| Dogs of the North |
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Audio Clips |
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Here you can find links to all the sound files which are scattered throughout our site. None of these are professionally recorded so the sound quality is only average. As for my singing, well although I do sing barbershop and other a capella music, I sing as a bass and my voice is definitely not suited to solo singing. Chief is a far better singer than I am (well at least it is more exciting to listen to him). Also, the various "silly songs" are improvised on piano and vocally so don't expect too much. These audio clips are provided for entertainment and humour - not for musical appreciation!
Each of the audio clips are provided in a number of formats. Short sound samples are provided in lossless formats such as WAV and AU. Longer samples use lossy formats such as MPEG-3 and RealMedia G2. The format you choose will depend on what type of computer you are using and the formats supported by the audio clip playing utilities or applications already installed on your machine. If you wish to listen to the longer clips but don't have a player that can handle MP3 or RealMedia G2, you will have to download appropriate (free) software from one of the links below. If you have the RealPlayer, you can stream the samples from our server which will save any download time since the file is downloaded as it is being played.
There are two instances in which you may not be able to stream the RealMedia samples even if you have the RealPlayer. Firstly, if you have a very slow connection (slower than 28 Kbps), you will not be able to download the stream fast enough for continuous playback. Secondly, if you sitting behind a firewall (companies usually have firewalls so this may apply to you if you are accessing this page from your office), the firewall may be configured to block RealMedia streaming. In both cases, you should download the entire RealMedia (RM) file or the MPEG-3 files which will playback with slightly better quality.
MPEG-3 (MP3)
Most systems will handle this format with an MP3-capable player
RealMedia G2 (RM)
Requires the RealPlayer
Windows PCM (WAV)
Primarily for Windows PCs
Next/Sun (AU)
Primarily for computers running Unix
MPEG-3 files are 44 KHz 16 bit mono encoded with the Fraunhofer-Thomson compression scheme using a Variable Bit Rate of 100 - 120 Kbps. RealMedia G2 files are 22 KHz 16 bit mono encoded at 32.1 kbps for 56 Kbps modem connections, and 16 Khz mono encoded at 16 Kbps for 28 Kbps modem connections. I recommend the MPEG-3 files if you using a high-speed connection.
Here are the audio clips - choose the format which is right for your computer. If you are using a slow connection, you may want to first save the file to disk and then play it. This may be necessary because some (stupid) programs will try to play the audio file as it is being downloaded and if the file cannot be retrieved quickly enough, the sound will constantly stutter. Note that this does not apply to a RealMedia stream - you can't save that disk, you can only play it directly from our server.
| Clip | MPEG-3 (MP3) | RealMedia G2 (Stream) | RealMedia G2 (RM) | Windows PCM (WAV) | Next/Sun (AU) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chief speaking | N/A | Stream | 24 KB | 229 KB | 229 KB |
| Adam saying "Hi" | N/A | Stream | 26 KB | 260 KB | 260 KB |
| Chief singing to the opening musical sequence from Star Trek: The Next Generation (Official Take) Click here to read the story behind this. | 1407 KB | Stream | 1067 KB | N/A | N/A |
| Chief singing to the opening musical sequence from Star Trek: The Next Generation (Alternate Take) | 904 KB | Stream | 1320 KB | N/A | N/A |