The Tapedrop Chronicles, Episode IV

The Tapedrop Chronicles- The Ear Of The Compressor

Welcome back, fine readers. This episode of The Tapedrop Chronicles will center on finding the right level of compression for your needs.

Assuming you've already made an audio CD from your original wav file, you are probably thinking about keeping a backup. Most people will create a backup of a CD as mp3 files.

Less compression will give you a better quality recording. This means a bigger file size and each song will take up more of your hard drive.

More compression will give you a smaller file size, but will also lower the quality of your recording.

Metallica recently made their latest release available as a 320 kbps download. Theoretically, most people will not hear the difference between this recording and the retail CD. When the band previewed the songs as a streaming file online, it was encoded at 96 kpbs, which many consider to be the equivalent of a standard radio broadcast. You will probably want something in between...

Assuming you saved your original wav file, try this experiment: create three versions of the same recording of varying quality.

• Open a wave file;
  
• File - Save As - 128.mp3 and change the properties to reflect compression at 128 kbps;
• reopen the wav file and save it as an mp3 file encoded at 192 kbps;
• reopen the wav file again save it a third time as an mp3 file at 256 kbps

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NOTE: Do not re-encode mp3 files using different compression. Data was discarded the first time around and even more audio information would be lost. It is like making a copy of a copy.

Which sounds best to you? If you can hear no (or negligible) difference between 256 and 192, compress your mp3 file at 192; you will fit more songs on your hard drive. Of course, if you have 500 gb of hard drive space to devote to music, freaking go for it and encode everything at 320 kbps.

After making CDs of my cassettes, I have decided to back up my audio files as mp3 files using 192 kbps compression because I have about 100 gb of hard drive space for music and because I was starting out with a cassette source. They sound fine to me. K-Tel's Night Flight (1982) was my next project. I did a flat transfer (meaning I made no changes like adding bass or treble to the recording). As with the first album done, it sounds a tad too bright, but I can always tweak my equalizer if need be. Ideally, you should not have to play with your equalizer to make a recording sound good; that's the job of the people making the record in the first place.

Listen for yourself, compare it to the vinyl or cassette copy you have and enjoy this second foray into the 80's!

Night Flight
1982
K-Tel TU 2854

Track Listing

1. Daryl Hall & John Oates - "I Can't Go For That" (No Can Do)
2. Air Supply - "Here I Am"
   
3. The Four Tops - "When She Was My Girl"
4. Pointer Sisters - "Slow Hand"
   
5. Smokey Robinson - "Being With You"
6. Eddie Rabbit - "Step By Step"
   
7. Santana - "Winning"
8. Joey Scarbury - "Theme From 'The Greatest American Hero' (Believe It Or Not)"
9. Commodores - "Oh No"
10. Al Jarreau - "We're In This Love Together"
11. Kool & The Gang - "Take My Heart (You Can Have It If You Want It)
12. Paul Davis - "Cool Night"
13. Quincy Jones - "Just Once"
14. Juice Newton - "Angel Of The Morning"

Until next time,