.WAV files are much larger than expected

[kgrizzaffi]

I tried Goldwave today for the first time. I recorded one side of an album (LP) and the resulting file size was over 800MB! I knew something was wrong when I recorded a single song and the resulting file was 450MB in size. I loaded another program similar to GoldWave and recorded a single song that ended up being about 24MB (which is about what I'd expect). I know that .wav files are very large by nature but I can't explain why I'm getting such large files from Goldwave. To my knowledge, I recorded at a sampling rate of 44100. I even tried a lower sampling rate and still ended up with an extremely large file (600MB). I'd appreciate any feedback on what I might be doing wrong. I did not see any information in FAQs. Thanks in advance for the help!

[Stiiv]

You may have recorded the WAVs at different settings in GW than in the other program. WAV format is a container, & WAV files can have many different attributes & use many different codecs. My hunch is that you're recording at a higher resolution in GW...for instance, you may inadvertently be using 24-bit resolution (or higher). That would increase the file size drastically, & in the case of LP recording, such high res is useless anyway.

Those are the first things I'd check, pal. Let us know if you make any progress.

[DougDbug]

An uncompressed, 44.1kHz, 16-bit stereo file is about 10MB per minute.

A 24-bit file will be 50% bigger and a 32-bit file will be twice as big.

If you are burning a CD or making an MP3, there is nothing wrong with using a higher bit-depth. Your CD-burning or MP3-encoding software will (usually) convert the file.

This can be calculated* (if you wanted to). 16-bits is 2 bytes, and since it's (probably) stereo, there are 4 bytes per sample. And, there are 44,100 samples per second.

The file size for a compressed file is determined by its bitrate (kbps). Kilobits-per-second can be scaled-up to Megabytes-per-minute.


Since you mentioned recording LPs...

There are lots of hints & tips about recording/digitizing LPs on this page.


I will almost always do the following:

If the CD is available, I'll buy it! My LP-to-CD transfers almost never turn-out quite "CD quality". (It's sometimes impossible to remove all of the noise.)

I always check for clipping. I run Maximize to check the peak level, and if it's 0dB I assume it's clipped and I re-record. (Clipping is distorted flat-topped "waves", caused by trying to go above the digital maximum of 0dB.)

I use Wave Repair ($30 USD) to remove "ticks", "clicks", and "pops". It does an amazing job by replacing the defect with the just-preceding or just-following few milliseconds of sound (or a couple of other methods). WARNING - This can be very time consuming. Wave Repair seems to work best when used manually. It usually takes me a day (or a weekend) to fix-up an LP.

I try some noise reduction and/or noisegate. Sometimes there can be artifacts (side effects), so I don't always apply these "filters".

If it's an old "dull sounding" recording, I'll add some high-end boost (with the Equalizer).

After I'm done with any other processing, I always Maximize (normalize) or use GoldWave's MaxMatch. This sets the level so that the peaks are exactly 0dB, giving the best signal-to-noise ratio at playback time. It's generally best to normalize the whole album as a single WAV file to retain the relative level between the tracks... Some songs are supposed to be louder or softer than others.

Whenever I burn a CD, I always make an extra archive/back-up copy. If I'm doing lots of processing, I make an un-processed archive CD too.

* You can't always make an exact calculation, because there is some "overhead" in the file (file header, etc.).

[mh]

The only way I can figure you're getting such huge file sizes is if you're saving as a 192 KHz 64 bit format. I'd advise to check the bit rate you select when you create a new file, and to check your default save format.

Note that what rate you actually record at is not really relevant here (in fact GW doesn't seem to have a means of setting that), it's the rate you create the new file at (through the File | New dialog) that determines the sampling rate of the resulting WAV.

[DewDude420]

800 MB per side is (roughly) about 24.2 minutes (my calculations could be off) for 96/24 PCM.

most LP's aren't 24 minutes...they're somewhere around 18. is it possible you've got a lot of silent space?

Note that what rate you actually record at is not really relevant here (in fact GW doesn't seem to have a means of setting that), it's the rate you create the new file at (through the File | New dialog) that determines the sampling rate of the resulting WAV.

this is untrue. when you create a file in goldwave, it sets the driver software to sample at that rate (or rather, it requests that rate from WDM). Generally WDM can set the rate of the card, however, generally it resamples. If you're doing something strange like doing bit-matched recording..then audio can be pumped into goldwave that's not any relation to it's sampling rate setting..in which case it's a playback rate mismatch and you'll get a slow playback or chipmunk effect. this is likely not his problem as he's recording from an analog input..but the point is...goldwave does have things to not only resample the entire wave if needed (which preserves pitch), or merely modify the sample rate variable without modifying the code. this was the method I used for transferring reel-tapes. I recorded at 96/24 in half-speed on the deck and simply modified the playback rate to 192.

but seriously, i think you're just saving the file in a larger format than the 44/16 you're expecting.

[GoldWave Inc.]

Make sure you trim off any trailing silence after recording. If you create a new file with an initial length of 1 hour and only record 5 minutes, you'd have 55 minutes of trailing silence that you do not want to save. When recording stops, the finish marker moves to the end of the recording. Use Edit | Trim to remove any unused time.

Chris