Exporting to iTunes

[kozikowski]

Let me play that back to you. You captured and did all the production in 48000 16 bit and then exported WAV for importing into iTunes at MP3 custom 320K.

There was a spirited discussion on here somewhere about the same bit rate in lame will result in a better encode than the import functions of iTunes. In any event, the lame output can be made to rival the AAC encoding inside iTunes and they will both sound better than straight iTunes MP3.

Alternately, at any one music quality the file sizes are smaller in lame and AAC, so you might be able to save some disk space with a little more experimenting.

Where did you find the setting to delete the frequencies below 10Hz?

Koz

[nightshades9]

That is almost there but I didn't use WAV. I did it all in MP3.

That 10 Hz filter is in iTunes. Advanced > Importing. Using MP3 as encoder and then select 'custom' for settings. Down at the bottom of that settings pane is a check box: Filter Frequencies below 10 Hz.

My process is a bit obtuse since I'm capturing old cassettes into Garage Band and then sharing over to iTunes. Garage Band sends files over using AIFF and the files are huge (over 220 MB for the current project). To save space I always convert but usually into AAC but I changed over to MP3 to get this all to work. The file size after the Audacity phase was 22.6 MB which isn't too bad but I do think I could reduce that further by further fiddling with the settings along my process.

[kozikowski]

<<<I did it all in MP3.>>>

We are warned against multiple compressions. Production should be done in the highest uncompressed quality you can manage with one compression to the delivery platform at the end. All the world's compressors, video or audio, are destructive. The second compression in a string is always forced to deal with the errors and damage of the first compression instead of just the show.

And yes, this usually means coping with the sticker shock of uncompressed capture and production.

Koz

[kismet]

To get your files in itunes you need to export as a mp3. You cannot do this directly with audacity. You will need to download lamelib (free on the internet). I use a mac and this has worked.

[kozikowski]

<<<To get your files in itunes you need to export as a mp3.>>>

That's if you want to take advantage of the lame libraries which people swear sound better than the Apple encoder. I can't tell the difference, myself.

Did you have any trouble importing that six second piano trill from further up this thread? That's a 48000, 16 bit Windows WAV file. It should have slipped right into iTunes like it was heated up and buttered.

Koz