Could there be..... artifacting?

Fireal402

Fireal402

Eyeballs! OH MY GOD EYES
Ok, here's the deal. I did this song in Logic Pro on a Macbook with a Firebox as an interface, as a temp solution.

Link is www.homepage.mac.com/ordinarytrauma , and it's Episode Page One.

I brought it over to my PC DAW for "mastering", and I personally thought I did a good job. Now, the partner I'm working with on it (the project is a new kind of "media" that will blow some people's mind) says he's hearing digital artifacts. I say it's just the hi-hats or something.

It's pissing me off, cos this is a paying gig, and time is of the essence. I have about two weeks to write a script, film, write and record music, and create a website. So please, just tell me if you're hearing what my partner is.
 
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I'm gonna be a complete asshole and bounce this to the top, because I know at least one of you mofo's can answer this.

Please don't neg me for this, I just want an answer, not a critique. That's why it's here, not in the MP3 clinic.

And my happy pills haven't kicked in yet.

EDIT: And I jsut realized I gave a bad link. Sorry to all who may have tried to help. It's fixed now
 
If you're demoing it with an MP3, that's probably your problem. MP3s often result in digital artifacting in cymbals. The MP3 format tries to throw away information that the listener theoretically won't perceive, and one place where the algorithm falls flat is broadband noise like a cymbal crash.

Try using a different MP3 encoder. The Fraunhofer codec is the most popular one. It sucks rocks. The iTunes encoder... well, IMHO, it spanks Fraunhofer, but then again, what doesn't? Then there's LAME, which is anything but (particularly if you enable VBR encoding). Anyway, try all three and see which one sounds better.
 
Ahhh, thanks!

I didn't notice anything on the 24 bit WAV mixdown, and he's only heard the MP3, and even though I do use variable, I forgot how much information is taken out of the song.

I usually use LAME with VBR, with 112k-192k variable, and I don't mess with the quality setting. Should I increase the upper bitrate to 256? Or change the quality from 5 to 0(which I think they say is the best, though it sounds really counterintuitive).
 
Fireal402 said:
Ahhh, thanks!

I didn't notice anything on the 24 bit WAV mixdown, and he's only heard the MP3, and even though I do use variable, I forgot how much information is taken out of the song.

I usually use LAME with VBR, with 112k-192k variable, and I don't mess with the quality setting. Should I increase the upper bitrate to 256? Or change the quality from 5 to 0(which I think they say is the best, though it sounds really counterintuitive).
Click to expand...

Honestly? I'd use AAC at 256k. MP3 at 320k.... That or FLAC (or some other lossless codec).
 
I had always heard AAC was inferior to MP3, and I FLAC is too large. But, I never used to use a Mac for recording and always hung with a windows crowd, so I've got some perception changes to do.

I'll try AAC and see how it suits this stuff
 
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