me again- Losing sound qaulity when exporting to MP3

[TheKillerQueen]

Yes its me again... sorry.

This has probably been asked loads of times but ive not come across it til now..

I have nearly finished a song, so i exported it to MP3 via audacity as usual so that i could listen to it on my iphone and nit pick at and change things. However, I have to have the sound on my phone all the way up, and even then its not very loud. All of mp3s play fine, and even others from audacity. It is just this one that is quiet.

Its perfectly loud enough on Audacity , however in any player, as an mp3 its quiet in comparison to others.

The song does have 10 stereo tracks on it, so im wondering if that limits the "volume".

I know theres an amplify effect , however I'm wandering also if that will make any bearing once converted.

Many thanks

[kozikowski]

The desperation method is to export as WAV (should mix down to stereo), open that up in a fresh Audacity, Effect > Amplify to -1dB, and then export an MP3. Do Not re-import MP3s once you make them. That damages the sound.

Just be aware that if you're comparing your personal performance with something The Beastie Boys did, they have a very highly paid sound engineer applying compression and other tools to make the music as loud as possible.

Koz

[kozikowski]

The song does have 10 stereo tracks on it

Ten stereo tracks top to bottom or side to side?
Koz

[DVDdoug]

MP3 encoding doesn't change the volume. If you are loosing quality, a better quality setting (higher bitrate) should help. MP3 is lossy compression, so you always loose some theoretical quality and you can get small changes in the volume peaks. But the overall volume should stay the same. (Some peaks will he higher and some will be lower... It's the nature of lossy compression... The wave-shape you get out is different than what you put-in.)

The song does have 10 stereo tracks on it, so im wondering if that limits the "volume".

No... Did you normalize (or amplify) for 0dB peaks? If you are mixing, mixing is done by addition. So, if you mix 10 tracks the result will be louder than the individual tracks. In fact, you have to be careful not to get clipping (distortion) when you mix.

If this is a home recording, it's not going to be as loud as a commercial recording. Most modern music is dynamically compressed to make it louder than everything else on the radio! You can experiment with compression if that's what you want (different than MP3 file compression). But if you over-compress, you'll kill the dynamic constrast in your music, and it will be boring just like all the current popular stuff!

[TheKillerQueen]

Hi again koz

Im only comparing to other stuff i do on audacity.

and they are top to bottom see image:



I have ten of those going down the page.

[TheKillerQueen]

MP3 encoding doesn't change the volume. If you are loosing quality, a better quality setting (higher bitrate) should help. MP3 is lossy compression, so you always loose some theoretical quality and you can get small changes in the volume peaks. But the overall volume should stay the same. (Some peaks will he higher and some will be lower... It's the nature of lossy compression... The wave-shape you get out is different than what you put-in.)

The song does have 10 stereo tracks on it, so im wondering if that limits the "volume".

No... Did you normalize (or amplify) for 0dB peaks? If you are mixing, mixing is done by addition. So, if you mix 10 tracks the result will be louder than the individual tracks. In fact, you have to be careful not to get clipping (distortion) when you mix.

If this is a home recording, it's not going to be as loud as a commercial recording. Most modern music is dynamically compressed to make it louder than everything else on the radio! You can experiment with compression if that's what you want (different than MP3 file compression). But if you over-compress, you'll kill the dynamic constrast in your music, and it will be boring just like all the current popular stuff!

Thanks for the info. I have used noise removal ,amplify , stereo widener to get a "cleaner" sound, and without making it clip or distorted. I just used the preset settings when using amplify and stereo widener.

I never compare my stuff to proffesionaly made music, only to what i have previously done on audacity.

I will try Koz's WAV idea and look into compression

[TheKillerQueen]

The desperation method is to export as WAV (should mix down to stereo), open that up in a fresh Audacity, Effect > Amplify to -1dB, and then export an MP3. Do Not re-import MP3s once you make them. That damages the sound.

Just be aware that if you're comparing your personal performance with something The Beastie Boys did, they have a very highly paid sound engineer applying compression and other tools to make the music as loud as possible.

Koz

Ive exported to wav , amplified and exported to MP3, its tiny bit louder but stil I need my iphone up full. all my other audacity stuff only needs 3 quarters for a decent loud but comfortable volume. This is the biggest project I have taken on though. There are some bits of the song that are really loud!

[TheKillerQueen]

These are the levels of my tracks. The Main parts are at the standard level, some are louder so that they can be heard more of the standard level when played together, and one is quieter so its not too loud.

[steve]

Before exporting, save the project, then:
Ctrl+A (select All)
Tracks menu > Mix and Render
Effect menu > Amplify
File menu > Export.

If the result is still not loud enough, use a compressor and/or a limiter on the one-track mix down and export a new (louder) version.

If you want to return your project to "multi-track", use "Edit > Undo" or Ctrl+Z to step back through the Undo history.

[TheKillerQueen]

Before exporting, save the project, then:
Ctrl+A (select All)
Tracks menu > Mix and Render
Effect menu > Amplify
File menu > Export.

If the result is still not loud enough, use a compressor and/or a limiter on the one-track mix down and export a new (louder) version.

If you want to return your project to "multi-track", use "Edit > Undo" or Ctrl+Z to step back through the Undo history.

Thanks Steve ill try that after work and report back to you! much appreciated.