Volume Automation Problem Mastering To MP3

[Dr. Varney]

I'm having a spot of bother when exporting MP3 previews from my DAW...

I have automation on one track which controls the postfiltering on an overdrive unit and this has come through in the MP3 perfectly.

Not so for the volume envelope on my background sounds. To achieve fade-in at the start, I have to initiate my track with the slider down as far as it will go, then fade up to level. The sound is intended to fade down to nought, then appear again later on, towards the end but the second time around, the sound isn't appearing at all in the MP3.

I checked to see if it were something to do with initialising at zero but when I checked this was not the source of the issue. The sound fades in at the start and fades out, as it should - but not the second time around.

Are there any known issues with recording automation in exported MP3 tracks?

Cheers

Dr. V

 

[Massive Master]

I'd highly suggest exporting as PCM data first - Then make the MP3's from that data.

You're asking the program to do a lot of odd calculations on the fly and it's probably confusing itself.

 

[Dr. Varney]

Not sure I have the option for exporting to PCM. Having said that, I have no idea what PCM is... Cue google...

Anyway, I can export to WAV, OGG(vorbis) and MP3. Would OGG be any use for that?

I've since discovered any automation clip (the sort you drag with the mouse) will export with the MP3 fine. What it won't do is the type of recorded auto, where I hit record, twiddle knobs and it creates an envelope based on that. Shame, because that's the most direct and easy way of setting up autos.

Dr. V

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Export to WAV (which is a type of PCM). Then you can create whatever inferior version like MP3 that you want from there, but still have the WAV master copy for saving purposes and for the near future when MP3 becomes obsolete.

G.

 

[Gizzmo0815]

What do you suspect will be the next format?

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

What do you suspect will be the next format?

It'll be something with a lossless data compression scheme that'll allow full-bandwidth playback at low bandwidth useage. With today's technology there's absolutely no reason to settle for an obsolete, limited-bandwith lossy compression format like MP3.

Just exactly what kind of lossless format the MPEG committee will settle upon will be more a matter of politics than science, though, and therefore fairly unpredictable to an outsider like me.

G.

 

[Massive Master]

You know, if they just "re-wrote" how MP3's are made and allowed for the full frequency response of the source... 320kbps MP3's can sound quite good... But yeah, lossless (or just leave it as the PCM source) will be the norm sooner or later...

MP3 will still be needed so people can cram three months of music in their pocket I suppose...

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

MP3 will still be needed so people can cram three months of music in their pocket I suppose...

Data compression will still be wanted for that reason, yes, but lossless compression technology is out there where we could still fit three months worth of music in our pockets without having to sacrifice *any* audio quality or frequency response.

Plus, as good as 320k MP3 may be, and I agree its pretty good, there's not a single format in the history of audio recording and marketing that hasn't been replaced by something new inside of a generation. On that scale, MP3 is getting long in the tooth and is getting ready to be supplanted by The Next Big Thing to be marketed to the buying public. The industry just won't allow a single format to last much longer before they come up with a new reason for schmucks like us to spend our money on yet more new toys.

G.

 

[Dr. Varney]

I was first off the block when it comes to owning a domestic computer but in fifteen years of owning and using I have resisted the modern urge to save all my records to MP3 and still insist on using CDs and vinyl. I can see no forward movement in something which lowers sound quality for the sake of convenience. Pulling vinyl from cardboard and swinging arm to groove is not 'inconvenient' yet, I discovered, to my horror, that students using the Barber Fine Art Music Library in Birmingham actually ask for assistance in using the turntables! I've found a use for ACC but MP3 simply lacks charm in every dimension.

I think the compressed nature of the audio and the ephemeral nature of the storage, sadly represents the way people are actually listening to and the way they regard music these days.

I cannot imagine paying money for something which I cannot hold in my hand yet the new way of buying music is by download. To me it just isn't a saleable product, but something I'd take, as kids would tape from the radio in the 80's.

Dr. V