Reducing file size for submission guidelines

[DigitalDevilDrums]

So, are there any tricks to reducing file size without cutting out a lot of content? I need to drop about another 1.5 MB. I have these ambient soundscape bookends to the mix, but I cut any more time off either end I'm afraid it will lose its effect.

Any suggestions? I'm using FLStudio Demo, if it matters.

Thanks!

[SenPi]

uhh.. render it with a lower bit rate? No need to cut anything off the song itself.

[Zephyr]

Well, I'd recommend that you buy FLStudio, just for ease sake, I'm not sure how good of stuff can be done without saving... but how long is the song? Are you encoding in mp3? I've heard FLStudio's mp3 encoder isn't as good as some others, so maybe export to wav and encode mp3 with an external program.

[DarkeSword]

Yeah, render to wave and then use LAME with the RazorLAME front-end. You can set up your encoding options. VBR with a lower upper-limit helps with filesize; set that to like 192 and you'll shave off quite a bit.

Also, this doesn't belong in Tutorials and Guides; it's just a question. Moved.

[DigitalDevilDrums]

Thanks - I hadn't thought of rendering it externally.

Sorry for the misplaced post.

[zircon]

It's also good to try different VBR settings, like ABR (average bit rate). 64-256 is a good range in terms of the VBR itself, but you should tweak the quality setting and the ABR to see if you can get it as close to 6mb as possible. Seconded about RazorLAME.

[Benjamin Agent]

i've used sound forge to render in the past, but all my stuff is outdated now. the tip would be to make sure it's still good quality in the end, keep it above 128, 160 is still good.