MP3 audio issues (static, crackling, popping, clicking) when importing songs into Finale 3D

[DrewFinale]

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We’ve gotten some reports of audio playback artifacts in Finale 3D, such as popping, clicking, or static. Below is a screenshot showing how the issue appears on the Finale 3D timeline. We know that the problem is specific to MP3 files. We aren’t sure why some MP3 files work perfectly, and others cause this issue. Bottom line, we plan to improve how MP3 audio files are handled as soon as we can.

 

In the meantime, there is a good workaround that resolves the issue 100% of the time. All you have to do is use Audacity to encode your music as a WAV file instead of an MP3. You can then import the WAV file into Finale 3D. Or, if you prefer to design your show using an MP3, for example because you are planning to shoot with the Cobra Audio Box, then you can open a new Audacity session, bring in the WAV file, and convert that back to MP3. We’re not sure why, but when a soundtrack is converted to WAV and then the WAV file is converted back to MP3, the issue is resolved 100% of the time.

 

[Walker Pyrotechnics]

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Yeah, this negatively impacted my PyroJam entries, and I didn’t know enough then about how to fix it. The ironic thing is Cobra will only take MP3 files, and Finale will only use wav. For those of us who use both interchangeably this is frustrating.

[DrewFinale]

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Hi PyroWalker, I’m sorry, I hear your frustration, we’ll get this fixed as soon as we can. Unfortunately, it’s not a quick task, we estimate we need to allocate a full week of development time troubleshoot and resolve the issue. In the meantime, you can still you MP3s in Finale 3D, not just WAV files. You just need to convert your soundtrack to WAV and then back to MP3. Here’s a tutorial that demonstrates the process:

[Curtis B]

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Has there been any new development on this? I just tried importing an MP3 and it is still getting the “blip”.

DrewFinale wrote:

Hi PyroWalker, I’m sorry, I hear your frustration, we’ll get this fixed as soon as we can. Unfortunately, it’s not a quick task, we estimate we need to allocate a full week of development time troubleshoot and resolve the issue. In the meantime, you can still you MP3s in Finale 3D, not just WAV files. You just need to convert your soundtrack to WAV and then back to MP3. Here’s a tutorial that demonstrates the process: <iframe class=”wp-embedded-content” title=”Fixing MP3 audio artifacts” src=”https://www.loom.com/embed/a3c30e578310494a9176c9564a02db20#?secret=nuiHeaVyYY&#8221; width=”1140″ height=”855″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”true”></iframe>

[DrewFinale]

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Hey Curtis B, sorry, not yet. We’ve been prioritizing other bug fixes since this bug has an easy workaround that’s 100% reliable.

[PyroDan]

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Did anyone ever figure out how to fix this (outside of using audacity).

 

I had same issue on mp3 file which had the click in F3D, but not on file.  Wav would not upload into f3d at all.

 

Changed bit depth from 24 to 16 and it seemed to solve the problem for me when exporting mp3 a second time.

 

[DrewFinale]

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Hey PyroDan, the MP3 audio artifact issue is a bug in the way Finale 3D currently handles MP3 files. We will fix it eventually, but we haven’t prioritized it because WAV is uncompressed (highest quality) and works 100% of the time if it is formatted properly. Finale 3D supports WAV files with a sample rate of 44,100 Hz (44.1 kHz) and bit depth of 16-bit. If you format your WAV files with these specs., it should work perfectly in Finale 3D every time.

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