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Dat_Nigga_Pari
New member
Should i export mp3? or wave? i mixed it good i wanna know if i should master it as a wave or mp3?
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Always wave. MP3 is a lossy, compressed format. Do your mastering and save your finished work in wave then make MP3 copies if you want to post them online, email them or whatever.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
Wave for CDs...
...then MP3 for Ipods and Internet
...then MP3 for Ipods and Internet
Massive Master
www.massivemastering.com
That sort of depends on the purpose. Do you need PCM or MP3 data?
I'd say that 99.5% of the time, you're going to want to export mixes to 24-bit PCM data at the project's sample rate. Mastering those mixes (creating the actual production master files) is dependent on the next step. If you're going to CD it has to be 16-bit 44.1kHz PCM data.
I'd say that 99.5% of the time, you're going to want to export mixes to 24-bit PCM data at the project's sample rate. Mastering those mixes (creating the actual production master files) is dependent on the next step. If you're going to CD it has to be 16-bit 44.1kHz PCM data.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
I'm going to take the unusual step of disagreeing with you, Massive Master.
Even if I'm going to distribute on MP3, I take a final master copy in wave format and save it to disk...then make MP3 copies from that. I've I've slaved over a mix I want a full quality version of my work to keep...then I can make whatever lower quality copies I want without changing that.
Even if I'm going to distribute on MP3, I take a final master copy in wave format and save it to disk...then make MP3 copies from that. I've I've slaved over a mix I want a full quality version of my work to keep...then I can make whatever lower quality copies I want without changing that.
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
You can always make mp3 files from wave files but once it's mp3 you can never get it back to full wave quality. Export to wave and keep that to make mp3 or whatever lossy format you need.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
I dunno....is it better to make MP3 files from the 16/44.1 final WAV file....or make the WAV from the project, and then also make the MP3 files from the 24/32 project?
I've done it both ways....just not sure how much of a difference there is. It's certainly easy both ways, though I find that from the project, I just sit and choose which formats to output, so I don't need to first do the WAV, then bring it back in to convert to other formats.
I've done it both ways....just not sure how much of a difference there is. It's certainly easy both ways, though I find that from the project, I just sit and choose which formats to output, so I don't need to first do the WAV, then bring it back in to convert to other formats.
Massive Master
www.massivemastering.com
Well, I did say 99.5% of the time (24-bit PCM at the project's native rate)...
VomitHatSteve
Hat STYLE. Not contents.
I'm unfamiliar with the terminology here. Is PCM just the superset of WAV?
Massive Master
www.massivemastering.com
.Wav, .aiff, .au, raw, etc. All are Pulse-Code-Modulation audio.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
To expand a bit on what Massive Master said, PCM is the general description of the method of sampling analogue audio to get digital data.
Things like the list MM mentioned all use PCM sampling/coding but include a header telling your computer how to interpret the data--basically specifying bit depth and sample rate. Without the header, you still get a data file but you would have to tell the computer what to expect in order to open the file. (I don't know about other DAWs but Audition used to have a basic raw PCM setting on save and, if you accidentally used that, you had to try and remember what settings were used in order to re-open the file).
Things like the list MM mentioned all use PCM sampling/coding but include a header telling your computer how to interpret the data--basically specifying bit depth and sample rate. Without the header, you still get a data file but you would have to tell the computer what to expect in order to open the file. (I don't know about other DAWs but Audition used to have a basic raw PCM setting on save and, if you accidentally used that, you had to try and remember what settings were used in order to re-open the file).
VomitHatSteve
Hat STYLE. Not contents.
That's what I figured. I'm familiar with some of the mechanics of the WAV format (I've futzed with software to chop them up manually before), and the Wikipedia page describing PCM looked similar. I just figured I'd make sure. (Of course, by phrasing the question in mathematical terms so n00bs wouldn't get it. 
)
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