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Topic: Club Music -> Mp3... Best Way? (Read 3550 times) previous topic - next topic
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Club Music -> Mp3... Best Way?

I will try to make this brief.

I have always used Xing AudioCatalyst to encode Mp3s in the past until I found out about LAME. Then the creator pointed me to this forum which is great to be able to talk to intelligent people about my question.

1. I'm a dj/club music producer remixer.
2. I'm encoding hard to find music from vinyl (not too concerned about pops/clicks yet) and digital downloads for my live performances through a new dj/mix tool called FINALSCRATCH http://www.finalscratch.com <-- Check it out!
3. I also need to be able to "sample" drum hits or sound fx from these songs at a later date (for my productions) from these encoded mp3's so I need to have them at the highest quality without a big file size like .wavs
4. I need to find a happy medium between quality & file size because once I encode eveything, I won't have the original records (ie. I am borrowing them from other djs)
5. The mixer only uses mp3. Can someone point me to some threads or links on ANY advice of what to do and what not to do?
6. Length of time to compress is not an issue. What program is best to use to compress and will 192 or 224kbps be enough or will I hear a noticeable difference when I "re-sample them back to .wav later for production editing? 320kbps is still too big since I will be taking these with me on the road &  for club play you prob wouldn't notice anyways?
7. I also notice that the more compression I give something the more it wants to try to clip it. If I use the 192 compression scheme, should I normalize the audio to about 90% first to prevent data loss?

I will edit this as I get feedback and thank you very much for the help!

Drastik
http://www.getdrastik.com

Club Music -> Mp3... Best Way?

Reply #1 –
Tell ya what. Why pigeon-hole yourself with MP3. You need em now but someday you could need something else. CD burners and CD-R are cheap. So why not analog-in the stuff to monkies or FLAC. Then you can transcode at will with no loss to the format of choice of the day for your current and future software!

As far as settings go for MP3 if we are talking club performances you do not need uber high-fi. The ambient noise level around you will likely cover up most glitches so even the golden ears here could hardly notice them. Alt-preset Standard should do you good.

Club Music -> Mp3... Best Way?

Reply #2 –
Hi,
Welcome.

I'm not sure if this will answer your question completely, but you can find the recommended settings for LAME there:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?act=SF&f=15

The best would be if your mixer support VBR (variable bitrate) mp3 files. You can check that easily by encoding a .WAV file using LAME 3.90.2, as follows:
LAME.EXE  --alt-preset standard  File.wav

That is the most recommended preset to create high-quality mp3's. If they don't work on your mixer, you can try:
LAME.EXE  --alt-preset cbr 192

But the quality will be a bit lower.

Cheers

PS:
Be sure to take LAME 3.90.2 and not 3.93 nor 3.92..

Club Music -> Mp3... Best Way?

Reply #3 –
Quote
Hi,
Welcome.

I'm not sure if this will answer your question completely, but you can find the recommended settings for LAME there:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?act=SF&f=15

The best would be if your mixer support VBR (variable bitrate) mp3 files. You can check that easily by encoding a .WAV file using LAME 3.90.2, as follows:
LAME.EXE  --alt-preset standard  File.wav

That is the most recommended preset to create high-quality mp3's. If they don't work on your mixer, you can try:
LAME.EXE  --alt-preset cbr 192

But the quality will be a bit lower.

Cheers

PS:
Be sure to take LAME 3.90.2 and not 3.93 nor 3.92..

From what i've seen final scratch is very fussy about its mp3s - it's also a custom linux boot partition rather than a windows exe so can't use installable codecs. Nightmare. They need to reengineer the decode engine to use other formats though even their mp3 decoder sucks.

Club Music -> Mp3... Best Way?

Reply #4 –
Quote
As far as settings go for MP3 if we are talking club performances you do not need uber high-fi. The ambient noise level around you will likely cover up most glitches so even the golden ears here could hardly notice them. Alt-preset Standard should do you good.

You must be joking - listening to 'chill out' by the klf on vinyl at the club I used to dj at I actually got told by a customer that the disc was scratched before I noticed it myself. A club environment, or rather the 'sweet spot'  on the dance floor needs superb sonics otherwise people just don't get down!

Club Music -> Mp3... Best Way?

Reply #5 –
I agree with what everyone is saying. I guess I forgot to mention that the MAIN reason that I want to use FINAL SCRATCH is that I can instantly play anything I record in the studio on the road. I still will compress even those because I don't want to be lugging around a laptop with an 200 gig harddrive  Plus some songs I am not that big on but would still like to have. It's a nightmare trying to download files from the net not knowing who encoded what and how. That's why I want to start my OWN collection so I know what is what.

keep the info coming!

Club Music -> Mp3... Best Way?

Reply #6 –
Quote
rather the 'sweet spot' on the dance floor needs superb sonics

Most club speakers have insufficient accuracy to render even obvious digital artifacts, especially considering that many clubs erroneously drive their speakers to clipping. We're talking about manufactures like JBL, eminence, or even worse Gemini, usually with horns on the mid--to-highs that are harsh enough to strip paint.  Unless it's a discothèque, the primary problem with not using vinyl is that (1) in terms of sound, digital media loses the very artifacts that breath life into live DJ music, and (2) the DJ loses that tangible physical link with the music (even with CD scratchers).  The wow+flutter, dust, and scratches is what gives live mixed music authenticity and relevance, afterall, without vinyl and a skilled DJ, it's just a discothèque 


Since musicmaven is tied into a software package, your best bet is to test what codecs are compatible and do some testing.  FinalScratch recommends 192kbps, but depending on the software, if you can use VBR all the more better.

For archival purposes, since the source is vinyl, lossless may not offer signifcant benefits over high quality MPC when space is a consideration, although if not, FLAC would be my preference.

Club Music -> Mp3... Best Way?

Reply #7 –
I agree, your best bet is to use FLAC and burn the files to CDRs, then experiment with MP3 settings.  Most LPs aren't that long; I imagine you could fit five or so onto a CDR using FLAC.  Then you'll be able to recover your initial .WAV in case you want to use any restoration software or if you want to sample them.

LAME with alt-preset standard is probably you best bet for quality/size.  As a tip, if you're going to be playing MP3s in a club, try using a hardware reverb very lightly on the whole output.  I've found that makes most people less likely to hear artifacts.
 

Club Music -> Mp3... Best Way?

Reply #8 –
Quote
I don't want to be lugging around a laptop with an 200 gig harddrive

I know a DJ who's vinyl was stolen from his hotel.  It was insured for thousands, but the money pales in comparison to the loss for a pro/signed DJ.  Fortunately the loss didn't seem to impact his career. That is one benefit of digital archives, which are easily backed up.  No more boarding planes with a carryon crate of vinyl and such.