MP3 versus WAV

cephus

cephus

Slow Children Playing
Maybe I have been wrong all along.

I have always kept digital recordings as WAVs and only rendering them to MP3 for emailing and iPods, etc. The thinking was that since a WAV file is so much bigger than the MP3s, I assumed that the quality was higher. There was less data compression and less digital artifiacts. I have made the mistake of rendering an MP3, then editing a second of silence of the end and resaving it as an mp3 and it sounds like it was built from legos. Very bad quality.

So, idiot question #1, if I edit an MP3 and resave it as MP3, does it re-render it causing the porr quality?

Idiot question #2, I have a Zoom h4 and have been recording gigs as 44.1 WAVs thinking I was getting the higher quality. Allowing me to edit without overprocessing the recording. i think 96khz is overkill for noisey bar gigs. Should I be doing 48 khz or just saving as MP3?
 
Any time you convert PCM data (say, a 44.1, 16-bit .wav file) to MP3, you're losing (forever, permanently) anywhere between perhaps 66-90% of the original data.

If you turn a MP3 to PCM to edit it and re-save it as MP3, you've done it again.

44.1 is fine for "noisy bar gigs" -- It's fine for almost anything. MP3 if you're never going to edit it (and if it's just "for the helluvit") but if there's going to be any editing or processing, you'd be well-served recording as PCM data.
 
I was sure that was the case, but I just wanted to verify. thanks for the response.
 
Don't forget to press the mega bass button!
Yeah, Massive has it down pat.
Even CD quality MP3s are massive loss compressions.
Its a bit like freezing a strawberry - thaw it out & you've lost flavour & texture. Refreeze & rethaw & you've a little pinkish puddle.
 
I just realized that the reason this thing is not really producing good sounding recordings is that the default bit rate is 16 for each sampling rate. I am going to record wavs at 44.1/24 bit and see how those sound. the 16 bit ones sound like sh it.
 
cephus said:
I just realized that the reason this thing is not really producing good sounding recordings is that the default bit rate is 16 for each sampling rate. I am going to record wavs at 44.1/24 bit and see how those sound. the 16 bit ones sound like sh it.
Click to expand...

There are amany reasons beyond the H4 that your live recordings sound like crap.

Have you ever had success doing this type of recording with other equipment?

F.S.
 
cephus said:
I just realized that the reason this thing is not really producing good sounding recordings is that the default bit rate is 16 for each sampling rate. I am going to record wavs at 44.1/24 bit and see how those sound. the 16 bit ones sound like sh it.
Click to expand...

There are amany reasons beyond the H4 that your live recordings sound like crap.

Have you ever had success doing this type of recording with other equipment?

Where is the unit located during the recording? How is it mounted? is it positioned well above the heads of the crowd? That's where I'd be looking.

F.S.
 
There are MP3 editors that can do certain things to an MP3 directly without having to re-encode. MP3Gain is one of them. I think the only 2 things you can do is change amplitude/gain or cut parts out I'm not sure.
 
No, I was right. 24 bit sounds like it's supposed to. also, I was encoding MP3s using these defaults that were way shitty.

Something to consider about placement and the H4 is that if you playing in a bar somewhere and you mix from stage, you can't just sit the thing anywhere or someone will walk off with it. That has been a particular challenge.

I've recorded a half dozen gigs with it and each one is a learning experience. From mic sensitivity to sampling rate to bit rate to MP3 encoding, I am starting to get it whittled down.

The H4 is a cool thing, though. When the mic sensitivity was too high was the only time there wasn't a decent mix. I have yet to record one that the mix was the problem. It was just the overall rendering was poor because of the parameters of the thing.

I also have recorded on a separate device a feed from the mixer with just vocals to blend it back in with the ambient H4 recording. Since it's all digital, it's pretty easy to sync up. But in the course of 5 minutes, they get perceptibly out of sync.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top