Tip for exporting stereo files to mp3
I've had problems for a while with sound quality. My exported mp3 files (from Audacity) have sounded tinny and a bit distorted despite the original wav files being of good quality. My solution up until now has been to export with a bitrate of 192 rather than the most common 128, but that results in larger files.
After experimenting with lots of things, I've discovered the reason: My (external) recording device records in stereo, and the default in Audacity is then to export the mp3 file in stereo. The other alternative is joint stereo, and choosing this gives a much higher sound quality! Google tells me that if the two parts of the stereo track are quite similar (as they are if you're recording one voice, but not if you're recording a band or something), then joint stereo smooshes the information together. This means that it doesn't need to store as much information, and thus doesn't need to shave as much off the sound quality to reach the same file size.
Conclusion: if you are recording podfic in stereo, you should export in joint stereo.
(Of course, you don't actually need to record in stereo to get good quality for podfic. Mono is just fine.)
After experimenting with lots of things, I've discovered the reason: My (external) recording device records in stereo, and the default in Audacity is then to export the mp3 file in stereo. The other alternative is joint stereo, and choosing this gives a much higher sound quality! Google tells me that if the two parts of the stereo track are quite similar (as they are if you're recording one voice, but not if you're recording a band or something), then joint stereo smooshes the information together. This means that it doesn't need to store as much information, and thus doesn't need to shave as much off the sound quality to reach the same file size.
Conclusion: if you are recording podfic in stereo, you should export in joint stereo.
(Of course, you don't actually need to record in stereo to get good quality for podfic. Mono is just fine.)