Audacity Forum

Hi!

I have recorded multiple tracks using a multitrack recorder, imported these tracks into Audacity, and mixed the song. It sounds great when I play it back through Audacity.

Here's my question:

Why does it sound bad when I export it as an MP3?

I can't figure out how to change the kbps so it's defaulting to 128.
The Project Rate is at 44100Hz, and so is the "Actual Rate" (not sure what the difference is or how to change that).

Anyway it just sounds like some of the tracks are too loud in the MP3 even though it sounds good before I export.

Thank-you!

tramway wrote:I can't figure out how to change the kbps so it's defaulting to 128.

That could be why it doesn't sound so good.

If you export it as a WAV file, does it sound good?
If so, you probably just need to change the MP3 compression settings.
In the Export dialogue screen, when you select MP3 as the format there is also an "Options" button. Click on the Options button and select "Preset: Standard" or "Preset: Extreme".

tramway wrote:The Project Rate is at 44100Hz

Good. Leave it at that. Audacity will use the Project Rate as the sample rate for the exported file unless you are compressing to a very low quality (in which case it may need to down-sample to a lower rate, but I think it warns you if it is going to do that).

Another thing that could be happening is that your levels are too high. You won't hear the effects of clipping nearly as badly in Audacity as you will in an exported file. Play through your project in Audacity and watch the level meters on the toolbar. Any time they show red, that's not a good thing and will sound bad in the exported file. If it's only occasional moments, you can look at using the envelope tool to calm the offending spikes, but if it's happening a lot, you'll want to consider lowering the overall volume by say dropping every track by a couple of dB. Your goad before you export should be that you can play the project all the way through without the meters ever hitting the red.