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Posted by Aldrian on Jul-25-2002 16:34:

Questions on CDRs and MP3s

Okay i got some questions for you peeps

I was wondering what brands of cdrs do you use for good quality audio? So far I have been only using 3 brands of cdrs which are SONY, IMATION, and MEMOREX. To me they sound pretty ok.

What are the difference between a CDR and a CDR for audio? Will it produce much better sound if the label say CDR AUDIO? Because the CDRs i have been using doesn't say AUDIO.

Now on to MP3s

I know to the naked ears, MP3s sound just as good as CDs. Especially when you burn them into a cd the sound volume seems to be louder. True?
I use ACID to convert my mp3s into wavs when im ready to burn them onto a CD. Plus I can edit the tunes and cut off the silent parts at the end. Acid has this thing that you can increase the dB level up to 12dB but I don't do that cause obviously the track will sound way too distorted. THe volume starts off at -0.5dB but if a track has low volume to it, i increase the dB level to +1.9 or a little lower to fix it a bit. it's not much but i just do it beleiving it can increase the volume a bit. What should i adjust it to?

im assuming this is the right forum to ask this question. if not please move this one to the right one thanks

Posted by Ray_Finkle on Jul-25-2002 19:25:

A blank cd is a blank cd. There are absolutly no differences. The difference in quality comes from the actual media that is burned onto the disc.

Mp3s DO NOT SOUND AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL CD!!!!!!! IF YOU ARE COMPRESSING A FILE, OBVIOUSLY THERE IS GONNA BE SOUND DEGRADATION!!!!!! I'M ASSUMING YOU ENCODE YOUR MP3S AT SHITTY RATES OF 128 OR 192.

ALL YOUR PROBLEMS WILL BE SOLVED IF YOU ENCODE YOUR MP3S AT --ALT-PRESET STANDARD USING THE PROGRAM LAME 3.91

MP3S SHOULD NOT BE LOUDER OR SOFTER UNLESS YOU ENCODE AT SHIT RATES WHICH I GUESS YOU DO.

AND THE CAPITALS ARE NEEDED HERE TO GET MY POINT ACROSS.

Posted by torontotrance on Jul-25-2002 20:06:

vinyl and real cd's always sound better.....

see i don't download albums....because i think....if i want it bad enough....i'll go buy it in the store.

Posted by hangover on Jul-25-2002 21:05:

You shouldn't increase/decrease gain on tracks manually (unless it's really really quiet and you don't care bout the quality, just want to hear it). There are many programs that normalize a set of tracks to the same level so you can burn them to one CD, and you won't need to play with the volume between track.

For example EAC (Exact Audio Copy) does this.

P.S.: about CDR quality - this is tricky. many CDRs come with different names from the same factory. The only way is to try them.
TIP: for audio CDs intended for car players burn at the lowest speed possible for more quality. I usually burn audio/mp3 CDs at x8 (and i also do Disk-At-Once) - this will give you better response time and less skipping (especially with low end mp3 car players)

Posted by BloodfIower on Jul-25-2002 21:18:

yeah the stupids above are right with the mp3 stuff...

to your question about the CD-R�s

do never ever buy audio cdr�s please, they cost muczh more and bring NOTHIN they are made for burning in stereo cd player station, u know some of these tower have built in burners so they can only record on such audio cdr�s...

Posted by Hoss on Jul-25-2002 21:44:

I use Verbatim data CD's for all of my recording. They're a little more expensive, but they are quality cds.

As for the mp3 question, the guys that have already posted are right. I usually rip at 256 instead of 128 or 192.

Posted by ali92 on Jul-25-2002 22:48:

Just ask me- The quality god, LOL! The best blanks are Taiyo Yuden, Mitsui Gold, Kodak Gold Ultra Infoguard Protection, and SONY Gold. DON'T get those Audio CD-Rs. They cost 4 - 6 times more than standard CD-Rs and do NOTHING to make your music sound any better. They are the same as regular CD-Rs except they have a flag in the ATIP that tells it that it can only only be used in "home stereo" CD recorders. The high prices are for the record labels royalty. DON'T BUY THEM. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! Any other brand besides those mentioned are not good and they change factories frequently so, even though Memorex blanks MAY work great now, 6 months from now when u go to buy more, they may not because they are manufacturing them at a different factory. http://www.cdmediaworld.com/ has more info. Have a nice day!!!

Posted by Ray_Finkle on Jul-26-2002 02:48:

Whoa man, Don't normalize the tracks!

Just to reiterate the points made above, if you are experiancing quietness on your burnt cds, it may be one of the following:

1)overall crappyness of the mp3. If you are ripping your cds to mp3, please for the love of God Download EAC ( http://www.exactaudiocopy.de). use this guide to set it up---> http://www.ping.be/satcp/eac00.htm. This will guarentee you FLAWLESS rips if you rip in secure mode. Then Download a program called LAME-----> http://www.mp3dev.org/mp3/ and set it so you rip with this command line

--alt-preset standard. This is the best compromise between size and quality in the VBR (Variable Bit Rate) formats.

2) Do you use winamp? If so, do you use the equalizer in winamp? This will also throw your sound files off when you burn a cd. you want to know how to fix this problem? Don't use Winamp Equalizer. You don't need to. Trust me.

If anyone wants me to make up a guide on how to properly rip MP3s, I would gladly do it.

Oh and sorry for my negative tone in my previous post. I have had a bad day.

You would be pissed off to when you find out you may have lost 275 dollars

Posted by Taz on Jul-26-2002 03:09:

quote:

You would be pissed off to when you find out you may have lost 275 dollars

Whoa shit, dude! What happened?

Posted by Aldrian on Jul-26-2002 03:17:

hey no sweat

do'nt worry about it Ray_Finkle. sorry you lost that much dough. what the hell happened to it?

anyways i do'nt really rip cd tracks into mp3. i do download mp3s and convert them into wavs so for burning onto cds. i do use CDex to rip cd tracks and make them into wavs. is that okay? i do'nt mess around with the bitrates and such. i just use the default. would that be fine?

Posted by Ray_Finkle on Jul-26-2002 03:19:

read the thread I just made and it will explain it all.

Aldrian, try following my steps in my post above and i guarentee that you will be able to tell the difference between a 128 bit mp3 file and a VBR mp3

Also, if you are just ripping to wav files, then yeah, the default is fine. The wav file will be the EXACT sound file that appears on your cd.

Posted by SmellsExcellent on Jul-26-2002 04:41:

quote:
Originally posted by Ray_Finkle You would be pissed off to when you find out you may have lost 275 dollars

its just money.. get over it..

in the words of tyler durden, "the things you own will end up owning you."

look how some money has affected you mood altogether.. dont worry, be happy.

i felt like saying that all.. i guess i dont know why.

cheers.

-marc

Posted by heydj70 on Jul-26-2002 04:48:

Check out this site for info on cdr's http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd.shtml

Posted by Ray_Finkle on Jul-26-2002 05:01:

hmm....good point. I mean, 275 dollars is not that much in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks for those wise words man

Posted by igottaknow on Jul-26-2002 05:28:

The CDRs for mp3 is a stupid marketing ploy to make more money.

I don't waste my time worrying about the sound quality. If you do a good initial rip and use a decent bit rate above 128, you'll do fine. Besides in a couple of years you won't be listening to most of the tunes you have now. Its just music, so relax and enjoy it.

I'm probably dating myself, but I remember this same quality debate about which cassettes you should buy in order to truly enjoy the music. Now this technology is obsolete and I've tossed both my cheap and expensive cassette tapes. I also remember when CDs first came out; audiophiles complained that the digital process didn't accurately reproduce the music. IMHOP ppl have too much time on their hands to worry about such things.

Posted by ali92 on Jul-26-2002 11:30:

quote:
Originally posted by Ray_Finkle
Whoa man, Don't normalize the tracks!

Just to reiterate the points made above, if you are experiancing quietness on your burnt cds, it may be one of the following:

1)overall crappyness of the mp3. If you are ripping your cds to mp3, please for the love of God Download EAC ( http://www.exactaudiocopy.de). use this guide to set it up---> http://www.ping.be/satcp/eac00.htm. This will guarentee you FLAWLESS rips if you rip in secure mode. Then Download a program called LAME-----> http://www.mp3dev.org/mp3/ and set it so you rip with this command line

--alt-preset standard. This is the best compromise between size and quality in the VBR (Variable Bit Rate) formats.

2) Do you use winamp? If so, do you use the equalizer in winamp? This will also throw your sound files off when you burn a cd. you want to know how to fix this problem? Don't use Winamp Equalizer. You don't need to. Trust me.

If anyone wants me to make up a guide on how to properly rip MP3s, I would gladly do it.

Oh and sorry for my negative tone in my previous post. I have had a bad day.

You would be pissed off to when you find out you may have lost 275 dollars

Don't even botehr doing it. It's at http://www.r3mix.net/

Posted by Ray_Finkle on Jul-26-2002 11:43:

yeah good point. I forgot about that website.

Plus, that website will show you graphical data on exactly how much better VBR files are than shitty 128 or 192 bit files

Posted by SmellsExcellent on Jul-26-2002 14:02:

quote:
Originally posted by Ray_Finkle
hmm....good point. I mean, 275 dollars is not that much in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks for those wise words man

*high five*

Posted by Fandom on Jul-26-2002 19:53:

Hey people,i wanna asak a question.
Which is the best layer colour to record to?
I mean verbatim's got blue layer and i've had some small problems wth other layers.
Any suggestions?
Greetz

Posted by Stanza on Jul-26-2002 21:18:

quote:
2) Do you use winamp? If so, do you use the equalizer in winamp? This will also throw your sound files off when you burn a cd. you want to know how to fix this problem? Don't use Winamp Equalizer. You don't need to. Trust me.

Are you sure this will affect the way a program burns an mp3 to a cd?
What happens if you have Winamp close during the burning operation?

Posted by hangover on Jul-26-2002 21:30:

quote:
Originally posted by Dj DoomForce
Hey people,i wanna asak a question.
Which is the best layer colour to record to?
I mean verbatim's got blue layer and i've had some small problems wth other layers.
Any suggestions?
Greetz

Haven't seen any difference my self but theoretically the darker the better. That's why there's this hype around the black media which is the most expensive.

Posted by Ray_Finkle on Jul-27-2002 02:58:

quote:
Originally posted by Stanza

Are you sure this will affect the way a program burns an mp3 to a cd?
What happens if you have Winamp close during the burning operation?

I'm just saying this because if he is used to hearing a song that has been EQ'ed, then it will sound different when he hears it on his system.

Posted by ali92 on Jul-27-2002 14:23:

quote:
Originally posted by Dj DoomForce
Hey people,i wanna asak a question.
Which is the best layer colour to record to?
I mean verbatim's got blue layer and i've had some small problems wth other layers.
Any suggestions?
Greetz

The BEST CD recording layer colour to record to is GOLD. Kodak and Mitsui has some Gold CD-Rs available (Kodak with their Infoguard protection is GREAT!) so, get those!