Render settings for audio for film in After Effects

[Nikhita_P_]

Hi there,

I am trying to export my film with dialogue. My original audio file is in WAV which is CRISP! And when I add it to the video in AE and export it, it reduces in quality atleast 10x!

When I rendered it in quicktime with uncompressed codec, it turned out pretty close to the original.

But the file size was.....3GB!! (The film is 7 minutes long). But when I render it using H.264 using AAC, the audio sounds horrible and rough.

Also, which audio codec do I use? What's the difference between AAC, AAC Version 1 and AAC Version 2? How can I reduce the file size without losing out on SO MUCH quality?

Thanks for the help in advance!

Cheers,

Nikhita

P.S: I have used 48KHz, Stereo and 32 float for the original as well as the export settings. It's the codec that's messing things up. So help!

[Dave_LaRonde]

What other software do you have other than After Effects?

[Nikhita_P_]

I have Premier CS4, but it's on another system, and I have to keep shifting back and forth. Is there a way to get a good audio export in AE itself?

If not, what settings should I choose in Premier?

[Rick Gerard]

You should always use the default 48 kHz 16 bit uncompressed for audio. After Effects should always be considered the last resort for processing audio.

Do your final audio mixing and Premier Pro and then use one of the standard presets for export.

[Nikhita_P_]

The final audio mixing has been done in Adobe Audition, and exported as a wav file. Is there a standard preset which will not destroy the sound quality while shrinking the file size? I tried using H.264. The image quality is great but the sound is terrible as H.264 doesn't have great audio codecs. What preset should I use for good sound AND good audio with a decent file size?

[Szalam]

H.264 has decent audio codecs. What were the settings in the Adobe Media Encoder you used in the audio section for your final video? (You're not rendering the H.264 from After Effects, right?)