So, until Monkey D. Sound alerted me, I had no idea my VinylStudio mp3 exports were happening at the near-least VBR (7, to be precise). That the program has defaulted the VBR thus is kind of mind-blowing--I would think that a medium value would be the default. To make life even more fun, it turns out that each and every VinylStudio project (album, whatever) has to be individually adjusted. I'll have to contact Alpinesoft and ask if it's possible to change this setting across the board.
I'm in the process of redoing my last post, but it involves four projects/albums, and a reordering of the track numbers. With VinylStudio, each snag is a "What's next?" event. However, the software performs amazingly well, even if it leaves much to be desired in the logical-design realm.
And a "VA" project is totally out of line with VS's chief design, which presumes that the user is digitizing his or her favorite Boomer-rock LP. Meanwhile, the program is packed with 78-rpm playback curves. Go figure.
As for me, I don't even have a favorite rock album, and if only because rock is not my favorite music. In fact, I don't care for most "classic" rock (please don't tell anyone), and I feel no need to conform to the typical tastes of my generation. Anyway, most of what I do with the program involves bypassing its "album" template. Namely, I tend to rip one to four tracks per "album," and then simply allow the albums to pile up (30 is the limit). I don't know or care whether or not the program thinks that I've ripped thirty Led Zeppelin LPs. With MAGIX, I had to do a degree of "improper" employing of the features, but with VS, that dynamic is epic. The degree to which I am NOT using the software as intended is almost surreal. And now this. A per-album VBR default which is almost the least in that regard.
Did someone decide, "I'm sure our users want substandard mp3s"? At least MAGIX's mp3 export default was middling, which is logical. This allowed me to go up or down as I chose. (I chose "up.") But, in the meantime, I wasn't making poor-quality mp3s. The least VBR is 9, and so a 7 is pretty lousy. Or very, actually. Well, I have nothing to lose. But my mind. I'd add an "in retrospect" observation, but I don't have one at this time!
Lee
7 comments:
I suggest not using VBR at all if you feel you have to encode in mp3. But a lossless format is much preferred.
Not sure what a 7 means in VinylStudio parlance, but that's not a standard reference when it comes to VBR. In theory, VBR adjust the bit rate of the compression to match what you're listening to at the moment. Big crashing drums may not need as high of a bitrate as the soft spoken word passages. In most softwares, you set a minimum and then the program figures out when it needs more. It's generally referred to as that minimum bitrate. I haven't looked too closely at your shares, so I'm not sure what it's doing. I'm sure you'll figure it out though. :)
I'm not entirely clear on this "VBR" stuff, so forgive me if I suggest an irrelevant solution... Why not record in & save as WAV? WAV files seem to be almost the penultimate bit-rate & sound quality.
MMYPWHAEGA!!! ( Make music you possibly won't hear anyplace else great again) ehhheheehheeee
WAV is a lossless format.
Well, alright then, what about FLAC?
Yes. FLAC is also a lossless format. It’s great too.
Where does this get you at this point? Anywhere further towards a solution?
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