Part of a quote
Originally Posted By: mrgeeze


Today I became aware of MP3gain on this forum. Ever the inquisitive type, I exported a few BIAB arrangements to mp3 and found every one had some clipping in it.

I used MP3gain to "correct" this. While the volume was lower I did think the quality had improved when compared to the original .wav I created previously.

So my question is what few tips/tricks might I start with to improve the quality of my tracks. Mostly they are bass & drums often with a rhythm keyboard or guitar.

Thanks in advance for some direction.


Ok for a start I am thinking when you first put the MP3 into MP3gain it wants to lift the level of your file by a few DB or your files are already close to 0 db.

MP3gain will indicate clipping if you have a file set at say -1.3 dB below 0 dB but have the overall level set a bit low. (Or it does for me as I usually put the stuff through a limiter first.). Maybe you could try something like ensuring the levels are about where they should be.

I for example set my .wav file for a max peak dB level of -1.3 dB then I put it through a LUFS meter and look for close to -14 dB to -16 dB. This gets me close to MP3gain not having to lift the levels. If I went to a level of -19 dB it would try a lift the signal by 2 dB anything that was close to the -1.3 dB would then be lifted over 0 dB so show up as a clip. (Usually a snare hit and you would probably not notice in the end result).

If you are setting your .wav file at 0 dB or close once again there would most likely be clipping when put to MP3. Most of the .wav files coming out of BIAB are fairly hot (close to 0). You could try pulling the file into something like Audacity and ensure the file is not too close to 0 dB. (Use Amplify option to reduce the file or maybe Normalize to -1.5 or so dB. Then convert to MP3.

Better still would be to run your file though a limiter and drop the levels that way. If you give yourself some headroom in the limiter (set the max true peak to -1.3 or a little less) you should get shy of the issue.

Hope this helps. I use Izotope Ozone to get my tracks ready so it all becomes easy. Although there are many free VSTs that will give similar results but you’d need a DAW of some kind.

That is my method.

Tony

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