Recording MP3 with Cool Edit Pro
Harold Fineberg
The default setting for sampling rate was 44100 but the resulting
quality of sound was not good.
I upped the rate to 9600 but when I save as MP3 it says:
'can not handle the current sample type. Would you like to convert to
44100Hz, Stereo 16-bit and continue saving?'
I have compared quality with MP3s that I have downloaded via Kazaa and
they are all showing higher sampling rate.
How can I save as MP3 with better quality?
Thanks
Harold
The Number 23
"Harold Fineberg" <har...@fineberg.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3ec7ca57...@news.homechoice.co.uk...
Short answer: Change your encoding bit rate to 192kbps or 256kbps.
Long detailed explanation:
It's possible you might be confusing sample rate with encoding bit rate. The
two are independent.
Sample rate is the number of samples per second your music plays (which
determines, among other things, the highest frequency your music can play).
44,100 is the same sample rate that CD's use, which should be fine to handle
any cassette recording. At 16 bits, a stereo second will take 172k/sec. In
this case, bits determine the dynamic range of your music.
MP3 encoding bit rate is how many bits per second that the encoded (lossy)
MP3 will use. A one second 128kbps MP3 will take 16k/sec, a 90% reduction in
filesize over the uncompressed example above. Note, this 90% reduction isn't
free - there will be artifacts in the encoded MP3 that weren't present in
the original uncompressed music.
An encoded MP3 at any bit rate can be at any sample rate (but probably not
greater than 48,000 Hz). However, higher sample rates will cause more
artifacts than a lower sample rate for the same bit rate.
Here's an important distinction: An MP3 encoded at 96kbps does not mean the
file has a sample rate of 96kHz.
Recording a cassette to a PC should sound fine at 44,100 Hz/16 bits
uncompressed. However, if you make an MP3 at 128kbps (or lower) from this
recording, it won't sound good. The main reason is the hiss from your
cassette is causing so many encoding artifacts that it will sound bad after
it is encoded. The answer is to change the encoding bit rate up to 192 or
256 kbps (or even higher). The file size will be larger, but the encoder
will have a better ability to encode the music without having so many
artifacts.
A few other things:
Older soundcard line-in's may have a low signal to noise ratio, meaning the
line-in may be adding lots of noise that causes the encoder to produce more
artifacts.
If you are required to encode at 128kbps (or less), then you will need to do
a large amount of noise reduction on the cassette recording (which will
cause artifacts itself). The less hiss in the music, the better the encoder
can work at lower bit rates. Enabling Dolby B on the cassette player might
help, but you'll probably need quality noise reduction software that does
even more.
This is the reason commercial MP3's sound better on Kazaa than the cassettes
you are digitizing - the source music is professionally recorded with no
hiss, it was probably ripped directly from CD, and the encoder does a pretty
good job
-Brian
Harold Fineberg
<thenu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>Short answer: Change your encoding bit rate to 192kbps or 256kbps.
>
>
Many thanks Brian for your response. I cannot claim to have been
confusing anything with anything as I am a rank beginner in this area.
But I did understand your explanation. I changed the encoding bit rate
to 256 and saw and heard the difference. It's late here in England so
tomorrow I will try your suggestion of setting Dolby B on and see (or
rather hear) what difference that makes.
Once again, Thanks.
Harold
Paul Ward
usually seems to be what people are trying to do with cassette), then you'd
be better recording as WAV files. That way you don't lose any audio quality
(such as you can get from cassette!) and there's no re-conversion when you
burn to CD.
Apologies if I've missed the mark, but just thought it might be worth
mentioning. I've had a few recordings passed to me as MP3 and some folks
don't realise that once MP3 throws away a lot of the audio to reduce the
file size there is no way to get it back later.
P.
"Harold Fineberg" <har...@fineberg.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3ec80918...@news.homechoice.co.uk...
Björn Lindström
> Just a thought, but if you plan to dumpe theses recordings to CD
> (which usually seems to be what people are trying to do with
> cassette), then you'd be better recording as WAV files. That way you
> don't lose any audio quality (such as you can get from cassette!) and
> there's no re-conversion when you burn to CD.
If that is the case you would maybe be better of using something like
shn, a lossless audio compression format. Also, in my experience, Ogg
Vorbis (http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/) keeps the original sound of a
recording better compared to an MP3 of the same bitrate. (This in
addition to a few other advantages.) If you are worried about artifacts
from the MP3 encoding but really need to save space, it might be worth
trying out.
Harold Fineberg
dump these to CD but as a newbie in this area I'm learning fast.
E.J.
The sampling rate that you're using 44,100 is quite sufficient for
what you are doing. The problem you are having is with the BPS
setting. If you want CD quality sound you need to set your MP3 at
128Kbps. I use cool edit as well. Hope this helps! If you need more
clarification, be sure and let me know!
Regards,
E.J.
The Music Factory
http://www.everygoodboydoesfine.com
musicfa...@comcast.net
Piano for Everyday Mortals