WAV Vs. MP3

  • Thread starter Thread starter The REAL Jigsaw
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The REAL Jigsaw

The REAL Jigsaw

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I know, I know. WAV is obviously better, but how much better (not technically) of a sound will it be to the listener's ear?

I will soon be purchasing beats for my upcoming album and the producer sells the MP3s at 1/5 of the cost of the WAV, so you can see my dilemma. WAVs are 16 & 24-bit and MP3s are 128kbps (please don't go into a bitrate discussion, I know the dif). I'm thinking of going for the MP3s, but if there's a huge noticeable difference, it might be better to go with the WAV files. What do you guys say. Looking forward to your responses.


Jigsaw
 
The thing about MP3s, if you want to use them in your own songs, is that once you convert YOUR song to MP3, they will have been converted twice, and even that can be noticeable to the average listener. ESPECIALLY if you're buying 128KBPS MP3s...320KBPS, maybe not as much...
 
Thanks for the response. This is exactly how I was thinking of doing it if I used MP3s.... Buy the 128kbps MP3, leave it as mp3, and record/mix/master my vox as wav and bounce the entire song as wav and burn to cd. So my vocals on the cd version never needed to be compressed to mp3 at all. But I wonder if uncompressing the 128kbps mp3 to wav will affect the sound in any way? I would think not, but you never know.
 
if my understanding is correct, when something is converted to mp3, all the really high and low frequencies (like, 0-40hz and 15-30khz) are taken out to be able to be such a small file. although those frequencies aren't HUGELY noticeable to a human being, it still DOES make a difference to the over all sound. anyhow, if you think that'll be good enough for ya, save some bread and do it! good luck! :)
 
The REAL Jigsaw said:
Thanks for the response. This is exactly how I was thinking of doing it if I used MP3s.... Buy the 128kbps MP3, leave it as mp3, and record/mix/master my vox as wav and bounce the entire song as wav and burn to cd. So my vocals on the cd version never needed to be compressed to mp3 at all. But I wonder if uncompressing the 128kbps mp3 to wav will affect the sound in any way? I would think not, but you never know.
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There is no quality loss when going from MP3 to WAV, so you don't have to worry about that.

And if you're just going to be putting your songs onto CD as WAV, then no need to worry either.

But if you put them down as MP3s for the internet, then that's when you'll have problems.

If money is an issue and you'll just be burning your songs to CD, then save some money and buy the MP3s. (I still think if someone is going to sell MP3s they should make them at a higher bitrate like 192 or 320 KBPS).
 
I agree with danny. If you want to save some bread then I would say buy the mp3s record them and then burn them as wav and burn that to CD. Just curious...who are you buying beats from? I'd like to hear their work. In all honesty, I haven't heard of THAT much of a price difference for the wavs (if they are custom, most beat makers that I know would include that in the price). Some will raise the price for pre-made beats while others will include it in as a fee across the board or free by request....just depends on the beat maker.
 
Also, this producer seems to only be selling beats that have already been mixed down and such; this will leave you with no flexibility to tweak it to fit your vocals.
 
I always thought you lose some quality with mp3's. I'm not sure where I got it from! When I would work with other artists, they would always request wave files, although it was quicker for me to send MP3's. I don't know:confused::confused:
And like Jib said, I would ensure that I was getting seperate tracks......Very Important!
 
Trumpspade said:
I always thought you lose some quality with mp3's. I'm not sure where I got it from! When I would work with other artists, they would always request wave files, although it was quicker for me to send MP3's. I don't know:confused::confused:
And like Jib said, I would ensure that I was getting seperate tracks......Very Important!
Click to expand...

You do lose quality with MP3 files.
 
danny.guitar said:
You do lose quality with MP3 files.
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Very true...however some don't really care about the loss. Most professionals are going to want tracked out wavs in order to mix with their voice. Those who can make their own beats and record usually do so to mix it to taste.
 
Danny, I agree. If the beats were 192kbps or higher, I would not even worry. Jibran, I see you're point, but seeing that this will be on my 1st album, I'll take my chances with a mixdown version. Usually I know what I want to do with the song before I make the decision of using it, and this case is no different. I'll take a few days to make a decision.
 
Fieva said:
Very true...however some don't really care about the loss. Most professionals are going to want tracked out wavs in order to mix with their voice. Those who can make their own beats and record usually do so to mix it to taste.
Click to expand...

Now that I think of it, I think he did say the wav version is tracked out. Hmm.....now I'm leaning toward wav.
 
If you can possibly stretch to the wavs at all go for them..
Some people may not notice the difference from 128k mp3 to a wav but if so they are listening on baaaaaaaad equipment! You play them side by side on anything half decent and the difference is worlds apart. How anyone can even sell a 128k is beyond me. Should be selling at 320k if they want to be usable.

Just my 2 bits.. Go for the wavs if you can.
 
Thanks everyone. I've decided I'll be going with the wav files.
 
I met him through someone on my facebook.

Speaking of which, if anyone is selling or knows someone that's selling non-exclusive Dre/Em/50-type beats, then holla. I still got some open slots for the album.
 
go for the wav files. mp3's have less quality, and even at 128, it will be a noticable difference to the same song mixed w/ a wav file... or even a 192, 256 or 320mp3. you wont get the frequency range w/ mp3's, you'll have less room to work with before distortion occurs (from cut and squashed frequencies), and... meh, you just don't want to work w/ 128kb/s mp3 files. unless you want that less-than-semi-home-studio-but-almost-professional-sound sound, then don't go w/ mp3's.
 
I can hear an mp3 a mile away. There is always a 'washy' sound in the high end.

You also need to take into account that you will be processing the beat. Any EQ or compression you do to that beat will make it more obvious that it was an mp3 to begin with.

mp3 compression takes into account what it 'important' to keep in order for it to sound right, but if you eq some of that away (like if there was too much low end) you will be left with something that sounds very strange because all of the information isn't there anymore.

mp3's are a barely tolerable listening format (especially at 128kbps!), if you use it as the foundation of your mix, you are screwing yourself.
 
All very good points people. And my final answer is WAV. I think it might hurt me in the longrun if I go the mp3 route, so I won't.
 
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