Will audio keep quality if we upload/download mp3 & edit

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Jemel
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:41 pm

Will audio keep quality if we upload/download mp3 & edit

Post by Jemel »

I'm sure there is an easy answer to this question. I have understood that when saving to mp3 and then back to wave or amad or aiff, quality is lost.

Here's the situation: I record and edit on Amadeus Pro using my Mac. My employee is on Windows using Audacity.

We do the file transfer by uploading/downloading to GoDaddy's OnlineFileFolder. For me it's minutes on a fast Mac and dependable high speed Internet connection. For him it's much longer on a slower computer and less stable Internet connection.

I can save as a WAVE compressed and then zipped; that facilitates his download time, but he is not able to save a compressed wave on Audacity. It's also still a rather large file. Incidentally, I even divide a one-hour file into 3 pieces.

Phew!

So, back to my question... instead of the WAVE format, would we get sufficient quality if I save in mp3, zip and upload, and then he downloads and converts to WAVE to edit? Then saves in mp3, zips, uploads? I then must complete the edits adding music, so that's another open into amad.

I hope that's clear. Advice welcome.

CDJonah_alt
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 3:57 pm

Will audio keep quality if we upload/download mp3 & edit

Post by CDJonah_alt »

Yes, quality is going to be lost and each conversion will make things
worse. The question is, is the difference big enough to matter to you?
If it is a simple podcast where people are going to listen on
no-fidelity computer speakers, there is one answer. If it is an audio
that you expect people to listen to on high-end equipment, there may be
a different answer. If you are primarily sending back and forth spoken
word that you only mix with music at the end, there may be a third answer.

You could try just converting a file several times on your mac without
transferring it and seeing if it becomes unacceptable. (yes, I know
different machines have different converters -- you could do the same
exercise on both machines and see what happens.)

If you are eventually going to create an mp3, you could try creating
intermediates with higher bit rates than the final version.

Chuck

On 9/17/10 8:22 PM, Jemel wrote:
I'm sure there is an easy answer to this question. I have understood that when saving to mp3 and then back to wave or amad or aiff, quality is lost.

Here's the situation: I record and edit on Amadeus Pro using my Mac. My employee is on Windows using Audacity.

We do the file transfer by uploading/downloading to GoDaddy's OnlineFileFolder. For me it's minutes on a fast Mac and dependable high speed Internet connection. For him it's much longer on a slower computer and less stable Internet connection.

I can save as a WAVE compressed and then zipped; that facilitates his download time, but he is not able to save a compressed wave on Audacity. It's also still a rather large file. Incidentally, I even divide a one-hour file into 3 pieces.

Phew!

So, back to my question... instead of the WAVE format, would we get sufficient quality if I save in mp3, zip and upload, and then he downloads and converts to WAVE to edit? Then saves in mp3, zips, uploads? I then must complete the edits adding music, so that's another open into amad.

I hope that's clear. Advice welcome.




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Sonic Purity
Posts: 82
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2007 11:58 pm
Location: Pasadena, California, U.S.A.

Re: Will audio keep quality if we upload/download mp3 &

Post by Sonic Purity »

CDJonah_alt wrote:Yes, quality is going to be lost and each conversion will make things
worse. The question is, is the difference big enough to matter to you?
…[other excellent advice here]…
If you are eventually going to create an mp3, you could try creating
intermediates with higher bit rates than the final version.

Chuck

On 9/17/10 8:22 PM, Jemel wrote:
…Here's the situation: I record and edit on Amadeus Pro using my Mac. My employee is on Windows using Audacity.

So, back to my question... instead of the WAVE format, would we get sufficient quality if I save in mp3, zip and upload, and then he downloads and converts to WAVE to edit? Then saves in mp3, zips, uploads? I then must complete the edits adding music, so that's another open into amad.
I’m guessing that Audacity does FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), and we know Amadeus does, so that could possibly be another option, especially if the quality has to be top-notch or close.
))Sonic((

rfwilmut
Posts: 255
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:19 pm

Post by rfwilmut »

If you stick to a reasonably high bitrate - minimum 192kb/s for speech or 256kb/s for music (stereo assumed) - the degradation in quality will be pretty slight and is unlikely to bother most people. You probably might as well go for the highest available - 320kb/s in Amadeus - as this still produces a much smaller file than the original. Bitrates smaller than suggested above will start to introduce audible artefacts.

As to compressing, decompressing and then recompressing, when we had a similar situation where I used to work we came to the conclusion that the second compression didn't do much harm, as the process of removing some sounds had already been carried out, as long as you were doing it using the same method (as you are). It was cascading different compression systems which caused trouble.

Jemel
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:41 pm

Re: Will audio keep quality if we upload/download mp3 &

Post by Jemel »

Sonic Purity wrote:I’m guessing that Audacity does FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), and we know Amadeus does, so that could possibly be another option, especially if the quality has to be top-notch or close.
I'm not sure what FLAC does, but I do have Audacity, so I can look it up.

Thanks,
Jemel

Jemel
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:41 pm

Post by Jemel »

Thanks, Chuck, that's a great process you have outlined. I'll set up a test.

Thanks, rfwilmut, for the suggestion of increasing the bitrate.

Would I tell my employee to save and work in the mp3 format? I'm not sure if that's possible, but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks,
Jemel

rfwilmut
Posts: 255
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:19 pm

Post by rfwilmut »

He should do any recording and editing in WAV first, and only compress to mp3 last thing before he sends. It's worth keeping the number of times you compress to the minimum.

Jemel
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:41 pm

Post by Jemel »

Just reporting back that we have run the test.

By comparing, I notice some slight difference in tonality. But since on one else is comparing, the differences don't matter. :lol:

This saves him considerable upload and download time.

Many thanks,
Jemel

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