Menu Music disappearing

Question

So, I am using a quad core dell with Windows 7 and CS4 Encore.  The first issue I was having was the whole system freezing (locking up) when I tried to import a CD quality WAV file that was about 66MB big.  I tried multiple files and new projects and it always locks up immediately, doesn't even import a bit.  I converted to MP3 and it imported fine.  I also cut the file down to 33MB as a WAV file by cutting the file down to 3 minutes because that is all I wanted and that file imported fine.  Is it because of the size that the original would not import?
Second problem I am having is that no matter what I use, the MP3 or smaller WAV file, when I preview the build the audio plays on the menu perfectly with the menu animation and plays all the way through the loop.  When I build the project onto a disc, however, the music disappears.  It could be on the disc for all I know but it is not playing over the menu when placed into several other computers and played in DVD player programs.  I have to get this project out so unfortunately it is going out without the music but does anyone know what might be going on?  I looked at some other threads similar to this but their fixes did not seem to work (ie: MP3's don't work so go to 48khz PCM WAV file).  I even tried rebuilding some of the parts of the DVD to see if it is just an error in transcoding but nothing seemed to work.  WHY IS ENCORE SO BUGGY ADOBE?
On another note does anyone use Encore on Mac and does it seem to be less buggy.  I am soon to buy a quad core iMac for my editing work and wonder if it has better performance on MacOS vs. Vista and Windows which is where I have been using it now.  Thanks everyone.
Chris Thomas

Answer 1

Chris,
For ripping from CD's, if one does not have a program, like Adobe Audition (it's coming to a Mac near you soon - BTW), then I highly recommend the free Audacity. It does a great job, is tiny and is free! Because DVD is 48KHz 16-bit (your CS should be 44.1KHz 16-bit), I always do the Save_As to the 48KHz 16-bit. I am not up on Mac's, but a PCM (not Linear) WAV is as good as it gets on a PC. Another option would be a fully DVD-compatible AC3. Little side note here: if you have Button Transitions, you will want their Audio stream to match the Audio stream of your Motion Menu.
In your case, I would edit (Audacity does a good job of that, or you can even use PrPro) down to just below the Duration of your Menu Motion Asset. Since you are doing a Loop Point into the animation at 04 sec., I'd think about how you edit the Audio. Personally, unless the music had a natural repeat at 04 sec., I'd probably have a long Fade-in, so that one does not hear much, if anything, until the 04 sec. point. You also want your Audio Asset to be 100% exactly the same Duration as your Motion Asset, or slightly shorter - never any longer, even by an Audio Unit, or two. DVD's (and BD's) are biased towards Video, and Audio must follow the Video. Many issues occur, when an Audio Asset is longer than the accompanying Video.
For all of my Timelines, the Video always starts and ends from black, and the Audio aways ends slightly before the Video.
Also, when encoding the Video and the Audio, the Audio uses a slightly different block size, so though it seems to 100% identical in PrPro, the resulting Export can be ever so slightly longer and that can cause all sorts of issues.
One last note: as Audio cannot span Menus, one should look for Durations with natural breaks, and repetition, so there will be less of a "jolt" to the user. For a single Menu Audio Asset, that could well be looping, depending on when the user clicks on a Button, I would also Fade-in and Fade-out, with just a hint of silence between, so that the user will not be aware of the player's laser moving about.
Hope that helps, and that editing your Audio to be just a touch shorter than your AE Comp, will fix things. Give Audacity a try, as it's really a powerful little tool. Though I have Audition, I still use Audacity from time to time.
Good luck,
Hunt