These other suggestions are also good. What I try to do is do my stuff in as "pro" a way as possible but lots of folks don't need that and that could be you too. Even the the best high bit rate mp3's are still destructively compressed. Whatever program you're using in this case RB and Garageband has to take an mp3 and uncompress it and converts it to it's own format. Since mp3's are destructively compressed having a program convert one back to wave does not take it back to your original quality only a program like FLAC and one or two others can do that. That alone causes losses in the sound quality then when your done working with it you have to save it again in another format. Each of those steps costs you sound quality. You can listen to one mp3 and it sounds good just for casual listening but put it on a good pair of studio monitors or headphones and you can hear it but again you may not care. The problem with using mp3's for a multitrack mix is the noise is additive. The slight noise in one track may not be too bad but when you mix 4, 6 or 10 of them together the result can be pretty bad. That's why you want to work with original quality wav's and that's what you get using FLAC.

The other thing is who's doing the final mix you or your nephew? If it's you then sure, don't bother sending him individual tracks, just one rough stereo mix and that can be an mp3. That's fine for him to hear what you did and add whatever he wants to it on separate tracks. Then he is the one who needs to use FLAC so you can open up the wavs and mix it with your other tracks. If he's doing the final mix then it's the other way, you need to send him the FLAC individual tracks assuming you want a good clean pro level mix.

The bottom line is are you the type who reads the audio specs on the computer, the soundcard, your mics, your monitors and try to get the best sound possible? If so then working with mp3's throws all that out the window because of the compression.

Bob

Last edited by jazzmammal; 12/03/11 09:37 AM.