For Band in a Box to be able to export as an mp3 file, your Operating System must have a Windows compatible codec installed.

Most come with an mp3 DEcoding codec, so that the Windows Media Player and other programs can play an mp3 file, but it is often the case where the ability to ENcode has been left out due to the cost of licensing the codec (Fraunhofer, typically).

Never fear, though, for there is a much better codec available and a better way to turn your BB work into mp3 files.

The LAME encoder is free and actually works and sounds BETTER than the Fraunhofer. There are good reasons for that, Fraunhofer stopped development a good while back while the open-source LAME project continued on with development.

I use the LAME encoder along with the free Audacity.exe Audio Program to convert my BB stuff to mp3, not only getting the better sounding codec, but also the ability to Edit, Change Amplitude overall, plus many other easy and professional features.

1) Visit the Audacity.exe site, read the directions first and then download the Audacity program plus also the LAME encoder available there, installing according to their instructions.

2) When in need of saving a BB project into an mp3 file, use BB only to create a .wav file.

3) Open the Audacity program and use its File -> Open command to navigate to where you stored that BB .wav file and open it in Audacity.

4) Once opened in Audacity, you can do things like chop off the BB countin if desired, hit ctrl-A to highlight the entire file and use the Plugins -> Amplify command to set the overall loudness of the song to some "musical" level, such as peaking at -1.8dBFS or so.

5) Then use the Audacity File -> Export command to export the results as an mp3 file. Along with the conversion, Audacity also asks you for easily entered meta data, such as filebname, artist, album, date, etc. which will show up when the mp3 file is played on a lot of players. You can also embed copyright information in the meta data as well.

The Audacity.exe program and the LAME encoder are available at the following hotlink:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows


Powerful tool for anyone who is in the game of producing audio files, Audacity is also available in a Macintosh version as well as the Windows version linked above.


--Mac

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