Remove Chipmunks from Camtasia Videos
Eugene Humbert, cool guy that he is, sent me an e-mail the other day letting me know that my Camtasia videos were producing weird "chipmunk" sounds.
This only happens with recent (version 9) versions of the Adobe Flash player. There's an easy solution:
Download the Camtasia Audio Bug Fix.
(The zip file is located at the bottom of that page.)
TechSmith solved this in Camtasia 5.02.... but I still use Camtasia 4 because I want my videos to look the same. By the way, this is ADOBE's fault and not Camtasia's.
The cool thing about this tool is, you can drag a whole FOLDER containing your SWF files, and the tool will find the SWF files even if they are buried deep inside other folders.
Last night, I de-chipmunked 14 video products. It didn't take that long at all because I used the above method.If you want the technical explanation of why this had to be done, Flash 9 can't properly play MP3 in SWF files that is encoded at a non-standard bitrate (it only understands bitrates that are a multiple of 11.025 Hz). The audio fixer quickly re-encodes the MP3 audio stream in your Flash file.
Why was all this extra work for me a good thing? It enabled me to finish adding affiliate programs to ALL my infoproducts.
All my products now have the affiliate subdomain trick built-in, as well as solo ads, an affiliate page for quick copy and pasting, and a call-to-action in the final chapter explaining to readers how to join the affiliate program for the product.
Heck, I've even JV Plus enabled all those products on this blog.
Before I encountered this chipmunk emergency, I was lazily working away, putting up maybe 3 or 4 affiliate pages per day. That was a task that I told myself I'd finish FIRST before anything else. So, I had to hurry up and finish all the solo ads before I could begin de-chipmunking.
I whipped out Microsoft Excel, copy and pasted all the product links on this blog's sidebar, then made a column for each thing I had to do for the site (write the solo ad, link to the affiliate page, setup an upsell, write the call-to-action, update the PDF file, de-chipmunk) and I just plowed through it. Because I had to.
So, don't forget to de-chipmunk your Camtasia videos if you haven't already.
Filed in: Product Creation
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Sites That Link to this Post
- Chipmunk Audio Fix | DeanKennedy.com | March 7, 2008
- Camtasia SWF "chipmunk" issue - Copywriters Board | March 7, 2008
- Do You Have Chipmunk Sounds On Your Videos? | March 9, 2008
- Internet Marketing Annihilation Review - Manuel Viloria.com | March 12, 2008
- Do you use Web Audio Plus? You had better check... chipmumks! - WarriorForum - Internet Marketing Forums | August 9, 2008
- Camtasia Audio Help... | August 17, 2008
Thanks Robert for sharing this tip with me. I need to fix a bunch of videos…
Your Student,
Dale Maxwell
I guess you missed the video I sent you the other day showing you how to de-chipmunk your videos.
http://videomarketingtactics.com/how-to-get-rid-of-camtasia-chipmunk-noises.html
Frank Bruno
I guess I did miss that video, Frank. Did you email it? Well, I will embed that video code from your web site on this post because it is very helpful.
Hi Robert, heres how it went down….
I really liked the video you sent out the other day regarding subdomain aff tracking. However I noticed that you had a minor case of the “Camtasia Chipmunks”…lol
Because I was interested in your subdomain aff setup I decided to e-mail you with questions and also threw in there some helpful advice about removing the “chipmunks” from your videos.
So I sent my questions over as well as the link to the video.
If you would like to post the video here as you mentioned it would probably be helpful to others to see an over the shoulder step by step how to remove the noises from their videos.
All the best
Frank Bruno
P.S- I still have have a couple qutions about your aff setup. looks totally stealth… so I’m interested…
Frank,
I’m pretty sure I replied to all emails this week but I’m not at home right now so I’ll check when I get home.
I just tried to edit the post and add the video but your embed code doesn’t work properly with WordPress, it messes up my whole page.
A couple of people e-mailed me about the chipmunk thing, so I might have forgotten a couple of names in the confusion.
If you still have questions could you post them in the JV Plus thread of this blog? To add the subdomains you have to add wildcards to your DNS zone and httpd.conf file, then upload an htaccess file. I explain all that stuff in the manual for JV Plus.
Robert… I don’t know why I didn’t alert you and all your customers to this earlier. I have already used this on all the camtasia video files I have downloaded including all the packages I have purchased from you.
Word of advise for all reading this, you do not have to wait for the vendor to update their files for you to redownload. Go and Download this fix then run all the chipmunk files you have running around your hard drive (camtasia clips that is…) through it.
This takes away a ton of frustration, emails to vendors (even tho they should be made aware), and delays for you to enjoy your purchases.
Cheers
Plutus
Thanks for that Robert
I was thinking heck my internet connection must be going screwey and blaming everything
Your post has made me realise not to kick my router too much as it’s not its fault any more (or for once)
Great stuff
thanks
Richard
I have noticed a few of these chipmunk effects lately and to be honest they gave me a good laugh, especially the sudden burping sounds 🙂
I thought it was my PC playing up so I am glad you gave us the solution.
Hi Robert,
Wow, I’m so glad you posted this about how to de-chipmunk the Camtasia videos. I had thought my computer’s sound card was going bonkers or something.
Even so, as Anthony mentioned, the chipmunk noises actually did make me chuckle. Now, knowing it’s not the fault of my computer, I can laugh out loud without that worry in the back of my mind that my computer is doomed.
Thanks again, especially since I’m working on a new product right now that involves Camtasia videos.
Karen
Hey Frank another great post. My frustration level was tested severely yesterday while listening to a chipmunk video. I was wondering why I wasn’t getting it on my videos, but so many “pros” were sending me chipmunked videos – by force of habit I had updated my Camtasia to v5.0.2.
Keep up the great posts.
Jim
Thanks for the fix Robert !
Stewart
Hello-
I think I found a new niche – “chipmunk secrets revealed!”
Lol.
Thanks for the fix.
-Adam
Hi Robert,
Just yesterday I was watching a video that was doing that and I just thought it was a glitch in their recording! Thanks for letting us know about this!
~Rabeeha
Nice tip, bro! 🙂
And thanks again for bringing in JV Plus to the market. My guys in the office are doing some revisions on our blogs to make JV Plus useful for us and our affiliates…
Cheers!
Ian del Carmen
http://FireballPlanet.com
Robert, thanks for the info.
As an Excel user, you should look out for Micrisift’s next Security update – there’s an Excel-related fix which they forgot to put in last month’s update.
Maybe thay need to make a spreadsheet 😉
John Williams
I think the Camtasia Chipmunks may be a vanishing breed….. lol Thanks for the help! Davy
Thanks for the heads up on solving this problem Robert. I hope it applies to my videos.
Heya Robert
THANKS so much for the tip! I too thought something was screwy with my computer or soundcard or something. Thanks for alerting us to the fix.
Also, as Plutus points out (comment#6), you can just run any vids you have through the tool and watch them without waiting (or hoping) for a site-owner to update their files.
I have a question, though:
Does anyone know how to solve it for just regular swf files?
The “fix” tool published by Techsmith is designed to correct Camtasia vids only. I have an audio button on one of my sites where the file is an swf file and it’s chipmunking like crazy. The problem is that when I run it in the Techsmith “fix” tool, it says “Status: Not a Camtasia video” and won’t complete any action.
Anyone know of a way to fix just regular (i.e. not embedded within Camtasia) swf files?
Cheers,
Leslie
Hi Robert
Based on what I’ve read so far (correct me if I am wrong), the chipmunks can be removed if ONLY you have the files that is recorded in camtasia. Is that right?
What about if you are watching videos with url link that is recorded with camtasia that is giving the chipmunk sound?
Because, recently, I have bought a product from clickbank that provides me a link to watch all these videos footage.
As you know, this videos could not be downloaded to save as files. Hence, all the videos have to be watched with chipmunks in the background.
Anyway to solve this issues?
Next, there is some of these videos that were also recorded in camtasia 3. The problem with watching these videos in camtasia version 3 is that the audio sound were really too soft. And, with the volume at its maximum, I still could not hear what is spoken from the videos recorded in the earlier camtasia version 3.
Anyway to solve this problem with videos recorded in version 3?
Hope you can give me some practical advise. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Richard, you can fix those files. You have to download the SWFs and run those through the program — you do NOT need the original Camtasia files… just the SWFs.
Basically you have to view the source of the page and download the swfobject.js, nameoftheproject.js, controller.swf, preload.swf, and config.xml files.
Then you look in the config.xml and find the name of the main SWF file. Download it and that’s the one file you need to run through the SWFMP3 program.
Hi Robert
Thank you for the solution. But, pardon me… I’m not a technical expert like you.
Your advice for the above is for Question 1, or Question 2?
Also, can you provide a more simple steps in simple english and url link where I can go to download the SWFMP3 program.
Thank you.:-)
Hi Robert
Awaiting your reply for the above No.25
Your solution provided in No.24 is given to solve the problem in Question 1 or Question 2 of No.23?
Hear from you as soon as possible.
Thank you for the help in advance.
hi Robert,
any Firefox plug-in, or easy way to just play them without the chipmunk effect without downloading and processing?
Thanks,
Howard
Howard, the only way to just play them without processing is to uninstall Flash and reinstall an older version.
Hi Robert,
Just getting around to watching videos from a product I bought from you (Impact PHP) awhile back…
Thought you might like to fix the product so that Alvin & his pals aren’t overtalking you on the tutorial videos if you haven’t already done so, for future customers.
Love your products…
Donna
Donna, I de-chipmunked all of my products long ago. But as you said, you bought it a while back and haven’t re-downloaded. I can’t get the fixed videos to you if you don’t re-download…
Hi Robert,
I should have known that you had *already* fixed yours… you are so detail-oriented, it just makes sense. 🙂
I downloaded your cool de-chipmunker yesterday and it works like a charm! First I tried it on just one folder, then I saw the great results, and did all your videos.
Thank you again, you always are on the cutting edge. I enjoyed the videos a lot more without the funky audio, too. 🙂
Have a super week!
Donna
Hi,
Thanks for the great info.
I downloaded the Camtasia SWFMP3Fixer and attempted to have it fix my SWFs created in Web Audio Plus.
When I add them to the fixer, it shows “Not a CS video” in the Status column.
And when I click “Fix Audio” it says “0 files processed”
Any other possible solutions?
–mike
One thing I don’t understand though is how everything is related together. Social media is an important place where you can communicate one to one with your traget audience.