Guide to Ripping & Encoding High Quality MP3s

Since ReplayGain relies on a geometric mean of small pieces of all the audio, I'm not sure that one can calculate album gain based on the track gain of all tracks in the album.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Spikey

This is nuts- GFF should simply recommend people download the latest version of LAMEDrop, pick a quality setting, and go from there- dealing with all these custom switches seems (to me at least) more likely than not to result in people wrongly encoding, or encoding worse files than they could, simply because all the options will be meaningless to them.

Well, for one, using LAMEdrop means that tags must always be manually input. If you are transcoding, Foobar2000's converter will copy all of your tags automatically. If you are ripping a CD, EAC will automatically retrieve the CD info and appropriately tag the ripped MP3s. There's no need to make ripping a two-step process -- using one program to rip, another to encode, and manually entering tag information -- when it can all be done in a single stroke.

Also, talking about "newbs", LAMEdrop would likely be a strange program to them. It has no menu bar, it has no title bar or closing "x", it stays on top no matter what you do, every option is accessed by right-clicking on it, and it has no standard option to add files. The program gives no indication that one must right-click to adjust the options, and while it does say "Drop Files Here", it's only computer "newbs" who won't know how to drag & drop when every other program has a File > Open/Add Files menu selection.

LAMEdrop may not prevent newbs from messing with options they shouldn't, either. See "Encoding Engine Quality" at the bottom. While I can't be sure, because LAMEdrop doesn't let one see LAME's encoding process, that's probably adjusting the -q X parameter, which messes with the presets and should not be specified.

Additionally, I notice that since early LAME 3.98 betas, the "Fast" --vbr-new mode has become the default. However, in the LAMEdrop based on 3.98b6, the options still default to "Standard" rather than "Fast". I wonder if "Standard" passes --vbr-old or if it passed no parameter, just relying on it formerly being the default. If that's the case, then both modes are essentially "Fast". That's the drawback of easy-mode, no-command-line frontends; they break when commands change. And advanced users who actually know the commands can't tell exactly what the frontend is doing.

To be honest, I understand your concerns, Spike. I don't think there is any frontend or converter out there that is adequate for both "newbs" and experienced users. I just chose Foobar because I think it has the best and most advantages, with the fewest drawbacks.

Foobar2000 Pros:

1) Converts from compressed formats; does not require the user to convert to WAV first
2) Converts to multiple formats, all under the same program interface
3) Automatically copies all file tags
4) "Newb"-friendly sliding-scale converter options
5) Advanced users can see & modify the command line options
6) Files can be renamed, based on tags or other parameters, as they are converted

Foobar2000 Cons:

1) Is a media player, not just a converter
2) Encoders must be downloaded separately
3) "Newb"-friendly encoding options are somewhat limited*
4) Does not show detailed encoder progress during conversion

*Using LAME as an example, only VBR options are available.

LAMEdrop, on the other hand, shares ONLY the advantage of "newb"-friendly encoding options. Concerning Foobar's cons, though, LAMEdrop's GUI options are more extensive than Foobar's, it does not come with extra unneeded capabilities, and the encoder is right in the program. But, in my opinion, the additional power & capability of Foobar makes up for those cons, especially since LAMEdrop shares the lack of detailed encoding-progress information and has a non-standard interface.

My ideal converter would:

1) Just be a converter
2) Convert to and from multiple formats
3) Copy all tags
4) Have extensive GUI slider options for all standard modes
5) Have an advanced option to enable command line editing
6) Come with currently recommended versions of all encoders, allowing replacement
7) Optionally show each encoder's detailed DOS-shell progress when encoding
8) Allow files to be re-named & re-pathed on conversion

However, as far as I know, no program like this exists yet.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Rimo

Hey Moguta, it seems like LAME 3.98 (3.98.2?) is the current stable release. I haven't noticed anyone using it yet, but I guess it is safe to go with it, right?

Indeed. I've certainly been using it recently. 3.98 has some minor quality and speed enhancements. And you can now specify very granular VBR quality settings, like -V 2.24 for example, rather than being constrained to whole integers.

Guess that means I have to update the guide for the new version, huh?

Additional Spam:
Cleaned up a few other things too.

• Updated 'Encoding from Files' section to reflect changes in Foobar2000 v0.9.6
• Removed all mention of the rare, long-stagnated Musepack codec
• Updated LAME to version 3.98.2 and Ogg Vorbis to aoTuV 5.61
• Changed recommended Error Recovery read-attempts to Medium

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Might as well use 3.98.2 since it doesn't really make sense not to get those bugfixes.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by neothe0ne

God knows why you'd need cbr mp3, but all you do is select LAME, go to custom, and replace "-V 2 --vbr-new" with "-b 192" or w.e it is you want.

(I hope you realize you're responding to a post nearly 5 months old. o.o)

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Frolov

Guys, what's the difference between the modes "new VBR" and "old VBR" on Lame encoder?
I am kinda new in ripping my CDs using VBR. Previously I ripped'em using CBR.
I use the following settings in Easy CD-DA Audio Extractor
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8054/settings1u.jpg

Should I be using Min bitrate limit when I am ripping with VBR V0?

As LiquidAcid explained, there's no reason to use the old VBR mode. The new mode is much faster & generally higher quality.

I know the Min & Max Bitrate settings are probably a bit confusing for newbies. They do NOT refer to the averaged bitrate of the overall file. To explain what it means, I have to get a bit technical, so I hope I don't lose you here:

MP3s consist of a series of audio "frames", each frame representing about 26 milliseconds of audio. Variable bitrate (VBR) works by giving these frames different sizes based on how complex the audio-data is in that section. In a constant bitrate (CBR) MP3, however, these frames are all the same size. For example, every frame in a 128Kbps CBR MP3 is about 417 bytes.

Somewhat confusingly, those minimum & maximum bitrate settings mention Kilobytes per second when they're actually limiting these 26ms frames. For example, setting a minimum bitrate of 128Kbps means the VBR encoder will use a minimum frame size of 417 bytes (the frame size used in 128Kbps CBR MP3s). Restricting the frame size like this is a problem, because an unrestricted VBR MP3 can use any frame size from 104 bytes (32Kbps equivalent) to 1,044 bytes (320Kbps equivalent). For VBR to work best, it needs access to this entire range.

Even if you need smaller files, a maximum bitrate setting is NOT the way to go. One, you'll be limiting the encoder's ability on the most complex audio passages, making audio flaws much more likely. Two, a graph of frame sizes is usually spike-shaped... meaning the larger and smaller frames are used far less often than the mid-size frames. So limiting the maximum bitrate won't even affect that many frames, and thus won't save much filespace anyway.

Setting a minimum bitrate is just wasteful, as there are many songs which won't need high bitrates to sound just like the original. I have some -V2 encoded files that are slightly less than 120Kbps, and others that are over 200Kbps. It's just VBR working as intended: encoding based on the audio complexity, with the goal of consistent quality, rather than encoding to a certain filesize.

The lesson here is to never use the minimum & maximum bitrate settings under any normal circumstances. If you want different filesizes, either change the VBR preset number, or use average bitrate (ABR) mode for more targeted sizes.

FELIPE NO

You're right, a 320Kbps maximum bitrate is the same as not having a max bitrate at all. Sorry if it came across like I was attacking you. This was not my intent, rather I was just trying to give a full explanation.

And yes, you'd just be wasting space with the minimum bitrate. But why specify a minimum? It's essentially saying that you don't trust the VBR mode to pick the right bitrate, but you're using VBR anyway. I would just disable the min/max and let the algorithm do its thing. In my personal opinion, -V0 is quite overkill enough. I typically use -V2, and there are many songs I can't hear a difference on (even through my hi-fi headphones) when I go as low as -V3 or -V4!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Evidently this guide needs a bit of updating, since EAC now uses the recommended encoding method for LAME (-V 2) when the "high quality" option is checked (%ishigh%-V 2%ishigh%). Plus, nowadays I tend to rip with Burst Mode and Test & Copy then look at the CRC column for "OK" results, since this is so much quicker than Secure Mode.

Still, glad to see it's a useful resource after all these years. ^.^

Jam it back in, in the dark.