Shortening an audio file

[BarryC]

Hey Dr. Doom,
How did you chop a piece out of that audio file earlier, the one with Bruce Kopstein? I ask because some time ago I used my WM Recorder to record the streaming file of D. James Kennedy's funeral off of one of the Coral Ridge websites. The problem is the file starts with some annoying electronic tones, along with a picture of Dr. Kennedy, shown for 35 min., 20 sec. straight!

The funeral starts after all that. I wanted to chop that off if possible. I just happened to think of it now.
It's a 512 mb asf file, which is fine with me. The part of the file that I want to keep is about 2 hrs., 45 min. long, something like that.

Thanks,
Barry

[mkafrica]

Barry,

Well, I'm not the Doc, but this might be able to help you, lol.

If you have a Windows PC, then Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) is a pretty good audio editing software. That should be able to do it.

[oldcoastie]

For years I've used Sound Recorder and Sound Editor from PolderbitS. The programs were free when I downloaded them. I've used them 100s of times.

[DoctorDoom]

I use GoldWave v5.23 (http://www.goldwave.com/), which is a powerful and flexible audio file editor. For the clipped segment, I moved the slider on the Real Alternative player to just before the start of the piano segment, and clicked the GW Record button. It then recorded the playing. When it ended, I clicked the Record Stop button and used the Trim function to clip the unwanted stuff at the beginning and end.

After that, the program recorded it as an MP3 (note: MP3s require LAME_ENC.DLL, which isn't included but is available on the Web).

I am unfamiliar with the programs mentioned by mkafrica and oldcoastie, but they'll no doubt do the basic functions.

[BarryC]

Thanks to all 3 of you. I will check into those.
Barry

[BarryC]

Oh shoot. The file I want to shorten is a video file. Boy do I feel stupid! What the heck is wrong with me? (Don't answer that.) It's obvious that a video clip is not an audio file but a video file. But you know me. I'm dyslexic.
Anyway, I want to shorten this video clip by chopping off the first 35 or so minutes of it. Any suggestions? I figure DoctorDoom might have a program that he really likes. If people on these forums like something, generally i'd go with their recommendations.
I hope someone is still reading this thread.

Thanks again,
Barry

[mkafrica]

Personally, I have a Mac and I use Final Cut... Unfortunately, I don't really know about many other software programs for video editing.

I did, however, find this article on about.com. Maybe it can help :)

LINK (http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/editingsoftware/a/freevidedit.htm)

[DoctorDoom]

I don't do any video editing, so I have no clue about what works. According to Mickeysoft, Windows Movie Maker for XP allows editing video.

Editing within Movie Maker 2 ... how to remove unwanted "junk" video (http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/Tutorials/HowToEditVideo.aspx)

[BarryC]

I downloaded something last night, after much searching. I shortened the file, but it also shrank the screen size, and nearly took all night doing it I think.
This stupid computer doesn't have XP, just 2000 Professional.
Thanks anywy.

[BarryC]

Well I found a program last night that I thought was going to be good. The first time I cut the file it turned out to also have a noticeably smaller screen size. So then I went into the options or whatever and clicked on cable whatever (although I don't understand what my internet connection speed has to do with a video I'm trying to cut, but whatever. I tried cutting the file again and the screen size stayed the same this time. But the new video was badly pixelated, even though the file size in Megabytes was still very large. So I gave up on that program (Kate's video toolbox, or something).

Besides, the stupid thing edits the file in real-time. In other words, if the file is 3 hours long, it takes 3 hours to cut it! Forget that. I'm going to try and find another program. Otherwise I'll just deal with the file I have. Maybe when I get my own computer back I can install Windows Moviemaker on it. I believe my dad put XP on that computer, unlike this one.

[BarryC]

As you may remember, my computer failed in February, 2007. Last Friday or Saturday I got it back. It's actually all new. My dad put in a 2.8 Ghz Pentium D, with a 224 gig hard-drive and 896 MB of RAM. Very nice.

As you also may remember, from this post, I was wanting to chop the first 35 minutes off of a long video clip I had downloaded, but didn't have the software to do it. Well last night I did that, using Windows Movie Maker. It turned out great.

Just thought I'd let people know that I have the computer now and I was successful with my video clip. Now I can watch D. James Kennedy's funeral more easily.
Barry

[PrezLeefun]

Movie Maker works just fine for me....Damn that was redundant.

[BarryC]

It looks like a great program. I think I can find other uses for it.