Download and Edit (screw with) a podcast

July 27, 2007 5:07 PM

I'm trying to chop up a friend's podcast, as a joke, using Adobe Audition.

The cast is downloaded as an Mpeg Layer 3 (mp3) and is about 40meg in size. Audition is telling me that the format is unsupported for import. Something is amiss here, most likely my being a newb (dumbass) w/ audition. Perhaps the file is too large. Any ideas?

I'll be around if anyone needs mo info. Thanks!

posted by snsranch to technology (8 comments total)

I don't know about Audition, but the free and open-source Audacity will handle MP3s pretty easily
posted by chrisamiller at 5:09 PM on July 27, 2007

Decode it to a .wav file first.
posted by pompomtom at 5:17 PM on July 27, 2007

Thanks chrisamiller, I've tried a couple other audio/recording/mixer things and they haven't worked either. I think it's a file size problem.

But while you're thinking that way, maybe I should look into something specifically for podcasts so I can edit the size before importing to whatever.
posted by snsranch at 5:17 PM on July 27, 2007

pompomtom, mmm, yea, slow kids playing here, how? That sounds like a good idea though.
posted by snsranch at 5:25 PM on July 27, 2007

It's not the file size. I open 500+ meg files in Audition several times a day. 40M is a pretty trivial file for a program like that.

My guess would be that it's a poorly encoded mp3 - I've had problems in the past with some mp3s that I've gotten online. They'll play in some players, but not others, and strangely, the only thing I've been able to open them with for editing is an older version of Vegas Video.

If you can get something to convert it, that would be my first step - Audition would definitely be happier with a good broadcast WAV than a shitty mp3. Freerip claims to convert audio formats, but it's been a while since I've needed anything like that on windows, so I'm not going to promise anything.

If you can't find anything, email me the URL for the file, and I might be able to open it in Peak, and reencode it as something a little more manageable.
posted by god hates math at 6:18 PM on July 27, 2007

Also, which version of Audition are you using? I'm guessing that since you're doing this as a joke, you procured this version of Audition through... less than reputable means? It might be rather a bit older than the current version, and that could *possibly* be part of the issue.
posted by god hates math at 6:20 PM on July 27, 2007

god hates math, it's edition 1.5 if that's helpful at all. I think you're right about shitty mp3. I can import it now, but only hear static regardless of the properties that I choose. I'll definitely have to figure out how to convert the file.

Another problem is that it's downloading w/ Quicktime, which is asking me to purchase Pro to manipulate the file.

Also: Shhhh.

http://media-c02m02.libsyn.com/podcasts/a8da8b2b759eeec8072356f9ddc82930/46aa9fa5/mathowie/Show_11__Music_Challenge_Party_and_TravelFilter.mp3

or any other of those. Thanks man, sounds like you know what's up with this stuff.
posted by snsranch at 6:49 PM on July 27, 2007

Interesting. It appears to have been encoded in iTunes. Weird that it wouldn't open in Audition - maybe it has something to do with that header file weirdness that iTunes uses? I'm not sure if that's on all files in iTunes, or just the iTMS purchases.

Anyway, I'm re-encoding (using Max for OSX), and I'll email you a link.
posted by god hates math at 7:53 PM on July 27, 2007