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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 7,697 |
Here we go yet again. Sigh.
Mac is completely correct. Good high quality PA's like my EV ELX112P, or a JBL 515XT system or the Bose L1 or whatever do sound "pretty good" but they all pale in comparison to studio quality monitors set up in a quiet room with good acoustic treatment.
Joden, again you're missing the point here. You CANNOT tell the difference between a regular wav file or a 128 bit MP3 going through a PA while you're sitting 25 feet away in a noisy bar. That's pure BS if you're going to say you can. You can't even tell the difference if you're on stage right next to the PA speaker or floor monitor unless it's an afternoon sound check with nobody there and even then I doubt it.
At one wedding reception I did this summer, after we had done the obligatory old fart set we had a teen girl come up with her iPad and ask if she could play a few tunes. After I asked of any of the tunes had bad hip hop type lyrics in them and she said no I said ok, plugged it into the PA (a JBL Eon system) and it sounded just fine. All MP3's and we even pulled up a few tunes on Youtube and you know how those are compressed. Still sounded fine to me because we had about 75 people talking, dancing and laughing, lots of ambient noise. All I did was play along with a few parts, drink a beer and watch the volume since some MP3's can be mixed hotter than others.
A 128 bit MP3 is perfectly ok in those type situations. Maybe at a quiet jazz lounge you may, may hear some little difference in high freq's like drum cymbals but nothing else.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 794
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 794 |
Here we go yet again. Sigh.
Mac is completely correct. Good high quality PA's like my EV ELX112P, or a JBL 515XT system or the Bose L1 or whatever do sound "pretty good" but they all pale in comparison to studio quality monitors set up in a quiet room with good acoustic treatment.
Joden, again you're missing the point here. You CANNOT tell the difference between a regular wav file or a 128 bit MP3 going through a PA while you're sitting 25 feet away in a noisy bar. That's pure BS if you're going to say you can. You can't even tell the difference if you're on stage right next to the PA speaker or floor monitor unless it's an afternoon sound check with nobody there and even then I doubt it.
At one wedding reception I did this summer, after we had done the obligatory old fart set we had a teen girl come up with her iPad and ask if she could play a few tunes. After I asked of any of the tunes had bad hip hop type lyrics in them and she said no I said ok, plugged it into the PA (a JBL Eon system) and it sounded just fine. All MP3's and we even pulled up a few tunes on Youtube and you know how those are compressed. Still sounded fine to me because we had about 75 people talking, dancing and laughing, lots of ambient noise. All I did was play along with a few parts, drink a beer and watch the volume since some MP3's can be mixed hotter than others.
A 128 bit MP3 is perfectly ok in those type situations. Maybe at a quiet jazz lounge you may, may hear some little difference in high freq's like drum cymbals but nothing else.
Bob Leave off with the sighs! Such a drama queen. m8 who died and made you expert in all things? I CAN tell the difference between an mp3 @ 128 and one at 256+ and/or VBR (high) even if you cannot. And I never said it was NOT okay to use a 128kbps mp3..please read posts correctly. I said that no playing device will have issues with whether it is an MP3 or wav, and that the only issue is storage space. You point out where I said it was not okay to use a 128kbps mp3 file? I don't as a personal preference, just as the difference between mp3, wma and aac is personal preference only. PS: And whether the audience can tell the difference or not is immaterial to me, I want the best possible source and quality (with space constraints taken into account) when playing live. If one adopted the attitude that the audience didn't care, well then why not simply play mp3s like a dj and sing along, [*****], no-one will care according to your philosophy. Well I believe they do care, and they DO notice. Just because they do not comment has nothing to do with it. And if the audience is ignoring you and just chatting among themselves, and treating you like a jukebox, then you really need to look at what you are doing, closely.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
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Joined: May 2000
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This is what the OP started off with: I plan on doing a couple street performances near Christmas time and making use of some of the karaoke/instrumental songs I have purchased and also some songs I have done with BIAB... Also this:
...through my Roland Street Cube...
 --Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,792
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,792 |
Some people will argue no matter what is said. Regardless of the facts, and circumstances. I guess it is fun to argue, or some kind of game or sport. Curious ......
Street music through a cube,it would not matter what format you use, it would be lacking in fidelity. I have a cube it is a great little amp, but clear enough to tell wav from MP3? Not likely.
Year after year I read about folks swearing they can here the difference, no matter of the environment, even when scientific facts prove otherwise. Wav vs MP3, 44,100 vs 48,000 is another.
Best path is to let them believe what they want. It really does not matter.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 10,870
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 10,870 |
Agreed... street performance with a cube... use whatever works.
I do agree with Joden that the file size doesn't matter. Every computer has buffers in RAM that it uses to store the file data. As recording enthusiasts, we use synths that have sample files that are many hundreds of megabytes... that gets loaded into memory so that notes played in real time can be replicated with the proper sample without much latency. No hard drive is fast enough to do this yet. So mp3 or wave, it doesn't matter.
The quality of the MP3 128kbs is much much less than the quality of a wave @ 16/44.1. In a noisy environment or on the street with a small, likely battery powered PA.... it really will not be that noticeable.
My reference to my comments comes from experience. In working with a PA system to lead P&W music at a prison ministry, with a halfway decent portable PA, I wanted to travel as light as possible so I brought my acoustic/electric guitar and my MP3 player with the backing tracks. The playback was noticeably degraded. I checked the cords, (all new cords) and the input levels and the player's output levels to try to sort it out. The following month, I had burned a CD and used a CD player and the music was crystal. I plugged the MP3 player into the very same cord... just swapped from the CD player to the mp3 player during our setup time....and yup.... the issue was the mp3. Now, with my ear buds, the mp3 sounds kicking.....
I also understand that it could have been an impedance mismatch contributing to the sound quality issue.
Can a person hear the difference between the various levels of quality for MP3's vs waves.... ? The average person on the street... probably not. To a musician with good ears...... oh yes.
However, as the quality moves up from the 128kbs the ability to discern fades rapidly. Sort of like musicians who say they can hear the difference between 44.1, 48, and 96khz sampling rates...
did I open that can of worms a bit further?
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 10/30/13 05:49 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 99
Enthusiast
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Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 99 |
Hi Guitarhacker,
Could you tell me more about your set-up for P & W for prison ministry. I am currently using a similar set-up for P & W. I would also like to know more about the prison ministry. Probably not something to tie up this forum. Maybe you could email me at martycansler@bellsouth.net.
Thank you,
Marty C
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XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!
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With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
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