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1:11
Joined: Oct 15, 2010 Posts: 468 Location: The Desert
Audio files: 109
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:59 am Post subject:
Whats the deal with MP3 encoding? |
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Last night i was dumping down some code:11 Wavs to MP3 and noticed a DRAMATIC decrease in bass information.
i would have just chalked it up to mp3's having less of a freq range, but i listened to MP3's by other artists afterwards, and their bass is heavy and full.
-What could be happening?
-What can i do to retain as much quality as possible when going from wav to mp3?
- Does the character of the sounds have any effect on the encoding? (All my tracks tend to be quite dense, a lot going on).
It seems the mp3's always sound VERY washed out compared to the original.
i'm using the Apple iTunes converter.
Thanks in advance
edit: another note- i've also noticed that when other people have recorded our material straight to MP3 it sounds much better than when i do it. _________________ http://soundcloud.com/acidtrash
http://acidtrash.com
www.youtube.com/user/acidtrash111
etc. |
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airlock
Joined: Apr 06, 2007 Posts: 297 Location: Calabash, NC USA
Audio files: 53
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 2:32 pm Post subject:
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The MP3's I've done at 128kpbs sound acceptable, and it's mostly Bar Kays, Cameo, S.O.S. Band and the like, i.e. lots of bass. Weird. |
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ian-s
Joined: Apr 01, 2004 Posts: 2669 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Audio files: 42
G2 patch files: 626
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 2:59 pm Post subject:
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I am not sure how hard apple would work at making it's mp3 encoder as good as possible. Considering it's investment in the competing aac format.
I use LAME with VBR. Anything over 160k average bit rate sounds good to me. |
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abstraktor
Joined: Apr 27, 2009 Posts: 190 Location: glasgow, scotland
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 2:09 am Post subject:
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I would try something other than iTunes to convert. If you have a Mac I'd recommend Snapper (its free). If you have a PC try Audacity (also free) with the LAME encoder (you will have to download separately).
I cant listen to any MP3's that have less than 256K bitrate, and always convert to 320 if possible, because the quality loss is so obvious. Even at 256 music sounds shit through a good system or PA. I bought a couple of songs from amazon recently (couldnt get them any other way) and for tracks that were praised for their original production the mp3 was a sad ghost of the CD/Vinyl.
(Even at 320K the mp3 algorithm ditches 75% of the musical information!) |
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011 Posts: 726 Location: LFO1
Audio files: 53
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 6:13 am Post subject:
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Can I convince you to try using Ogg? It's a technically superior format to MP3. For the same file size, you will have a higher quality. For the equivalent quality, you will have a smaller file size.
It's a well-supported format, too. A lot of game creators use it because it is license and royalty-free. |
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1:11
Joined: Oct 15, 2010 Posts: 468 Location: The Desert
Audio files: 109
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 6:55 am Post subject:
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Damien, i should start using Ogg for em posts, but will still want to do mp3's for friends at school.
i just noticed that my bit rate settings were at 160, which could be the problem i've been having.
i swear, i miss the simplest stuff Can't believe i had these settings on for a year...
Still going to try Snapper though.
Thanks Guys _________________ http://soundcloud.com/acidtrash
http://acidtrash.com
www.youtube.com/user/acidtrash111
etc. |
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elektro80
Site Admin
Joined: Mar 25, 2003 Posts: 21959 Location: Norway
Audio files: 14
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 7:34 pm Post subject:
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How does it come out when you use aac instead of mp3?
It is hard to come up with a solution without having checked out the actual files. _________________ A Charity Pantomime in aid of Paranoid Schizophrenics descended into chaos yesterday when someone shouted, "He's behind you!"
MySpace
SoundCloud
Flickr |
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1:11
Joined: Oct 15, 2010 Posts: 468 Location: The Desert
Audio files: 109
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[Q]
Joined: Sep 09, 2010 Posts: 413 Location: Continuum
Audio files: 57
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 4:47 am Post subject:
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just a point of interest...
the stream from soundcloud has been transcoded [and normalized] so it will sound different to the downloaded wav from soundcloud. |
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011 Posts: 726 Location: LFO1
Audio files: 53
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:04 am Post subject:
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1:11 wrote: | Damien, i should start using Ogg for em posts, but will still want to do mp3's for friends at school.
i just noticed that my bit rate settings were at 160, which could be the problem i've been having.
i swear, i miss the simplest stuff Can't believe i had these settings on for a year...
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I think electro-music.com uses Shoutcast, which doesn't accept Ogg, so if you want your stuff on e-m radio, you'll want to upload MP3 files. But Ogg is still a good format for many other places. I use Ogg and FLAC on my own site for "low" and "high" bitrate versions.
Dude, I miss simple stuff, too. I sometimes go from one room to another, and in the space of that time, forget why the hell I've walked into this room. |
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011 Posts: 726 Location: LFO1
Audio files: 53
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:06 am Post subject:
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[Q] wrote: | just a point of interest...
the stream from soundcloud has been transcoded [and normalized] so it will sound different to the downloaded wav from soundcloud. |
This is true. Maybe upload the aac here directly, or upload it somewhere and provide a direct link to it. |
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blue hell
Site Admin
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 24079 Location: The Netherlands, Enschede
Audio files: 278
G2 patch files: 320
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 11:28 am Post subject:
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o ... but ogg and flac will play fine on the radio. _________________ Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011 Posts: 726 Location: LFO1
Audio files: 53
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 12:18 pm Post subject:
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I didn't know that. Cool!
In that case, I remove all reservations for Acid Trash to experiment with Ogg. |
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1:11
Joined: Oct 15, 2010 Posts: 468 Location: The Desert
Audio files: 109
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011 Posts: 726 Location: LFO1
Audio files: 53
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:37 pm Post subject:
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Fried or poached? |
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1:11
Joined: Oct 15, 2010 Posts: 468 Location: The Desert
Audio files: 109
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011 Posts: 726 Location: LFO1
Audio files: 53
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 7:20 pm Post subject:
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Eggscelent! It's eggscruciating when things don't work as eggspected. |
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A E J O T Z
Joined: Aug 14, 2011 Posts: 423 Location: Griffith, Indiana, USA
Audio files: 148
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Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:50 pm Post subject:
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Wow, talk about missing little things. I was having the same problem. And I knew that the bit-rate was adjustable on my mp3 converter but I didn't think to change it. I just increased the bit-rate from 160 to 320 !!!
Thanks for the much needed slap in the brain.
Now I have to re-convert and update all my music files. _________________ AEJOTZ is pronounced "A-Jotz"
retro-futurism now
electronics = magic
free albums at http://aejotz.bandcamp.com
listen to genre-defying synthetic music at http://sat-5.com |
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011 Posts: 726 Location: LFO1
Audio files: 53
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 7:01 am Post subject:
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A E J O T Z wrote: |
Now I have to re-convert and update all my music files. |
On Linux, there are ways to do this in batches. I'm sure programs exist for Windows and MacOS to run batch conversions. Obviously, not from 128k MP3's, but from source wav or flac. |
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1:11
Joined: Oct 15, 2010 Posts: 468 Location: The Desert
Audio files: 109
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 9:52 pm Post subject:
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A E J O T Z wrote: | Wow, talk about missing little things. I was having the same problem. And I knew that the bit-rate was adjustable on my mp3 converter but I didn't think to change it. I just increased the bit-rate from 160 to 320 !!!
Thanks for the much needed slap in the brain.
Now I have to re-convert and update all my music files. |
Cool, i'm glad i'm not the only one who's missed it!!
Good tip AudioDef! _________________ http://soundcloud.com/acidtrash
http://acidtrash.com
www.youtube.com/user/acidtrash111
etc. |
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1:11
Joined: Oct 15, 2010 Posts: 468 Location: The Desert
Audio files: 109
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blue hell
Site Admin
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 24079 Location: The Netherlands, Enschede
Audio files: 278
G2 patch files: 320
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 7:52 am Post subject:
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Spam bot. _________________ Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011 Posts: 726 Location: LFO1
Audio files: 53
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 6:43 am Post subject:
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1:11 wrote: | HUH!?!
Is this some kind of new spam bot? If so, it writes pretty cool.
(apologies if this is a real person) |
Did I miss something? |
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1:11
Joined: Oct 15, 2010 Posts: 468 Location: The Desert
Audio files: 109
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audiodef
Joined: Sep 05, 2011 Posts: 726 Location: LFO1
Audio files: 53
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 10:12 am Post subject:
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We don't have enough chromazone dealers any more. |
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