Advice for delivering tiny audio files with decent quality

dschmidt · Post by **dschmidt** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:32 am

Hi all-

I've been doing some music for video games, and some of them are games that are downloadable from the web. So, the music tracks need to be very small files.

So far, I've seen games use OGG Vorbis files, or WAV files at low bit rates.

Does anyone have any advice about the best settings to use to get small files without completely destroying the sound quality?

Which varibles are best to tweak? Sample rate? Number of bits? Stereo/Mono?

For example, I tried 8 bit mono WAV's @ 44.1KHz but that sounds absolutely aweful.

Also, given this kind of final delivery format, are there any mastering tricks that can maximize sonic quality (i.e. EQ, etc.) for low bit-rate audio?

Thanks for any tips!

Cheers,
David

jarok · Post by **jarok** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:22 pm

Hi

If you must have low bit rates on those mixes. I suggest that you do some
mixing with those samples in an application that can run on low rates.
Then you can at least hear those sounds in the same environment as the final product will be.

What application can do that?

jarok

KarlSutton · Post by **KarlSutton** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:39 pm

I don't remember where I read this but isn't there a way to store mp3's in wav format? Therefore creating small yet decent sound wav files? Anyone remember this article? I only read Keyboard, EM & mix so it was in one of those magazines. Sorry I don't have more specific info.

Dwetmaster · Post by **Dwetmaster** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 6:41 am

I also work on video games for mobile devices so I face the same challenge as you do everyday. If it is supported, the first thing to use is 22050 instead of 44.1, then mono. that's if you're staying in WAV of Course. MP3 can be another option but you have to clear the licensing first. The file type will depend on which device will your games be played on. Then if there's is room for the codec to be sent with the game and if you have the right licence to send it.

Make sure everything is really compressed (I'm talking about dynamic compression here) and well eq'd. The first thing that is disappearing will be high and low frequency. There are a few plugins that emulate low bit and sample rate. You could just work in DP and put one of these on the master fader. You could just google bitcrusher or lo-fi plugin.
good luck!

dschmidt · Post by **dschmidt** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 5:10 pm

Thanks for all the great info, this is exactly what I was looking for.

I also posted this question to the Game Audio Network Guild (audiogang.org) forums, and I got some other good tips:

* If OGG Vorbis is an option (playback engines are freely licensable), OGG music can sound "acceptable" all the way down to a bitrate of 64Kbps
* Use multiband compression and pay attention to the lower frequencies