Dual 2.0, Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Posted on Mar 30, 2006 10:55 AM

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Answer 1

Paul Wharff Author

Level 1

140 points

Mar 30, 2006 11:06 AM in response to Paul Wharff

Also, I'm amazed that Compressor made this audio file so huge. If I remember correctly, there use to be a program called A-Pack that did a much better job for compressing the audio, right? Any help on how to get this audio file much smaller, would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Answer 2

Hal MacLean

Level 6

14,833 points

Mar 30, 2006 11:10 AM in response to Paul Wharff

You can use AC3 easily enough - encode it using A.Pack or Compressor 2.

A stereo file done at 192kbps will be about a tenth the size of your .aiff file (not to mention the bandwidth reduction...)

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Answer 3

Paul Wharff Author

Level 1

140 points

Mar 30, 2006 11:17 AM in response to Hal MacLean

Ok, I used Compressor 2 to convert my AIFF to AC3 and the file is now 111 MB. So I got excited until I noticed that when I imported it back into DSP and added it to the track, my "space" indicator still showed that the file is too big to fit on the disk, even though under my Assets tab, it shows the file size as being 111 MB. It makes me wonder if DSP is gonna re-convert the file back to AIFF for burning and therefore making the audio file big again. Maybe this is why the status indicator under my Assets tab for this AC3 file shows yellow and not green? Help!

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Answer 4

Paul Wharff Author

Level 1

140 points

Mar 30, 2006 11:22 AM in response to Paul Wharff

I'm sorry, I mis-spoke. I used Compressor to encode the AIFF file to AAC, which resulted in an .mp4 file. Once I purchased DSP 4.0, suddenly my A-Pack application disappeared and Compressor appeared. I want my A-Pack back! Everything else in my previous post was true, except the AC3 part.

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Answer 5

Hal MacLean

Level 6

14,833 points

Mar 30, 2006 11:26 AM in response to Paul Wharff

A.Pack got absorbed in to Compressor 2 - we all lost A.Pack when we upgraded (I think some folks have used Pacifist to get to the app in the DVDSP3 installer discs, but I haven't bothered). The functionality of A.Pack is all in Compressor, in pretty much the same interface.

Look for Dolby Digital options in the encoder settings...

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Answer 6

Paul Wharff Author

Level 1

140 points

Mar 30, 2006 12:15 PM in response to Hal MacLean

That's strang, I do NOT see a preset setting for Dolby Digital. Could this be because I have only Final Cut Express and not pro? Because I do own DSP 4.0, shouldn't it come with that?

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Answer 7

Mar 30, 2006 12:51 PM in response to Paul Wharff

I think it's labeled as "Dolby 2.0" or something like that.

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Answer 8

Paul Wharff Author

Level 1

140 points

Mar 30, 2006 1:17 PM in response to Steve Boultbee

It's not there, really. I'm gonna try to re-install. No mention of Dolby or AC3.

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Answer 9

Hal MacLean

Level 6

14,833 points

Mar 30, 2006 2:23 PM in response to Paul Wharff

Check the audio settings in the drop down list (settings) when you add a file to the batch window. The second or third option is for Audio formats, and Dolby is in there.

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Answer 10

Paul Wharff Author

Level 1

140 points

Mar 30, 2006 3:10 PM in response to Hal MacLean

I've checked dozens of times now. Under Audio, all that is there is:

AAC
AAC Streaming
AIFF (about 5 other AIFF's with different hz)

And that's all that is included under Audio settings. If you like, I can send you a screenshot. This really boggles my mind that it isn't there.

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Answer 11

Mar 30, 2006 3:44 PM in response to Paul Wharff

You could try removing all the presets, which should be in either ~/Library/Application Support/Compressor or /Library/Application Support/Compressor. When you launch Compressor after removing the presets, it should regenerate them from its default list.

If you choose to try this, I'd simply move the existing presets to the desktop, not the trash, in the event that Compressor doesn't regenerate them.

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Answer 12

Links

Level 4

1,780 points

Mar 30, 2006 3:44 PM in response to Paul Wharff

I trust you are running Compressor 2.0.1

In the audio format dropdown list you should see all of the following:

AAC 128 kbps
AAC 128 kbps Streaming
AIFF 44.1/16
AIFF 48/16
AIFF 48/24
AIFF 96/24
Dolby (Auto)
Dolby 2.0
Dolby 5.1

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Answer 13

Paul Wharff Author

Level 1

140 points

Mar 30, 2006 6:35 PM in response to Links

Ok, this is what I have tried since. I reinstalled, DSP 2.0 on my Power Mac G4 (as opposed to my default machine, my Power Mac G5) to get A.Pack back, which worked, however around 99% done and it crashed. So I thought, I'll try installing DSP 4.0 on my Power Mac G4 (as opposed to my Power Mac G5). Strange thing is, it did the same thing as my Power Mac G5 and only showed AAC and AIFF as options under the Audio presets. Then I got to thinking that maybe going from DSP 2.0 to DSP 4.0 somehow had something to do with this problem of mine. So I decided to install DSP 4.0 on my PowerBook G4, which has never had any version of DSP on it and I couldn't believe my eyes, but it worked. Dolby Automatic, Dolby 2.0 and Dolby 5.0 (or something close to that (from memory)) showed in the Audio presets folder. It took about 25 minutes to encode on my PowerBook and imported perfectly on DSP and is burning as we speak. I think after this I'll try Steve Boultbee's suggestion of deleting the AS folders and see if this fixes the problem on my G5. Thanks to everyone.

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