Razor
Lame -For reducing the size of your file - the original
and still the best.
Razor
Lame Tutorial
RazorLame is a so-called
"front-end" for use with LAME.
LAME is a great MP3-Encoder: it's very fast, it produces high-quality
files, has many advanced features (like Variable Bitrates and
Joint-Stereo), and it's open source. Unfortunately, it is a command line
utility, and that is where RazorLame comes in: It provides an easy-to-use
graphical user-interface which makes MP3-encoding even easier!
IMPORTANT:
Do not use Variable Bit Rate with MSI Web Jukebox.
Why do we
use Razor Lame: Most
of the mp3 files you will be using are still quite large so by using
Razorlame we can reduce the size considerably increasing the audience for
your Jukebox. For high quality you would not have to reduce the file size
at all and most cable users will be able to listen to clear quality stereo
files with no problems. Lower bandwidth users however will find it keeps
cutting in ands out depending on their connection.
Also you will
be using up a lot of bandwidth if you have large MP3 files so it is a good
idea to cut them down if this is a consideration. So you can test the
difference I have made five variations of the same file so you can judge
the difference for yourself.
Organization:
The important thing when doing audio is get organized. Copy all your
files that you want to use in one folder called say audio. Create a
new folder in your MSI Jukebox program folder called my project. You can
batch process the files with Razorlame but it will require you to save
them into this other folder. Then when you use MSI Jukebox you have all
the files in one place. Once they are processed and copied into the output
you can delete the folders to free up space.
So here is a
excerpt that was free on Amazon and is from the Lord of the Rings.
File
Htz (00)
Bits
Size KB
Original
44,1
128
752
Lowest
22.05
16
94
Double
22.05
32
188
Optimal
22.05
56
329
Of course it is up to you to decide the
quality of your streaming however we have
taken the original file and crunched a number of ways and the optimal is
half the original size and will stream over most connections.. Speaking with no music will handle
even more crunching.
The first step when
using RazorLame is to add some files. You can use the
"Add" button, press Ctrl-O, use the menu, or simply drop
some files onto the listview. If you drop a folder, audio files be
added recursively for that folder.
You can sort the list by clicking
on the header buttons, just as you would do in Explorer. Also, you
can change the encoding order through drag and drop.
The Options-Dialog
This is the options
dialog of RazorLame. Normally, you won't have to set many things
here.
The most important item is of
course the location of the LAME executable, so it's probably a
good idea to check if you've got it right.
The LAME Options-Dialog
In this dialog you'll
find almost all the options LAME has to offer. Simply choose
whatever you want, and you're ready to start encoding.
If you ever want to encode using an
option RazorLame doesn't support through it's interface, just add
it in the field "custom options" on the
"Expert" page. You can also load some presets, or save
the settings you use often.
The Progress-Dialog
Here you can see what
LAME is currently doing, and how long it thinks it will take.
When you press the "Send to
tray" button, RazorLame will minimize to the system tray.
When you check the "Shutdown windows when done" option,
RazorLame will try to shutdown windows when the batch is through.
Before that, it'll countdown for 30 seconds, so in case you've
changed your mind, you still can prevent it.
The Histogram
When you're doing ABR or
VBR encodings, you can choose to display a histogram to watch how
the bitrates of the currently encoded song are chosen.
Also, if you choose to do
joint-stereo, you can see how many LR or MS frames are used. If
you don't know exactly what this all means, never mind, but it
sure looks cool, don't you think? ;-)
