[vox-tech] Re: mp3 files sound like alvin and the chipmunks

D & E Radel vox-tech@lists.lugod.org
Wed, 23 Apr 2003 10:20:25 +1200


> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 08:49:09 -0700
> From: Jonathan McPherson <jamcp@ucdavis.edu>
> To: vox-tech@lists.lugod.org
> Organization: University of California, Davis
> Subject: [vox-tech] mp3 files sound like alvin and the chipmunks
> Reply-To: vox-tech@lists.lugod.org
>
>
> --VbJkn9YxBvnuCH5J
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>
> Hello,
>
> Since you folks were so helpful with setting up exim (which is now
> working happily) ... thought I'd throw this one out.
>
> I have a fairly large number of MP3 files (all legal (-:). Many of
> my friends are interested in music and have sent me recordings of
> themselves in MP3 format. These recordings seem to inevitably sound like
> Alvin and the Chipmunks when they play back.

-Similar sitution, and kind of a solution for you-

I have a dual boot machine. Debian on one partition and Win98SE on the other.
I have similar results with .ogg files. If I record a wav file at 48khz and
convert to .ogg, it plays fine on Windows, but plays speed up on Debian.

My soundcard is a SoundBlaster Live! Value PCI and uses kernel 2.4.20 drivers.

My solution was to convert the wavs to 44.1khz under Windows, and convert to
.ogg. The result is a 44.1khz .ogg file that Debian likes. If I convert files
under Debian with Audacity, the result is a slowed down track. eg: convert a
44.1khz track to 22.khz, and instead of a file that plays at correct speed with
reduced sound quality, the result is a 'Barry White on drugs' slow-mo sound.

Similar results happen if I change the kde sound settings to 48khz. All the
system sounds are speed up.

Solution? Ensure that all sound files are recorded/encoded/play/stay at 44.1khz.