Solved MP3 questions

[danny.guitar]

What I've noticed with my own conversions from wav to mp3 is that ANY imbalance in the sound gets magnified during the conversion. If it was a little too bassy it gets WAY too bassy. If the highs were just a little harsh they get unbearable. If there was a fingering buzz, it's like a magnifying glass is held over every spot where that happened.

With 320 kbps mp3s it's less so. With 128 it's much more a problem.

The Lame encoder is the best I've found. It makes a difference.

Yeah I noticed that too.

Although even at 320 KBPs, or WAV for that matter, my mistakes are still pretty obvious.

 

[Ford Van]

NL5
I think I found the problem. I was using the MP3 Pro feature in Adobe Audition because it says it uses the Fraunhofer codec so I thought it would be better.

I then went back to cDex and used LAME and it sounds fine. I honestly don't hear that much of a difference between the WAV and the MP3. It's there, but not like before.

Please tell me if you hear any noticeable artifacts:

(~ 800 KB)

The difference between LAME and Frauhofer codecs in themselves is not going to be very much of a noticeable difference.

The difference is probably in HOW each program does the encoding. AA is possibly doing a "quick" encode, which cDex is doing a slower, more accurate encode.

 

[LogicDeLuxe]

Thanks. The original WAV file was recorded in mono. I converted to stereo afterwards.

I supposed, you also downconverted from 24 bit to 16 bit, right? Doing this, you probably used some kind of dither (applied in stereo), which is generally a good thing for CD masters. If the target is MP3, there is no need to convert to 16 bit.
Also every mp3 player I'm aware of will play mono files on both channels.
But if you really must convert a 24 bit mono file to 16 bit stereo for some reason, go first to 16 bit mono and after that convert it to stereo. That way, you'll get mono dither.

What I've noticed with my own conversions from wav to mp3 is that ANY imbalance in the sound gets magnified during the conversion. If it was a little too bassy it gets WAY too bassy. If the highs were just a little harsh they get unbearable.

Did you play them in Winamp by any chance? I once noticed, the built in EQ behaves somewhat differently between MP3 and WAV. Also the other way around, when you convert a MP3 to WAV and compare them, as they really should sound the same then. When I disable the EQ, those differences vanish as well.

AA is possibly doing a "quick" encode, which cDex is doing a slower, more accurate encode.

You can set all the parameters the Fraunhofer codec has to offer in AA. You sure can do it quick if you really want for some reason. Of course, you wouldn't expect the best quality then. The same goes for LAME.

 

[danny.guitar]

LogicDeluxe - Thanks for the tip, I never thought about the mono vs stereo dither or converting to MP3 straight from the 24-bit file.

Ford Van - I don't see any option for "fast conversion" or whatever in AA.

In cDex there is "On the fly MP3-encoding". Is that what that is? It is checked by default.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[LogicDeLuxe]

I don't see any option for "fast conversion" or whatever in AA.

It should look something like this:

Using "best quality" should be a good idea, apparently.

 

[Ford Van]

It should look something like this:

Using "best quality" should be a good idea, apparently.

Yeah, Best Quality might be a good idea!

 

[danny.guitar]

Oh ok didn't notice that but it was already set at "best quality".

These are the settings I was using. I just selected the "128 Internet" preset.

 

[asulger]

NL5 - Thanks for posting that clip, sounds good to me. But what I was saying is that for something that is just acoustic guitar, (no vocals, electric guitar, bass, etc.) that maybe the artifacts are more noticeable.

Ford Van - That is an old recording before I got my guitar repaired, it had a lot of string buzz. Some of it was also poor technique because that song is hard as hell to play.

I think I found the problem. I was using the MP3 Pro feature in Adobe Audition because it says it uses the Fraunhofer codec so I thought it would be better.

I then went back to cDex and used LAME and it sounds fine. I honestly don't hear that much of a difference between the WAV and the MP3. It's there, but not like before.

Please tell me if you hear any noticeable artifacts:

(~ 800 KB)

I got more interested in this because of the big verdict against Microsoft today and found this mp3 encoder site, and in particular this recommendation for encoding 128 cbr files with lame:
alt-preset cbr 128 (equivalent to -h --nspsytune --athtype 2 --lowpass 16 --ns-bass -8 --scale 0.93)
although he mentions ringing problems which may account for the reverb mess we have both noticed. It also mentions that the Fraunhofer encoder has less ringing, probably because the default lowpass filter is set lower.

I'm going to mess around with this some more, since it has always seemed that my 12-string guitar sounds pretty crappy if I try to add any effects on soundclick files.