MP3 and WAV transcription file timecode question

[Mark Barroso]

You would hear the timecode if it was there – it sounds like a sewing machine heard through a fan. It’s not just a software issue, as the words have to be sync’d with the timecode in transcription. I don’t know what hardware they use, but places like Transcript Associates in NYC can do it. Very pricey, though.

[Ty Ford]

Hello Jeffrey and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.

I don’t know what you mean “it was not encoded on one of the audio tracks,”

Does that mean it was recorded on the other track?

You need a time code reader that will take the output from that particular track and display it.

Regards,

Ty Ford

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[Peter Groom]

As already said. if you listen to the audio tracks You WILL hear it.
(My ex boss could tell what the tc hour and minute was just be listening to it!!. He was always right, but this skill never gets a girl at a party!)
If you can hear it, you will need a TC reader to display it. This is a heardware thing i rekon.
If you cant hear it, dont bother as its not there.
MP3 doesnt support any tc option OTHER than recording it asa an ltc feed of audio (Longitudinal Time code track)
BWAV is an advanced wav file with Broadcast in its extension. This allows suitably equipped users to tc staamp the file. You will then have to have suitable software to import it and display it. Not even sure that Pro tools does this. A google for reading Bwav timecode should help.

Cheers

peter

Peter

[Richard Crowley]

Both MP3 and WAV audio file formats support an unlimited number of internal tags. The beginning time-code is likely encoded into one of these internal tags. There are standalone utilities to read these tags. Also some applications will display the contents of these tags, and even allow editing the values.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Tag_editors

[Bouke Vahl]

If wave contains TC, it’s probably BWF.
Besides Jeffrey’s comment, the TC MUST be stored in a Bext or Mext entry.
(Bext for Wave, Mext for Mpeg1 layer II)

Mp3 is ‘not’ a BWF format.
(That does not mean that someone could have added a Bext or Mext part…)

The common Mp3 style metadata is ‘sound devices’ style.
See if my Transcriber application can find the TC:

https://www.videotoolshed.com/product/27/transcriber-2-dvd

If not, contact me direct and i’ll see if i can make it compatible.

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pros

[Ty Ford]

If it isn’t on one of the audio tracks, I don’t think you’re going to hear it.

If it’s just time stamped at the beginning of the file, that’s not the same as continuous time code, it’s just a starter marker.

Regards,

Ty Ford

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[Ty Ford]

if that app doesn’t read the metadata try this one.

https://www.sounddevices.com/products/waveagent.htm

Regards,

Ty

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[Jeffrey Irvine]

Thank you for the advice, everyone. Everything you say makes perfect sense.

To clarify, I definitely do not hear the timecode on either of the audio tracks. If it is encoded somehow, it would be in the metadata as Ty and Bouke say.

Unfortunately, I’ve tried a couple of tag readers and Bouke’s Transcriber software, and nothing has been able to detect timecode. It’s certainly possible that it simply was not encoded after all, but I am still exploring other options.

I suppose once the footage is loaded, we could export a QT from Avid with the timecode embedded and use that for transcription (assuming Avid can still export QTs with embedded timecode — I would hope to avoid the render time of using BITC). It would be ideal to have it transcribed sooner, however. I’ll let you know if I have any luck.

Thanks!

[Bouke Vahl]

Jeffrey,
Do drop me a line and send me an example file.
(I’m a TC geek, if it is there, and it is in a format i don’t know yet, i want to see it…)

Can’t be that hard, there are only a few places where it can live.

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pros

[Matt Mayer]

Jeffrey,

If the file came from a Sound Devices machine, the TC metadata would be in the ID3 tags and easily viewable in any software that will show you the standard MP3 tags – they even will show in Windows File Explorer.

If the tags are there, BWF Widget will read the MP3 tags and show you running timecode while the files are playing. N.B. – BWF Widget is PC only.

https://www.bwfwidget.com/

—Matt

—Matt