Stereo effect barely noticeable after exporting as MP3....

[southboundpachyderm1]

So I am working on electronic music and sometimes use Audacity for this. I have pieces with several tracks, many of which are either left or right tracks, with some mono ones as well. When I listen to the piece in audacity, the left and right tracks work properly and only come out of one earphone. However, when I export the entire piece as an mp3, this effect seems to be lost....but not totally. I still can tell that the tracks are supposed to be only in one ear or the other because, for example, if there is a segment with only a left track, the left ear is more pronounced, but sound still comes out of the right side, and not a negligible amount either. Please help someone, as this problem has been hindering me incessantly. Thanks!!

[steve]

Which version of Audacity are you using and what MP3 settings are you using?

[southboundpachyderm1]

I am not currently in front of my computer, but it is the Beta version. I forget the exact numbers but I'm pretty sure there is only one Beta. Also, when I export, it is set to export as stereo I havent tampered with the quality settings, so they are default still. Thanks for the quick reply and let me know if you need more info. Thanks

[steve]

The current beta version is 1.3.12. You can check that in "Help > About Audacity". If you have an earlier version you should update. http://audacityteam.org/download/

During Export, when you select "MP3" as the Export format, click on the "Options" button. Ensure that the MP3 compression setting is better than 128 kbps, For good sound quality and stereo separation I'd recommend "Preset: Extreme".

[southboundpachyderm1]

My audacity is in fact the one already stated, so there is no need for updating. Also, changed the compression setting to extreme like you said, but I'm still getting the same results. I made a "test" track to see if this was working: i simply started a new audacity project, created 2 tracks (one left and one right), and generated a second long tone on each track with a second long pause between tones. When i export this as an mp3, the tones dont come exclusively out of each side, but rather are just louder in that side.

[Trebor]

I've tried to create a similar tone test using Audacity 1.3. ...

left right test MP3 format-.mp3

(553.47 KiB) Downloaded 150 times

I can't hear the unintentional crossover between channels you have reported: when the sound is supposed to only be on one side I can only hear it on one side.

If all the tones on my test are audible through both your earphones then you could have a problem with your ear / headphones.

Check your phones jack plug is inserted properly, if that doesn’t cure it try a different pair of earphones, ( a short in the earphone cable could enable unintentional crossover).

If the device you are listening on adds a "surround sound" or "home cinema" effect, (some computer media players do), that could allow some sound to bleed over into the other channel, (i.e allow unintentional crossover)

[southboundpachyderm1]

AHHHHH Brilliant!! Much thanks Trebor. For some reason, windows media player adds some sort of surround sound effect that causes this spilling over; the mp3s work fine in other players. I never even thought of that. I will try to fix the setting but its hardly an issue. Thanks again! this is so much help


-James

[southboundpachyderm1]

already fixed the media player problem...

[kozikowski]

southboundpachyderm1

I can't help wondering if there was already a "southboundpachyderm," and that's why you have to be "1."

Koz

[bgravato]

southboundpachyderm1

I can't help wondering if there was already a "southboundpachyderm," and that's why you have to be "1."

Koz

Some people like to use the same login name for everything (me being one of them... I could try to register with the name 'bruno' but that's usually taken so I don't even try to... I go straight for 'bgravato' which as been always free so far).

I'm guessing this was the case with southboundpachyderm1