Pre-sales questions

Ken-Eisenberg wrote on 7/3/2023, 7:16 AM

Should I purchase Sound Forge, Pro, or Audio Cleaning Lab, for creating MP3 files that I can save permanently in the cloud? I have 50+ year old audio that is on tape media. Which is the simplest product to use for digitizing this old audio? I have iPad, I-phone, Windows laptop, or Windows desktop with Microsoft 10. Thank you, Ken

Comments

SP. wrote on 7/3/2023, 7:42 AM

@Ken-Eisenberg For backups always use the best audio quality. This would be WAV (or FLAC to save storage space), not MP3.

I recommend that you install the demo version of the program you want to try.

Do you have a way to connect your tape player to your computer via an audio interface?

Is the tape quality still good? Or do you need to do some audio cleaning?

Ken-Eisenberg wrote on 7/3/2023, 9:01 AM

SP, thanks! Yes, tapes are OK, been using Audacity with Behringer interface, but works and then does not, so Demo version is good plan.

rraud wrote on 7/3/2023, 10:42 AM

I always recommend working in the PCM format, typically <.wav>, when additional editing and rendering is to be done. FLAC is a (mathematically) lossy format and multiple saves 'could' audibly affect the quality (though I have not experimented). Same with 'Perfect Clarity Audio <.pca)>. PCM files are larger than lossy formats, though very small compared to uncompressed video. Most PCs have ample storage space these days.
Another option is saving in SF's Project File format <frg>, which is non-destructive no matter the source format. There may be lots of PCM temp files though. Opening and saving is slower as well than the typical destructive editing.

SP. wrote on 7/3/2023, 11:45 AM

@rraud The L in FLAC stands for Lossless, so I don't think it's lossy in any way. It's more like a ZIP compressed audio file.

johnebaker wrote on 7/3/2023, 1:07 PM

@rraud, @SP.

Hi

. . . . The L in FLAC stands for Lossless, so I don't think it's lossy in any way. . . .

The 'lossless' in this instance refers to the compression applied to the audio file once it is encoded, ie what goes into the compressor comes out 100% identical from the decompressor - no loss of data in the encoded audio stream.

Losses can occur when transcoding an audio file to the FLAC audio codec which is LPCM.

FLAC is a good alternative to WAV if disk space is critical.

John EB

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rraud wrote on 7/3/2023, 3:48 PM

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) uses more processing power to decode. A few folks have reported Sound Forge choking on them when proxy is not enabled. They are also not recommended for internet streaming so it is not a good end-user format. Pros and cons to most file types.
btw, whatever ever happened to Neil Young's short lived PONO player I think if was called.. or something that five or so years ago. They claimed a 96k/24 PCM sound, but whats the sense if the files are PCM size.