FLAC ripped with EAC, convert to mp3 with proper tags and folder organ
Reply #10 – 2013-01-11 18:21:01
How is the process done exactly? What LAME do I need for Foobar2000? And how is it installed? I have extracted it but where should it be located. Does FooBar2000 just recognize it once it is installed no matter what folder or where it is located? I have windows so I assume it is "Lame 3.99.5 64 bit "? Or do I use "LAME 3.99.5 using libsndfile 1.0.25 64bit" ? Does Foobar2000 make a copy in the folder where the FLAC files are located? Is there a good tutorial for all this somewhere? I've extracted both the LAMES and tried converting but nothing is saved. Assuming you run 64-bit Windows, either is OK. The libsndfile version supports formats like FLAC directly from the commandline, but in foobar2000 (fb2k) the file is decoded from FLAC by fb2k itself, so that feature is not necessary. fb2k will ask where to find lame.exe the first time it requires it, then it'll remember. When you've loaded the FLAC files into a foobar2000 playlist, you can select all (Ctrl-A), right click and choose Convert... (Don't use Quick Convert, as you want to specify the folder naming pattern) The first thing to set under Converter Setup is the Output format, so click that: Click on MP3 (LAME) which will probably default to V2 (standard quality, aims to be transparent, uses roughly 190kbps over a large collection of typical music). Click Edit if you want to change the quality setting. When done, click Back. Next click on Destination Here you have two or three viable options:Source track folder and Convert to individual file, name format set to %filename% to maintain exactly the same folder structure and filenames, just with .mp3 extension instead of .flac (alternatively, use another name format like %track% - %title% - %artist% if you'd like to modify it slightly - they'll still be in the same folder) Specify folder... and choose one such as C:\Users\Public\Music\mp3export Then Convert to individual file, and use the title formatting to create appropriate folder structure, so set name format to something like %album artist%\%album% - (%date%)\%track% - %title% - %artist% (this does not duplicate the album artist in the "album name - (year)" folder title as you original suggestion did, but see my previous post if you want to) Ask me later (for saving as preset), then you can later choose the base folder (e.g. C:\Users\Public\Music\mp3export) whenever you convert using that preset. Again, you can specify the subfolders, separated by '\' in the name format, e.g. %album artist%\%album% - (%date%)\%track% - %title% - %artist% Option 1 could make it tricky to copy just the mp3 files (and not the FLACs) over to the phone, though you could set a synching application to sync mp3 but exclude flac extensions if your phone's synch software has that facility. Options 2 and 3 put the files elsewhere but might make minor alterations to the naming structure if you don't have a perfect match for the structure you generated when ripping. Hit Back. Processing option. 'None' will do for most people. Personally, I usually apply ReplayGain / Album Gain at this stage, as I want to use AlbumGain and it's not supported by my phone's native player. I might also apply a crossfeed DSP to similate virtual speakers, esp for albums with hard-panned stereo that sounds like it's inside one ear) and use Advanced Limiter to help tame any overshoots. Hit Back Other: do nothing will suffice. You might want to scan for Replay Gain (I do this to enable Track Gain) and you might want to copy over JPG files containing album art, if you have any. Hit Back Now hit Save to save a preset if you wish (in future you can the Load the preset) Hit Convert to commence encoding. fb2k will use multiple processor cores to encode multiple files simultaneously.