Wav or AIFF 192K to MP3 192K

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2002 1:17 pm

Hey Bill,
If I took a session recorded at 24bit/192K as a Wav or AIFF file (ok no secret on the system here) and converted it to MP3 at 192K is there going to be much quality lost or should it be the same. What do you see as the coming MP3 standard sampling rate? Thank you very much.
Allen Smile

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2002 6:01 am

Hi Allen!

Here is a general rule of thumb for MP3's

192 K is 85% of cd quality
160 K is 77% of " " " "
128 K is 64% of " " " "

These figures are for quality of sound issues. Some people cannot hear 50%, others can hear 5 %.

One fellow I knew could not hear the difference of a 96K bite. We will call him "tin ear" or "deaf ears".

I use varable bit rate that can go to 360 but file size is close to the 160 size.

For tracking ideas I use 160K for many rips but it all depends on your ripper, the source..and the playback integrety.

I find the quality of 192 and 224 to be indistinguishable. 192 should work fine for an MP3.

Try it and see if the difference is too much for you...then keep raising bit rates until you are pleased. The sole purpose of MP3 is to use smaller space on the HD.

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2002 6:37 pm

Hi Allen & Bill.
Mp3's are something I've shied away from till now, but by the end of this year I'll be needing to do some of this for my own "stuff" (and other people's).
Can you by any chance, recommend a good site to visit that gives a good, in depth technical breakdown re this? I'm very familiar with the idea in principle, having worked with various compression formats in video and digital imaging, but for mp3's I'm coming at it as a total "newbee/wannabee" angle.
Thanks for any time and advice you may be able to give.
Kind regards
stedel
PS: Don't mean to take you off on a tangent here,
I just saw the Topic heading if you've already done this somewhere...sorry...just point me in the direction Smile

:w:
PPS- that wasn't a spelling mistake there re the neighbours....

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2002 8:36 pm

Here is some good reading on the subject, compliments of Angelic Records:

Fraunhofer- MPEG Audio Layer-3

MPEG.ORG The Official MPEG Committee Website-

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2002 9:11 pm

Thanks Amg. Those are my picks as well

Best thing to consider is listening on your monitors. Some of the problems with bit-rate of MP3's happen in the highs (above 13K) and general smearing of the clarity...slightly more muddy...but for a quick reference...you can look beyond that if you know what it is..(like a scratchy record expample) and get *good* fildelity out of MP3's. I have even mastered MP3's by taking them to wave, doing my magic, re MP3ing them and shipping for a test....mind you with favorable results. Many have even outperformed the masters..if done very carefully. Not bragging, those were the words of the engineers that I accomplished this feat for. It can work for you..if need be...not my first choice by a long shot.

I use playcenter two by creative for my MP3 conversions but db poweramp is a very good choice as well. Go into the properties and select varible bit rate of 224...and it is killer clean for an MP3. Hearing is believing...YMCV (your miliage can vary)

TKS for the kind words Ste.

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