As some of you have noticed, we've been working hard (especially LilJim) on the Audio Portal.

I made a brash decision recently that has caused some alarm among users... I decided we should clear out all of the sound effects. This was a tough decision, because there were a lot of good sound effects. However, I just didn't like where things were going. Most of the sound effects weren't created by the persons submitting them - so they weren't really worth crediting anyone for. There were so many gunshot sounds being uploaded that it was becoming redundant. People were uploading movie quotes, popular video game sounds and quotes, and although they may all be useful, it would have become infinitely over-filled.

We are currently debating one of two things:
1) Rely on people to contribute only their own original sound effects... Which would be easier with our new screening system.
2) Scrap the sound effects category completely, and instead offer a few pre-packaged ZIP files with select sound effects.

If we don't allow users to submit sound effects, it will limit the growth of the archive. However, having some select zip files would be much more organized. For example, there would be a zip file of "guns and explosions", a zip file of "swords and fighting", and stuff along those lines.

What do you think - should we continue to let users submit sounds, or should we just offer some pre-made packages? Should we allow users to submit sounds that they did not make?

PART II.

One more thing to debate. The Audio Portal currently accepts submissions in WAV or MP3 format. We recently added a preview button, which was made in Flash. If the audio file is MP3, the preview button is able to import it and play it with ease. If it is a WAV, however, the button is unable to import it - it has to call on the file to open in your browser some other way (my browser has a little media player sidebar that pops out).

Users are starting to find this annoying. We all want consistency. There is software for porting audio files into Flash files (Swish), but even that only looks like it accepts MP3s. Does anyone know a valid way we can automate the process of playing WAV files from the preview button?

If not... We are considering the option of not accepting WAV files. MP3 files are more bandwidth-friendly anyway, but the downside is that this may make more work for some of our contributors. Most of the audio is in MP3 format anyway, but I don't want to count anyone out.

So this question is especially important to those who work with audio - what do you think? Should we only accept MP3 files? Do you have any issues with that?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

can we submit songs?

If not... We are considering the option of not accepting WAV files. MP3 files are more bandwidth-friendly anyway, but the downside is that this may make more work for some of our contributors. Most of the audio is in MP3 format anyway, but I don't want to count anyone out.

So this question is especially important to those who work with audio - what do you think? Should we only accept MP3 files? Do you have any issues with that?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

I think that you should scrap wav files, MP3 is better quality and as you say more banwidth friendly.

Just do the pre-packaged zips, but maybe have a form that will accept users files, but puts them in a "secret" folder for you and the staff to review. Then you pick and choose what goes into the pre-packs.

Depends on how much work YOU want to do in the audio portal ;)

As for only accepting mp3s, fuck em, make them work. Otherwise you'll have these huge files that could easily be a lot smaller (just like un-optimized flash in the portal).

So now i gotta resubmitt all my Animal sound effects that i uploaded grrrrrrrrr.

Only allowing Mp3's is fine. I submitted some stuff yesterday and I had to convert in to Mp3 simply because of the size issue. If you can find some freeware for doing the conversion and post it somwhere then it'll be a fine idea.

My only real suggestion to the audio (why does that look mispelt?) portal is to relax a little bit with the size constraints. Is a pain in the ass.

I like the idea of the zipped package . Its way easy and good to use for authors. Also let only mp3s to be uploaded. If a user needs a wav then convert it your self.

To tell you the truth the audio section is a bad idea in my opinion because flashkit is much easy and wider range... the flash portal is the best thing on the web ... you should concentrate on making that even better

First, I honestly think you should leave the audio portal open to all users for submission. I think it should stay like the flash portal.

Screening, yes. But offer an incentive: if you upload crap like copyrighted material, you get experience points deducted, possibly even banned from the site.

As to the format question: everyone here has (or should have, I'd think) an MP3 player. Most mp3 players will also convert .wav to .mp3. So it wouldn't be bad to just allow mp3 files.
Also, why not just provide a direct link to the file? Users click, and most will get a little window with the track in it to preview. If they like it, they save it to disk. Why make them download twice? I should think this option would also cut back on bandwidth.

At 3/6/03 11:17 AM, i_need_nos_2003 wrote: I think that you should scrap wav files, MP3 is better quality <snip>

Err, where did you hear (no pun intended) that? MP3 is compressed data. Meaning that quality is reduced because high and low level frequency sound is cut out. The highest frequency a human ear can detect, I believe, is around 22Khz. I remember reading somewhere that the average high frequencies MP3s use are around 18Khz. The more highly compressed the sound, the more frequency cut off there is, making the sounds more wish-washy, or as if they are being broadcast on an AM radio channel. MP3s also attempt to copy similar, but not necessarily identical wave-forms, in an attempt to cut down on data.

At 3/6/03 11:13 AM, TomFulp wrote: As some of you have noticed, we've been working hard (especially LilJim) on the Audio Portal.

I made a brash decision recently that has caused some alarm among users... I decided we should clear out all of the sound effects. This was a tough decision, because there were a lot of good sound effects. However, I just didn't like where things were going. Most of the sound effects weren't created by the persons submitting them - so they weren't really worth crediting anyone for. There were so many gunshot sounds being uploaded that it was becoming redundant. People were uploading movie quotes, popular video game sounds and quotes, and although they may all be useful, it would have become infinitely over-filled.

We are currently debating one of two things:
1) Rely on people to contribute only their own original sound effects... Which would be easier with our new screening system.
2) Scrap the sound effects category completely, and instead offer a few pre-packaged ZIP files with select sound effects.

If we don't allow users to submit sound effects, it will limit the growth of the archive. However, having some select zip files would be much more organized. For example, there would be a zip file of "guns and explosions", a zip file of "swords and fighting", and stuff along those lines.

What do you think - should we continue to let users submit sounds, or should we just offer some pre-made packages? Should we allow users to submit sounds that they did not make?

PART II.

One more thing to debate. The Audio Portal currently accepts submissions in WAV or MP3 format. We recently added a preview button, which was made in Flash. If the audio file is MP3, the preview button is able to import it and play it with ease. If it is a WAV, however, the button is unable to import it - it has to call on the file to open in your browser some other way (my browser has a little media player sidebar that pops out).

Users are starting to find this annoying. We all want consistency. There is software for porting audio files into Flash files (Swish), but even that only looks like it accepts MP3s. Does anyone know a valid way we can automate the process of playing WAV files from the preview button?

If not... We are considering the option of not accepting WAV files. MP3 files are more bandwidth-friendly anyway, but the downside is that this may make more work for some of our contributors. Most of the audio is in MP3 format anyway, but I don't want to count anyone out.

So this question is especially important to those who work with audio - what do you think? Should we only accept MP3 files? Do you have any issues with that?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

I'm first :D

I think its better if you have some pre-packed zip files, because there are tons of sound effects already (flashkit.com) and I dont think its usefull in having 100 different gun shots anyway, plus most of them would probably be (almost) the same. So you will end up having 3 or 4 different sounds and for the rest a ton of the same sounds.

About not accepting wav files, Cant you load them into flash using a variable or something like that? You can load external video files so why not .wav files? If its really necceserry you could do MP3'S ONLY, but what I find the problem with mp3's is that you can lower the quality of them in flash. Sometimes I found that If i used a .wav I ended up with a smaller size/quality than using a mp3. I always record my sounds of cd using the windows media recorder. If i record a song it has about the same size as a mp3 with the same quality, but you can use flash to lower the quality to whatever you want, you cant do this with mp3 so you will need to use another prog to compress it again and again untill you got the size you want. This takes up time wich you could use for something else. Personally I like wav better than mp3 because its more flexibel with flash. But that just my opinion. mp3 is usfull too, sometimes.

MzZl

I would say make it MP3 submissions only. As for sound effects, pre-packaged is a good idea except for one thing....every other new submission in the portal will be using the same sound effects. Personally, I find that pretty annoying.

We are currently debating one of two things:
1) Rely on people to contribute only their own original sound effects... Which would be easier with our new screening system.
2) Scrap the sound effects category completely, and instead offer a few pre-packaged ZIP files with select sound effects.

i might have an idea, but it might not be great
what if there were a group of people who sampled the submitted audio before it was added to the portal, thereby reducing duplicates or screening out copyrighted material? they could also have the power to not let a million gunshot sounds in
its far-fetched, but it might work

At 3/6/03 11:39 AM, tongue_of_colicab wrote:

I'm first :D

Um, not quite. But really, the sound portal is beneficial to many people, I don't know how many sound effects people use on it, but i'm sure if they were grouped together in zip then people would not mind, so long as they were similar enough. And so long as it doesn't infringe on copywrite laws (which was the reason the audio portal was established in the first place) then it would be fine.

I think you'll end up stunting the portal. you'll limit the sound variety found in the portal - at least with hundreds of different gun shot sounds, as an author, you can get 'the' one you want.
However if you can still provide a wide variety in the select audio zips then that would be ok, but i still reckon people that frequent the audio archives will be sat there going 'oh yeah thats from crashes2.zip' and users will become bored of the same sounds on diffrent animations.

definately go with zip-packages... as it is now (especially with wav-files playing in windows media player instead of the browser(! horrible)), it kills my computer trying to find the right sounds and it takes ages.

Furthermore, I think Shuffy has a point when he said
"To tell you the truth the audio section is a bad idea in my opinion because flashkit is much easy and wider range..."

Flashkit's Sound center is so much better than the Audio Portal, as it was until now, so it is kinda redundant. But flashkit are kind of short on Sound FX (not loops), so I'd love to see more here. I think you should allow copyrighted sounds to be uploaded(or at any case, not do anything about them), because as it is now, everybody with access to those sounds from games are using them. I don't play computer games so my sound library is tiny, to say the least.

What if you make is so only pre-approved people can upload to the Audio Portal? Then If some one enw wants to, they'd hafto send some samples of their own work to you (or some other Audio Portal Admin type). If you dont want to go with that way, I'd say leave the audio portal open and let any one who wants to spend time there looking for what they need can do it.

In either case, having pre-packaged zips is a very good idea because that way people know what they are getting and dont hafto brows around the portal looking for it.

I vote for the zip-file-system and scrap wav mp3 is better in all ways. more bandwithfriendly as you say

adore you Tom...

//Cal

You are not a slave...

I think you should go for the zip file method, and force the use of mp3 over wav.

An idea though. Why not open up sound effect submission on a sporadic basis, so that people can still submit them, but you can control the influx of sound effects and keep it to a level that you can still go through and weed out the stolen and duplicate sounds. The idea could use some work, but I think that a system like that would be good.

i would got mp3 and i would make sound packages for sure. would be alot easier then. if you let people submit sounds like that its a whole new website all together. www.newsounds.com

get my point!!!
goodluck with what ever you do.

anything that will make the audio portal cool and popular is a good thing for newgrounds.

Well, since MP3 is much better anyways, accept MP3 only. I myself have WAV and I only get Sound FX/MUSIC on WAV, but for he better of the people, use MP3.

Not all users have MP3, so less sh*t will come to U.

I think tom that you should have a link to a mp3-wave converter and scrap wav files.

I belive Generator would be able to help you out

At 3/6/03 03:27 PM, FIE wrote: I belive Generator would be able to help you out

i mean with your preview button thing

We are currently debating one of two things:
1) Rely on people to contribute only their own original sound effects... Which would be easier with our new screening system.
2) Scrap the sound effects category completely, and instead offer a few pre-packaged ZIP files with select sound effects.

If we don't allow users to submit sound effects, it will limit the growth of the archive. However, having some select zip files would be much more organized. For example, there would be a zip file of "guns and explosions", a zip file of "swords and fighting", and stuff along those lines.

PART II.

So this question is especially important to those who work with audio - what do you think? Should we only accept MP3 files? Do you have any issues with

I think it would be alot more convienient for users to download a ziped file of a desired category of sound affects. However there may be some problems that arrise from this. This could limit users ability to be original in their work unless these zip files contain a very large variety.

There is also the problem of categorizing these sound affects.Some sound affects could be put into multiple categories depending on which categories decided to create. This may create much more work for you guys.

Regarding the issue of letting users submit work that is not their original work may not be a bad idea. It would be nice to have a big collection in one place. There maybe a legal problem with that though. You would have to make sure to give credit where it is due and only where it is due.

I think the audio portal will continue to become a greater resource for aspiring artists. It is also a great place for users to get recognition for there hard work and talent.

Which ever way you decided to go with the portal, it will still be a great addition.

Keep up the great work.

On a side note, it would be really nice if you added a spell check tool to your bbs. I am not sure how difficult this is, but I am sure lots of users would appreciate it, and for people like me who can not spell very well, it will make us look less like five year old children.

At 3/6/03 11:14 AM, I_Got_Lost wrote: can we submit songs?

no you can't. in fact, now that the sound effects part of the audio portal is gone, you can't submit anything. too bad. i'll bet someone that seeks answers to questions that baffle us all, like yourself, would have incredible songs. maybe even surpassing jimi hendrix and the beatles.

anyway, it's not too much trouble to convert wav to mp3 so i say only allow mp3s.

don't get rid of the sound fx. i think you should just do the few zip folder thing as long as in each folder there is a pretty big variety. because if you let people upload their own you will have to constantly be cleaning out the copyrighted stuff and the crap. this will help keep the audio portal organized and legitimate.

MP3's would be fine by me, and less sound effects would be better too. There's plenty of places you can use to find SFX- http://findsounds.com or http://sounddogs.com are great tools. Or you could just record your own.

alright, this sucks. i understand alot of users have submitted stolen files, and this should be stopped. but that really ruins it for people like me who record thier own sounds and hope to get them used in movies, and we will loose our sound sharing privlages cause of the many dirtbags who submitted stolen sounds.
another problem will be the .wav files. i record all my sounds with my simple MS sound recorder. i have no clue how to make them or record them into .mp3. so, if you made it so that only .mp3 was uploadable, i wouldnt use the audio portal any more. and i think this goes for more than me.
also, please, please, please dont use the zip file idea. i loved to put my sounds up. i think that newgrounds should allow its users to submit thier content while strict rules are in place. i mean, if users submit stolen items to the flash portal, you wouldnt go and destroy the flash portal. you would do (and you do) punish the user who submitted the stolen work. this should go the same for the audio portal.
i might just be one person who really cant change newgrounds, but i hope this gets heard.