Kevin, Thanks for the offer to look at the files, but I've since deleted one of them, the one done at the blat bit rate. So far, the things I've ripped with the variable rate bounded by 128 and 320 sound all right.
BTW, can you define what is meant by sonic complexity in this context? A gaggle of instruments with different timbres playing at once, or any instrument with a lot of overtones making up its tone color, or...? I have some understanding of audio and of music, so if you know what sort of complexity it is that challenges too low a bit rate, please explain, and I'll ask about whatever I may not understand. Thanks. the only similar concept I do know is that of having enough power flexibility in an amplifier to accomodate peaks of output level without distortion. There's something analogous to this, I suppose. But I know it isn't the same thing. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kevin Lloyd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "PC audio discussion list. " <Pc-audio@pc-audio.org> Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 11:25 AM Subject: Re: CdEx settings check Hi. Yes, it's highly likely that the track you ripped didn't need 192kbps at all when ripped at high quality. That's the beauty of variable bit rates in saving disc space without compromising quality. You can check the bit rate that was used in a number of programs. Winamp can do this by using the keystroke insert + I. Arrow down to bit rate but beware that winamp isn't very good at telling you variable bit rate averages. It rounds to the nearest setting such as 128, 160, 192, 224, 256 or 320. I use a program called audigen to catalogue all of my MP3's and this database will tell me the exact variable bit rate average that the file has been ripped at. I'm listening to a Metallica track at present that winamp reports as ripped at 320kbps but audigen tells me is ripped at an average of 261kpbs. I also use a free program called MP3TRIM which also will show the variable bit rate accurately. This reports the track as ripped at an average of 261.5kbps. If you'd like me to take a look and listen to that track ripped in both ways just send it along to me at the address below. I'll let you know what I find off list. Regards. Kevin E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Yardbird" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "PC audio discussion list. " <Pc-audio@pc-audio.org> Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 10:36 PM Subject: Re: CdEx settings check > P.S. > > If it's pertinent to specify this, the track is fairly simple acoustically. > Just piano and voice (Randy Newman's "You Can Leave Your Hat On," from the > Randy Newman songbook Vol. 1). I'm just guessing, but maybe now that I've > enabled the variable bit rate, it determined that the track could stand even > more compression than when I had the variable bit rate inadvertently > disabled? > > Naive questions, I know. Just trying to figure this out. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Yardbird" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "PC audio discussion list. " <Pc-audio@pc-audio.org> > Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 2:14 PM > Subject: Re: CdEx settings check > > > Kevin, > One question. For the sake of comparison, I moved a folder containing one > of my ripped CDs to another place on my hard drive so I could rip the same > album again using the settings you suggested. > > Well, And then I listened to the two different versions of the track. But > also, I loooked at the properties for each file to see how large they were. > > To my rurpise, the file I just ripped after setting my options as you > suggested was *smaller* than the earlier version I'd created. The earlier > one was 4.51 Mb, and the new one, which I expected to be larger because of > the high quality, bigger maximum bit rate settings, was *smaller,* only 3.07 > Mb. > > Let me tell you the old settings and then the new ones as ou recommended. > > Old version of ripped track: > > minimum bit rate 192 > maximuim bit rate 224 > variable rate was showing disabled > quality high > > your settings: > min. bit rate 128 > max bit rate 320 > variable bit rate now set to default > quality high > > One thing I hadn't expected was that the file should be smaller now, and I > don't need it to be smaller. Have I done something incorrectly? > > > > From: "Kevin Lloyd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "PC audio discussion list. " <Pc-audio@pc-audio.org> > Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 12:59 PM > Subject: Re: CdEx settings check > > > Hi Daniel. > > I'll address some of your questions below by letting you know what settings > I use and why. I also have a critical ear and also confess to being a metal > head. Despite what some might think about metal, it actually needs a high > bit rate to get everything out of the extremes. > > By the way, any setting I don't mention ain't important and should be left > at default value as far as I'm concerned. > > 1. Thread priority - below normal - I set it here so that I can carry on > using my computer without any sluggishness. Normal isn't too bad but above > is obviously faster to rip but takes over your computer. > 2. Encoder - lame - the best MP3 encoder as far as I'm concerned. > > 3. Version - MPEG1 - just means MP3 - don't worry about it > > 4. Bit rate min - 128kbps - yes, this is the minimum bit rate or the floor > if you like when ripping in variable bit rate mode. The encoder won't drop > below this. The encoder will only go down this far if it thinks you won't > lose quality so it's safe to set to 128kbps rather than 192kbps if you're > using variable bit rates > > 5. Bit rate max - 320kbps - as I said, I prefer quality to disc space so > let the encoder use as much as it needs to get the best result - that's my > personal philosophy. It's interesting to see just how many CD's get ripped > with tracks in excess of 256kbps. > > 6. Stereo - don't use anything else like joint stereo - it'll sound tacky > and you'll regret > it later > > 7. Quality - high - if you want the best sound quality for your compressed > music there's no other setting worth using. > > 8. On the fly - unchecked - if you check this box you're telling the > program to read and rip to your hard drive in one move thereby increasing > your chances of including pops, clicks and jitter errors. By unchecking > this you'll be telling the program to firstly extract the data from the CD, > create an image on your hard drive and then convert to MP3. This will yield > a better result. > > 9. VBR method - VBR default - this basically tells the encoder that you > wish to use variable bit rates. There's little to choose in the individual > different VBR methods in my opinion so why not the default. > > 10. VBR quality - VBR 0 - the highest quality for the VBR algorithm. > > > Kevin > E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Yardbird" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "PC-Audio" <Pc-audio@pc-audio.org> > Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 7:26 PM > Subject: Fw: CdEx settings check > > > > This is the third of the three. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Yardbird" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: "PC-Audio" <Pc-audio@pc-audio.org> > > Sent: Sunday, May 08, 2005 4:28 PM > > Subject: CdEx settings check > > > > > > I've just read several sections of the CdEx Help documentation, and I'd > like > > to show how I set things, one option at a time. > > > > Please comment if I seem to have misunderstood something. My intention is > > to use settings that the manual seems to be saying will be adequate and > > reasonably high fidelity for ripping music tracks. I have a fairly > critical > > ear, and while I don't want to lose the advantage of compression > altogether, > > I don't want to make tacky-sounding files without the detail and timbre > > (tone "color") that will satisfy me. > > > > So here are the settings I've made. I'll mention when I didn't understand > > something at all. > > 1. convert to ripped .wav file, left checked > > > > 2. thread priority normal > > 3. lame mp3 encoder version 1 > > > > 4. don't delete ripped .wav file after conversion, checkbox left > unchecked > > > > 5. version mpEGI (version of what?) > > > > 6. min. bit rate 192 (what does it mean to say minimum here? Maybe this > > means if you use a variable or average rate, it's not supposed to fall > > beneath this?) > > > > 7. stereo J-radio checked (what does "radio" have to do with anything > > here?)Or maybe "J-radio?" > > > > 8. Private checkbox not checked Huh? Private as opposed to what? Is > the > > sighted user seeing things I'm not hearing, maybe? > > > > 9. checksum checkbox not checked (is this an error correction method that > > by default (I left this as it was) isn't to be used? Is that okay? > > > > 10. original checkbox not checked Original what? Huh? > > > > 11. copyright checkbox not checked (again, what's that mean?) > > > > 12. quality high (the manual suggested this for better music high if) > > > > 13. on-the-fly mp3 encoding checkbox checked (okay, that's the default, > but > > what's it mean?) > > > > 14. vbr method disabled > > > > Here follows the word "quality," then the next press of the tab key brings > > you to vbr quality. Then the next line is ABR (KBBS); now this is the > > method the manual suggested using, but there's no control or input here, > it > > seems, just the words. > > > > VBR method (no idea what this could be; again, there's nothing to set or > > check) > > > > 15. rate 44,100 default > > > > 16. > > That's it. Can anyone tell me if these settings are legitimate for the > > purposes I spoke of? Good quality music ripping? > > > > Thanks. Sorry to do this, but I found no step by step explanation of this > > options tab, or any other, in the help manual, even when clicking on the > > help button in the tab. What I got was very perfunctory, not an > explanation > > of any of this. > > > > Many thanks, > > Daniel > > > > > > > > -- > > No virus found in this outgoing message. > > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > > Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.7 - Release Date: 5/9/2005 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > > http://www.pc-audio.org > > > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > _______________________________________________ > PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.7 - Release Date: 5/9/2005 > > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.7 - Release Date: 5/9/2005 > > > _______________________________________________ > PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.7 - Release Date: 5/9/2005 > > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.7 - Release Date: 5/9/2005 > > > _______________________________________________ > PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.8 - Release Date: 5/10/2005 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.8 - Release Date: 5/10/2005 _______________________________________________ PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
