NoOriginally posted by zapjb@24 March 2003 - 18:31
Yes Paul that would be great! Got at least 1 question. Will installing this interfere with Nero burning software? I heard having more than 1 burn program can cause conflicts.
NoOriginally posted by zapjb@24 March 2003 - 18:31
Yes Paul that would be great! Got at least 1 question. Will installing this interfere with Nero burning software? I heard having more than 1 burn program can cause conflicts.
Good idea...Originally posted by Paul@24 March 2003 - 15:57
I will perhaps make a nice installer for EAC + LAME + All correct settings predefined.
With that ripping an album into high quality MP3 files should be just a few mouseclicks work. Even for n00bs.
Got some important exams this week. So it will probably be next week.
Setting it all up is a pain sometimes.
Well, EAC has some burning functionality, but it won't interfere with other programs at all.Originally posted by zapjb@24 March 2003 - 18:31
Yes Paul that would be great! Got at least 1 question. Will installing this interfere with Nero burning software? I heard having more than 1 burn program can cause conflicts.
One of the few programs that conflict with other burning programs is Easy CD Creator.
Sorry DataMore I think you are wrong about the best version of Lame B)
So maybe DataMore should get updated instead. B)Also that Chris Myden dude's tutorial has to be updated...
The best Lame encoder so far is version 3.92 and not 3.90.2.
There is a new Lame 3.93 version, but it's been known to have serious issues, so stick with the best one so far - version 3.92.
Just look at Hydrogen Audio in the second Sticky thread.
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?act=SF&f=15
And it's Dibrom saying 3.90.2 is recommended.
He is the developer that tuned and tested the --alt-presets for Lame.
So he shurely should know.
But 3.92 is quite similar to the 3.90.2 version so you might not be able to hear the difference in quality (better or worse). We are talking about so small differences in quality that it's picky as hell here.
But With Lame 3.92 or later the --alt-presets are not tuned by Dibrom as far as i know.
So to put it short there is no evidence that vers. 3.92 or any other version than 3.90.2 gives better quality than 3.90.2
Also EasyLAME uses vers. 3.90.2 for the same reason. See their site
http://free.pages.at/volcano/lame/index_en.html
Use EasyLame (= RazorLAME with nice configurations + LAME 3.90.2) for your encoding is my suggestion. Or use EAC and LAME 3.90.2
Hope this clears things up.
Sorry for beeing late with this reply.
Hello Everybody.
I have made a guide for making high quality mp3 files.
Just copy what you like.
If you have any comments I would be glad to hear about them.
Edited the text today.
Start---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guide for making very High Quality MP3 files.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
---
Get EAC (Exact Audio Copy).
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
It's a CD ripper. It has secure mode.
CDex also has secure mode but most poeple seem to prefer EAC.
Using secure mode insures a perfect copy of the CD.
EAC has many options and is a little hard for a novice to get into but it's the best.
2.
---
Download a "profile" for EAC. pick a .cfg from Chris Mydens site.
http://www.chrismyden.com/nuke/modules.php...E&file=painless
In EAC use menu.
EAC / Load Profile choose the above downloaded .cfg file
Do your own alterations (if needed) until you are happy and save as your own profile.
3.
---
Get EasyLame ver.13
http://www.benjamin-lebsanft.de/files/easylame13en.exe
It Contains RazorLame wich is a nice Lame Front End.
Front End means it's a user friendly interface with windows menus.
It also contains Lame v3.90.2 wich is the version to use for highest quality MP3.
Vers. 3.90.2 is recommended to use.
For more about this see (only if you don't believe me or must look at the details yourself)
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?act...=ST&f=15&t=478&
3.90.2, 3.91 are the same but different compilations so the end quality is the same.
3.91 is a little slower in the encoding. (It is compiled by another developer actually).
3.92 is also gives acceptable quality since only small alterations are made from 3.90.2.
The --alt-presets are not tuned (optimized in sound quality) with any version later than 3.90.2 though.
3.93 is very bad. Gives low quality mp3 files. Some "test" code was wrongly written.
3.94 is the latest version used for alfa testing as I write this.
Quality is less tested with any version after 3.90.2.
So all version after 3.90.2 should rather be seen as alpha versions for a future product.
They can be defect somewere since not finally tuned and tested.
4.
---
Use the --alt-preset standard, --alt-preset extreme or --alt-preset insane options.
They are in normal language abreviated as -aps -ape -api. With EasyLame this should be easy.
They use code level tweaks. So there is no comparable parameter settings for this.
standard gives VBR (Variablre Bit Rate) around 180 - 220 kbit/s. Lowpass filter set to 19000 Hz is used.
extreme gives VBR (Variablre Bit Rate) around 220 - 270 kbit/s. Lowpass filter set to 19600 Hz is used.
insane gives CBR (Constant Bir Rate) at 320 kbps. Lowpass filter set to 20600 Hz is used (=CD bandwith).
VBR means it will use the bit rate needed to get "perfect" sound for every part of the song.
Silent part will for instance use low bitrate. In Winamp the bitrate indicator will flip a lot.
There is nothing wrong with this. With a change in the Winamp preferences this can be changed.
According to the developers at Hydrogen Audio, Lame 3.90.2 -aps mp3 is undistinguishable from
the original music CD for most music when using blind tests. Let's say for >90% of the music.
-aps is what the developers (especially Dibrom) recommend to use.
If you want to get better quality (that you possibly will not hear) the mp3 file will be bigger.
I personally use -ape.
I can not hear any difference between -ape and -api or the original CD whatsoever on my music.
But I think I can on -aps.
But the guys at Hydrogen Audio says it is the placebo effect.
To be sure I have to do extensive blind tests and that is for another time.
The artifacts (hard to encode special sounds) that the mp3 formats can't encode properly
will seldom be fixed by using -api instead of -ape.
-api files get really big compared to what mp3 files normally are.
If you want better quality than -ape i suggest you use a lossless format instead.
5.
---
Get MP3Gain at
http://www.geocities.com/mp3gain/
Use it to Normalize / Scale (=same thing here but called different in different programs)
so there will be no clipping.
Run MP3Gain.
Choose Options / Advanced...
Mark the Enable "Maximizing" features.
Click on OK.
Add Folder (choose your MP3 folder).
Choose Modify Gain / Apply "Max No-Clip Gain For Each File" or
"Max No-Clip Gain For Album" option.
I personally use the Apply "Max No-Clip Gain For Each File" menu option.
This should be done after encoding the mp3 file.
Normally the "No clipping" Scaling / Normalizing is done first but then the original data will be destroyed somewhat.
By doing it afterwards with MP3Gain it can be done in a lossless / perfect way.
Actually MP3Gain adjusts the main volume info bits in each mp3 frame of the file.
So no original mp3 data will be destroyed (no original bit alteration and no rounding errors).
Warning: The volume of each mp3 file will be altered somewhat. I think to the better.
Also there will be no clipping during decoding (playing) of the mp3 files.
If it's of big importance for you to keep the original volume or relative volume between songs consider
not doing this. It's ireversible (practically at least).
Once point 5 is done you must restart from scratch if you dont like the result unless
you have a copy of the unmodified mp3 files elsewere.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
6. 7. and 8. are related to filesharing and searching on Kazaa.
SKIP THIS if you won't do that.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
6.
---
Filesharing if internet connected.
Use KazaaLight.
It is the advertisment / banner free version so it is in fact better than using Kazaa.
Or if you prefer use DC++ (advertisment free Direct Connect).
For DC++ you need a decently big hard drive and a high speed connection.
Also it is less user friendly than Kazaa to me.
Before sharing your files please use MP3-Tag Studio 3 from
http://www.magnusbrading.com/mp3ts/
or similar mass tagging tool.
With MP3 Tag Studio you will have to live with an advertisment banner to be able to mass tag.
And that is what you have to do. Do not bother about the banner.
It is hardcoded in the program code so there is no spying / spamming on you.
Check (click on) the Use explorer browser tree box.
Click to your mp3 file directory.
Click on the Mass set tags/flags "page".
Check the Comment Field box.
In the Comment field write:
Lame 3.90.2 -ape / EAC Secure / MP3Gain Apply "Max No-Clip Gain For Each File"
or whatever appropriate.
Another example is:
Lame 3.90.2 -aps / EAC Secure / MP3Gain Apply "Max No-Clip Gain For Album"
Put the most important first.
Kazaa seems to cut the description text when creating a description field that show up at the users.
Only the 28 first letters are copyied to the description field in Kazaa.
I just found this "bug". So put Lame info first because that is what you probably search for.
It is possible to manually edit the description field and fill in the cut text in "My Kazaa"
for EVERY file one at a time but that is a lot of boring work.
Check the include subdirs option under the Execute ! button.
Then click on Execute ! button.
Done.
When searching for high quality mp3 files with Kazaa Lite the above is important and useful info to have.
7.
---
Search tips for Kazaa.
In Kazaa Lite Search. Choose Audio and type:
Lame -ape or
Lame -aps
Lame -api
Check the Auto Search More and then click on Search Now.
Other good search strings are
preset standard
preset extreme
preset insane
Today there aren't many files yet.
You can also search for:
ChrisMyden
It is part of the
MP3 Help - www.ChrisMyden.com
description that all UberNöde Standard files have in their comment field.
You will then find files originally made for the UberNöde standard.
They are ripped with EAC in secure mode and encoded with Lame 3.90.2 or later with -aps -ape or -api options.
Almost all -aps.
Unfortunately a lot are made with other Lame versions wich are not tested for quality.
Especially Lame 3.93 encoding gives bad quality results.
You can use the EncSpot program from:
http://cd-rw.org/software/audio_software/m...ols/encspot.cfm
to see what have been used.
If you use it please do Options / Settings / Columns and check the Lame Tag option.
It will give you more info for the Lame mp3 files.
8.
---
Another search tip for Kazaa.
Search for .flac and .ape lossless files in the Everything "Media Type".
Kazaa does not know this is audio.
These are made with lossless encoders.
Very few files today.
Only the files where Media Type is blank are interesting.
With this you can share your original CD music without loss.
Files are bigger than mp3.
9.
---
Lossless encoding.
Use FLAC or Monkeys Audio for encoding.
FLAC has a stream format that is fully open to the public to be used for any purpose.
Compared to Monkeys Audio (.ape) FLAC is streamable (like internet radio braodcasting) and easier to decode.
Because it is easier to decode it has more hardware support.
Monkeys Audio is newer and becoming more and more popular.
It has a nice user interface and compresses the data slightly more
(but almost insignificantly more) than FLAC.
It also has open code but the "free" license is more restricted.
I guess it might get hardware support in the future if it does not already.
It will probably not become streamable (like internet radio braodcasting) though.
Just use one of these for lossless encoding.
10.
---
Software tip for high quality listening.
Use the Foobar2000 player. Downloadable from
http://foobar2000.hydrogenaudio.org/
It gives best quality. Especially when you use the equalizer.
You can get good quality using Winamp but then you must do some changes.
Foobar2000 has one BIG anoying thing.
It has no scrolling capability... (Grrr Very bad).
If you must have this (and it for shore is usable) don't change from Winamp.
You will have to listen from beginning to end of mp3 with Foobar2000.
There is support for the .ogg format from scratch in Foobar2000.
Plugins for .flac and .ape (Monkeys Audio) is also available.
Winamp also has plugins for all this of course.
-------------------------------------------------
11. and 12. Has nothing to do with mp3 encoding. Just Hardware tips.
SKIP THIS if it's not interesting.
-------------------------------------------------
11.
---
Hardware tips for high quality listening.
Most soundcards give bad quality sound.
And the speakers and possibly your amplifier probably suck.
If you have a CD burner, getting a hardware CD players with mp3 playing capability is a
good and not to expensive alternative.
Also get a pair of decent headphones.
I got a pair of these (headphones)
http://www.pro2.com.tw/b333p.htm
in a shop nearby.
They have a good frequency response.
They are not to expensive (around 30 Euro).
Now you are going to tell me i can't hear anything ouside of 20-20 000 Hz or something.
Yes you are right but the specification of 20 - 20 000 Hz on headphones means they have 3 dB signal
attenuation at 20 and 20 000 Hz. That is what filter specifications usually mean.
This means half sound power at these frequencies.
And I bet you can hear if the bass is damped to half (it is much) at 20 Hz.
When you buy a mp3 CD player i must warn you that i have read Sony got problems with 320 kbps frames.
So VBR like Lame -aps, -ape, -api will give you bad sound on at least some of Sonys products.
A discussion about different mp3 players can be found here
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?act...ST&f=15&t=6788&
12.
---
Tip for the amplifier building freaks.
This really begins to be off topic but it's a hobby of mine. You might like it.
Build a Gainclone amplifier. Warning. Takes ALL your time. Not only all your spare time.
In that regard it's much cheaper to buy an amplifier.
Although it seems simple at first it's a lot to do.
Some Links.
http://home.ca.inter.net/~cfraser/Gainclonehome.htm
But the schematics here is not the best / latest version. It's an old positive feedback one.
Good start page for newbies though. Another one is.
http://www.geocities.com/rjm003.geo/rjmaud...dio/diy_gc.html
The next link is to the Forum about Gainclone.
Do click on the electronic symbols on top to get the latest and best schematics.
http://pub134.ezboard.com/ffakeidsfrm1
I order my components at
http://www.rs-components.com/
but I use their local website for my country.
And for loudspeaker building things become a lot harder.
Much more expensive and a lot more to learn.
I give you just one link for the sake of it.
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/
I am less experienced in this field.
Written the 5:th of april 2003.
Hope this helps. Happy mp3 encoding / listening.
End-------------------------------------------------------------------
Since Paul didn't have an e-mail possibility i posted the text i wanted to send him.
Might interest other people reading this thread also.
/ Gainclone
Poster
Nice job Gainclone!
To enlarge the chance of finding these HQ files it may be a good idea if we share them in the same part of the Fatsttracknetwork.
To get this going we could agree to connect to the same set of Supernodes.
Maybe the ones that are mentioned in my sig?
First of all, much thanks to Paul and Gainclone for introducing me and enhancing my mp3 experience. I knew mp3 would be mastered soon, but never had the desire to rip HQ before I went to soulseek and heard music at 192kb/s. Before I was at 128kb/s. Now with larger hard drives, a HQ level is a must. I love the sound quality that I heard my first VBR song and will enjoy making my collection for you all.
I, however, have a few questions. I have been noticing that my DVD-ROM is ripping movies at a slow rate of 1.2x. Now that I am also doing CD rips, I was wondering what rate you guys are ripping CD's? I know my ROM is shot...and have a Toshiba on its way. What speeds can I expect with a proper ROM? At the rate this one is going, it'll take me an hour to turn my CD files into MP3. That is unacceptable, I know. Thanks for the input.
Oh, and why do I hear a beep sound from my computer every so often while running EAC?
EDIT: Another question: Do you set the rip at actual or at 4.0x (one option I saw)? Actual went as it says, the same time it would take to listen to the CD. I guess at 4.0x we risk clarity or sound reprodution quality. Let me know.
Alright, I want to thank you both for the input yet again. I was able to tweak the programs to my needs and I am having success in LAME encoding. What a difference! I just set the rip speed for 4.0x and ripped fast. Got the job done at a fraction of the time too.
I urge everyone who rips to use these methods. It would enable all of us to enjoy music the way it was originally mastered to be heard. I am in the process of properly tagging these files with "VBR / LAME" as a comment
Searching The People
Thank for the great tip paul
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