Sounds won't import into GB?

Question

Level 1

1 points

Sounds won't import into GB?

I downloaded some sound effects from the web and when I dragged them from iTunes to GarageBand I got this messages:

"The Audio file boat.wav has a 4 bit format and can't be used"

"The Audio file dog.wav has a 8 bit format and can't be used"

Could someone please tell me where to find Free sound effects that work in GarageBand? Also, what format does GB use? Where is this information in GB?

Thanks

Dual G4 Tower, Mac OS X (10.3.8)

Posted on Apr 12, 2006 2:15 PM

Reply

Answer 1

xs4is

Level 4

2,800 points

Apr 12, 2006 2:22 PM in response to Paint Guy

GB doesn't accept .wav files. Put those in iTunes, highlight them and in the Advanced menu select "Convert to MP3." It will create a new file, so you may have to look for it. to find out a song's format in iTunes, highlight it and hit "apple" "i" to get the info.

Good luck Paint Guy!

xs4is

Reply

Answer 2

HangTime

Level 9

53,853 points

Apr 12, 2006 3:07 PM in response to xs4is

GB does accept .wav file, but they must be 16-bit, not 4.

Reply

Answer 3

xs4is

Level 4

2,800 points

Apr 12, 2006 3:20 PM in response to HangTime

Well slap my face and call me Sally, I've alsways converted my .WAV files to aiff in iTunes!!

That's good to know Hang. Way to save the day (again).

:^)

X

Reply

Answer 4

Paint Guy Author

Level 1

1 points

Apr 12, 2006 3:22 PM in response to Paint Guy

Thanks that worked like a charm.

What is better to use MP3 or .WAV for Sounds?

Reply

Answer 5

HangTime

Level 9

53,853 points

Apr 12, 2006 3:35 PM in response to Paint Guy

.Wav is better, Mp3 tosses out 90% of the musical information. .wav (I'm pretty sure) is uncompressed, thus no information is lost

Reply

Answer 6

HangTime

Level 9

53,853 points

Apr 12, 2006 3:40 PM in response to xs4is

Glad it helped you too, X. Enjoy --Hang

Reply

Answer 7

Paint Guy Author

Level 1

1 points

Apr 17, 2006 9:22 AM in response to HangTime

HangTime

".Wav is better, Mp3 tosses out 90% of the musical information. .wav (I'm pretty sure) is uncompressed, thus no information is lost "

If Mp3 tosses out 90% of the musical information, then what's the point using GarageBand to create music if it can't export .wav files?

So can I get high quality sounds using GarageBand and iTunes?

Reply

Answer 8

HangTime

Level 9

53,853 points

Apr 17, 2006 9:28 AM in response to Paint Guy

GB doesn't export Mp3s, it exports uncompressed AIFF files (lower quality AAC files for podcasts)

Reply

Answer 9

Paint Guy Author

Level 1

1 points

Apr 17, 2006 9:53 AM in response to HangTime

I guess my question is about quality? I make small movies and I want the sound to be good quality. Something I can save and use again and again. I am an artist not a musician, so I don't know much about sound, but if I create music tracks using GarageBand will I be creating high quality sounds and will these be usable by other sound editing applicaions?

Reply

Answer 10

HangTime

Level 9

53,853 points

Apr 17, 2006 10:37 AM in response to Paint Guy

It all depends on your definitions. One man's "quality"...

If you create music in GB, it will export an uncompressed (iow not throw out lots of data) AIFF file sampled at a rate of 44.1K and in 16-bits.

What that means is that in theory it is the same quality you get from a CD. How well it sounds in reality is up to you and your skills, but yes, you should be able to get high quality sound from GB. --Hang

Reply

Answer 11

Paint Guy Author

Level 1

1 points

Apr 18, 2006 8:51 AM in response to HangTime

It all depends on your definitions. One man's
"quality"...

If you create music in GB, it will export an
uncompressed (iow not throw out lots of data) AIFF
file sampled at a rate of 44.1K and in 16-bits.

What that means is that in theory it is the same
quality you get from a CD. How well it sounds in
reality is up to you and your skills, but yes, you
should be able to get high quality sound from GB.
--Hang

HangTime

That's good news. One last question, I don't know if you have used iMovie, but what IYO is the best sound format for iMovie? and is AIFF a high quality format. I imagine it must be or Apple wouldn't use it.

AIFF WAV MP3 Confused as to which is good, better, best!

Reply

Answer 12

HangTime

Level 9

53,853 points

Apr 18, 2006 8:56 AM in response to Paint Guy

I've used iMovie, but not brought a GB song in. I would assume that GB's standard export (AIFF) would be best. I don't know if iMovie supports WAV at all (you might want to ask iMovie questions in the iMovie forum, where the iMovie experts are).

AIFF = uncompressed, no data thrown out
WAV = uncompressed, no data thrown out
Mp3 = compressed, TONS of data thrown out, typically 90%

Reply

Answer 13

Apr 18, 2006 3:09 PM in response to Paint Guy

definitely juse use the uncompressed AIFF that GarageBand exports.
Because that audio is eventually going to be put into another compressed format most likely (for mp4's or for DVD use, I assume).
Best to start with the best quality you can.

Reply