converting to 320kbps mp3 from wav presents serious issue

[fuhugwagads]

Everything sounds fine in the wav file, but when I convert it... The snare and other parts of the drum recording cause the guitar to get noticeably quieter but only when a snare or loud kick is played. I use ezdrummers dfk, but i saved that as a wav file thus getting rid of the need for the midi. I've tried just about everything I can think of. I make the drums quieter on the track, doesn't change anything.
do I need a different mp3 converter? what's a good free one? right now I'm using switch sound.

 

[rayc]

Many things can happen in conversion. I discovered, a year or so ago, that a song that sounded fine as a wav. was distorted & horrid as an MP3 - some investigation later it was discovered taht fundamentals had caused sympathetics or similar that, when compressed by the conversion process, took over the recording. I resolved that by dealing with those low freqs with a high pass filter.
Have a squiz at the original wav in a freq. analysis gizmo them convert it to MP3. THEN convert back to wav & look at that file in the same freq analysis prog. You should see the usual diffs - the high & low cuts but you may also see something else.
As an experiment put a high pass filter on the wav. file at say 60Hz & see what result you get.
You might exp. by putting the same filter on each instrument, one at a time, to see where the prob lies.
Keep doing the 320 & convince your friends to listen to wav. files rather than MP3 would be even better.

 

[TexRoadkill]

If the snare and kick is making everything else quiter that usually means there is some type of limiting or compression going on. Do you have some compression on the master buss?

 

[fuhugwagads]

tex.. there is only compression on the guitar tracks.

rayc.. I can't seem to find a plugin that'll let me put a high pass filter on it. Any suggestions?

 

[fuhugwagads]

found one called ghi, put it on the master track. no change. it's a resonant high pass filter. put it at 60 hz, nothing. couldn't find a fft tool that would work correctly.

 

[TheGuitarMan]

Everything sounds fine in the wav file, but when I convert it... The snare and other parts of the drum recording cause the guitar to get noticeably quieter but only when a snare or loud kick is played. I use ezdrummers dfk, but i saved that as a wav file thus getting rid of the need for the midi. I've tried just about everything I can think of. I make the drums quieter on the track, doesn't change anything.
do I need a different mp3 converter? what's a good free one? right now I'm using switch sound.

Which codec? I won't use anything but variable bit rate LAME when authoring mp3s.

 

[gecko zzed]

If the snare and kick is making everything else quiter that usually means there is some type of limiting or compression going on. Do you have some compression on the master buss?

That's what it sounds like to me as well. Are you sure it is a plain conversion, or is there something else happening at the same time?

 

[philbagg]

Post up ALL the settings you have for the mp3 conversion process. That might be compressing your file.

I had a 64kbps mp3, 22,050hz sample rate (i know ) version of a live album, loaded it into pro tools, and the waveform was a block. No dynamics, pumpy, constantly at -0dBFS. The crowd alone were as loud as the band.

So I got a 200+ VBR mp3 version. Few dB quieter, not pumpy, the high and low end doesn't sound like arse anymore, and there's dynamics.

In fact, I've been upgrading (quality-wise) a lot of music I have lately, from roughly 96kbps to 320 (if available) or maybe lower. And I've noticed that a lot more dynamics have been introduced and it's a little quieter. The way it SHOULD sound (almost, it's still mp3). So, whatever way I ripped my old cd's years ago (I was 8), when I hadn't a clue about the tech side of mp3s/bit rate/sample rate, I was just interested in file size, so I went for crap quality, and it obviously applied some kind of compression to go along.

Summary: mp3 conversion CAN apply compression depending on your settings. Maybe some kind of RMS normalizing going on?

 

[fuhugwagads]

wow, I downloaded audacity and set up the lame dll and encoded it with that and it sounds fine. I'm mad it was that simple -_-

 

[rayc]

Be GLAD it was that siple otherwose you'd have a bundle of things you'd need to do with your recording & mixing processes.
Congrats on getting it sorted!

 

[BushmasterM4]

For some odd reason my DAW screws up sometimes when converting to mp3's (using latest lame) and I too went to using Audacity to convert them (using same lame codec). Sometimes if Im in a hurry I use ITunes and have had good luck with it, though sometimes it colors the music some. Audacity and Lame seem to work quite well together. Audacity is my go to for vinyl conversion too.