Okay, my eyes are now wet and all that...

It's just beautiful

I loved the old version, and I love this new one even more

Very nice, Max. I knew you'd make a good match with Foxamoore.

Might I suggest you cut your sample rate back to 22 kHz, but leave the bit rate at 96 kbps. The file size should be pretty much the same, but I think you'll find it'll sound "smoother", because MP3 throws away samples if it can't fit them into the stream. Even 22 kHz is pushing 96 kbps, but I think it'll mesh better, and might overcome that play problem here in FA. (Sampling at 44.1 kHz for a stereo stream is creating 44,100 x 16 x 2 or 1,411,200 bits of data crammed into a 96,000 bit stream. That's really pushing the compression almost 15:1 in MP3. It really shouldn't go over 8:1 for decent sound.

If you can record at higher rates, the best would be 320 kbps at 44.1 kHz, which is CD-level quality. Then you can down convert that to the lower 96 kbps at 22.050 kHz for posting. That way you have a high quality version for CD work, and a postable version for FA.

Okay, I need some education in this stuff because I have the people on The FuMP complaining that the bit rate or the sample rate or something is too high for Live 365 or something, and I'd rather not have one sample rate for one place and another for another, as that would mean I would have to set it each time I want to convert a wav to an mp3. There are so many variables in an mp3 I honestly don't get it. Can you help?

Yeah, it's probably your sample rate they're complaining about. That rate can not be supported properly by a 96 kbps bit rate.

There are really only two values you need: the sample rate, and the bit rate. The sample rate identifies how often the music level is measured. It's given in Hz or kHz (1000 Hz). The bit rate is how fast the music data is transmitted, and is typically given in bits-per-second or bps. Again, 1.0 kbps is 1,000 bps.

Okay, here's how these two figure interact. The sample rate determines two things: the highest frequency you can record, and the bit rate for raw data streams. Sample rates must be at least 2x the highest frequency you want to record. As the average human ear hears from 20 to 20,000 Hz, the sample rate should be at least 2 x 20,000 or 40 kHz. The sample rate of CD's is 44.1 kHz for that and a few other technical reasons.

Now the sample size could be changed, but most use the standard size of 16 bits/sample. So we'll stay with that. To calculate the bit rate for this sample rate, multiply the sample rate by the sample size times two: for example, a CD would be 44,100 x 16 x 2 = 1.411.200 bps. Why the 2 multiplier? There are two audio streams for stereo! This is the raw data rate. But MP3's do not use raw data. They compress it, like zipping a file. The worst case compression that the MP3 algorithm can produce is about 5:1. Typical compression factors are about 8:1. and it can compress it many times that. However, higher compression means lower quality sound. So for the best sounding MP3, divide that huge number by 5, and that's about how much you need to send: 1,411,200 / 5 = 282,240 bps. many people use 256 kbps, giving just a bit more compression. But for true CD fidelity, you should use 320 kbps (next standard size bigger than 282 kbps.)

Now those numbers are way too big for streaming. Looking at Live365, it appears their top end for streaming is a bit rate of 128 kbps. The two ways to lower your bit rate is to reduce the sample rate, or increase compression. The former will reduce the highest frequency you can record. The latter will degrade the sound because higher compression ratios lose data. You want the music to sound best, so let's see what sample rate works at 128 kbps for a 5:1 compression.

We'll reverse the above calculation to see what a good sample rate should be for this: 128,000 * 5 = 640,000 bps. 640,000 / 16 = 40,000, and divide again by 2 for 20,000 Hz. If we allow for just a little bit more compression than 5:1, we can use a standard sample rate of 22,050 Hz, sometimes marked as 22.1 kHz. This actually works out to about 5.5:1 compression, well below the 8:1 that MP3's typically average. So they're safe numbers. Of course, you've sacrificed your high-end audio frequencies, limiting the top end to just a little over 11 kHz...but most people would never notice the loss.

I think the two values of 128 kbps bit rate and a 22.050 kHz (or 22.1 kHz) sample rate should do you well for posting here and on the FuMP without sacrificing too much in audio quality.

Now how big an audio file is that? Multiply the bit rate by the song length in seconds and divide it by 8. For a three-minute song: 128,000 x 180 / 8 = 2.88 MB (approximately - it's close enough.) So those setting should do you well for both the FuMP and FA, as long as the song doesn't go much beyond 5 minutes. :)

Beautiful before, simply stunning now

bravo, both of you

Soft, and beautiful!

Fox Amoore did a wonderful job with the piano.

I look forward to hearing this piece with the sad viola...