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Topic: FLAC Spectral Display - need verification (Read 5352 times) previous topic - next topic
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FLAC Spectral Display - need verification

I purchased FLAC digital album from Bandcamp and I think this is lossy files. I checked files in Audiochecker and auCDtect - 95% MPEG. FLAC Spectrum is similiar to MP3 spectrum. Is this lossy file?




FLAC Spectral Display - need verification

Reply #1 –
You better ask artist about this.

FLAC Spectral Display - need verification

Reply #2 –
I do see quite a difference in the first 10 seconds, did you notice that too?
Music: sounds arranged such that they construct feelings.

FLAC Spectral Display - need verification

Reply #3 –
To the best of my knowledge, Bandcamp only allows lossless formats uploaded, but there is of course no way to prevent an artist from decoding an mp3 into wav and upload it. Or having used mp3 as an intermediate format at some point in the making.

Since Bandcamp is an outlet for smaller bands, there are chances that an e-mail will be read, and maybe an artist could learn what is wrong about transcoding.

FLAC Spectral Display - need verification

Reply #5 –
I know the're not reliable. That's why as you can see I used spectrograms.

FLAC Spectral Display - need verification

Reply #6 –
In the past I've asked Bandcamp if they'd try to encourage people not to upload transcodes, but the response was along the lines of "we have to keep it simple; the people uploading aren't tech-savvy and will just get confused if we give them too many instructions." So whenever I buy something through there, I have to take into account the risk of it being a transcode.

FLAC Spectral Display - need verification

Reply #7 –
Looks like mp3, but it would help if you posted a WAV snippet.

FLAC Spectral Display - need verification

Reply #9 –
The mix sounds quite mid-heavy with not much high end. It's pretty dense. (http://existmd.bandcamp.com/album/in-mirrors-ep)

I suspect the track was mixed before the intro and outro were recorded, there's a significant tonal difference. I'm just previewing it through the lossy web-based player, but it sounds ok.


It may be a transcode from 320, I can hear some background 'swoosh' on the snare at 1:03 and cymbals at 1:12 --- but I stress this could be the transcoding from source done by Bandcamp! Can you clip a one minute section of track one FLAC from 0:20 to 1:20 and host for us to compare?
Don't forget International Talk Like A Pirate Day! September the 19th!

FLAC Spectral Display - need verification

Reply #10 –
I download a lot from Bandcamp and I can confirm this "MPEG 95%" happens more than often. This is the reason I am not going to buy anything from there if the artist is not confirmed to be offering true FLAC only instead of compressed shit. Bandcamp is to blame for this. They advertise "high quality FLAC downloads" all over their site but the reality is completely different. They should use analyzers right before publishing goes online and should not offer FLAC versions in case of MPEG output. Of course aucdtect is more than reliable. If you analyze the whole album you get a pretty accurate picture of whether it was compressed or not. If you get MPEG 95% on 15 tracks out of 16 it is more than obvious you were not offered a true lossless.

Any wave file I have ever recorded with any sort of PC microphone was never ever detected as MPEG by aucdtect. Yet hoards of artists are probably too ignorant to bother about lossless quality of their recordings and perhaps even record straight into MPEG!!!

FLAC Spectral Display - need verification

Reply #11 –
This is not good news. Its total chaos. This is what I feared will eventually happen. The only way is to phase out of lossy altogether. Only use lossless as much as possible. That is the only way to preserve the originals. What really pisses me is the possibility that artist will record straight in to mpeg and will be sold as lossless or even CD.
 

FLAC Spectral Display - need verification

Reply #12 –
Unfortunately only the major labels / online stores can sort this out. They are likely to have more rigid standards but not one for lossless yet. The problem theres no formal lossless standard in use. Flac, alac, wma are not iso standards like mp3 / aac. A market for 'audiophile' quality in formal has not been created . Sadly theres better chances of illegal torrent lossless rips being less error prone.

As you can see here, Rigid standard don't exists. Non mp3 demand is 'rabid user'

https://bandcamp.com/help/uploading