Hi Forum:

It's been a few months since I last inquired about how to best make audio CDs of MP3s for DJing purposes. At that time, I did not get a chance to start that project.

However, I'm ready to begin it now.

I'm seeking advice on how to best decode MP3s to create audio CDs, what app(s) to use to do that and what settings to use for very good sound quality. These CDs will be used primarily for DJing.

Once I start this process, I pretty much plan to keep it going, but I want to start off properly.

Thanks in advance!

d2e

I think foobar2000 is the recommended choice. You get replaygain and dithered output (make sure to enable them in diskwriter settings...). You may wanna use flat dither instead of noise shaped if you intend to change pitch / DJing. I think someone mentioned that, maybe in your previous post. Depending on how you "acquired" your MP3:s you may also want to use something like MP3trim to remove silence and possible clicks in the beginning and end of the files.

Thanks Magic...

I'm iffy about using Replaygain, as the settings are a bit confusing.

Also, I'm thinking that MP3 files would be permanently changed after using Replygain. I've read some documentation online about Replygain today, but didn't see anything (yet) about whether or not files are definitely changed...

d2e

Replaygain adds/changes a tag but doesn't affect the encoded audio itself, so you can undo it by removing the tag. Replaygain information can only be used by a few (software) players.

MP3Gain changes the mp3 files when applied, but AFAIK the newest version writes some information about it in some tag so it is reversible too. (Before it was necessary to know which gain had been applied to undo.)

Appreciate the clarification Tigre!

If I go with MP3Gain, could I then burn the "gained" MP3 files to CD using EAC?

d2e

Yes of course you can burn "MP3gained" MP3-files with any burning software that can take MP3 as input and decode before burning. I am pretty sure EAC has a built in decoder(?)

But if you use foobar2000 to decode to wav before burning, you won't change the MP3-file at all when using replaygain. I think the MP3 decoder in foobar2000 is considered the best, and in addition you get dithered output.

I'm not trying to change your mind, I'm just curious; why do you want to use mp3s to make audio CDs for DJing?

Having done some DJing myself, I've found it much more flexible, convenient, and lighter to pack, to drop CDs all together and use compressed files on a computer for playback. I still output into a mixer and use the rest of the sound system as before; I just use a computer instead of a CD player. It's quick and easy to find tracks and pop them onto a playlist. And an 80 gigabyte hard drive can carry the music of over 400 pounds worth of CDs.

Hi d2e,

I've been looking into this matter myself for quite a while now. Yes, decoding the MP3's using foobar2000 is very interesting, since you can make use of the already mentioned DSP settings and the dithering. One thing I haven't been able to resolve is the start and end silence of MP3 files. I've encoded all my stuff with lame 3.92 (--alt-preset standard) and now there's no way to remove the silence from the MP3 files automatically. I've extensively tried numerous utilities (MP3Trim (incl. Pro), MP3DirectCut, Acoustica MP3 to WAVE Convert Plus, MP3Doctor, etc., etc.) but none of these are able to remove the beginning and end silence automatically (in a satisfactory way, that is). The only solution I've come to terms with is manual labour: GoldWave or Audacity (where I personally give the edge to GoldWave, but that could be just the fact that I'm used to that programme).

Oh, yes, indeed, MP3Gain is able to adjust volume levels for you (so every MP3 player plays the MP3 file at the same loudness) and also restore these adjustments to the original (at time of encoding) levels.

Hope this helps....

Rob

Thanks everyone for the follow up info.

LC, I have definitely considered this option and you're right, more songs are made available when stored on a HD.

Earlier this year, I tried DJing via software on both a PC and Mac. I have personally found it to be more difficult for me to DJ this way vs. with turntables or CD players. There are some who can beatmix just fine with a computer setup. It just didn't feel "natural" to me, however.

This has to do with the fact that when DJing with a computer, there's no surface to touch in which to control player features & search songs. On top of that, I'm a gear person and at this point, prefer using gear (hardware) vs. a computer to DJ or even record music with.

So, since I've recently converted from turntables to CD players, this is why I posed my question. Thanks for mentioning this option nevertheless!

Magic - What I'll do is try Replaygain (within fb) and MP3Gain respectively and see which option works best for me!

d2e

I am assuming that by "silence" you mean the famous "gaps" inherent to MP3. You know, tiny silences between MP3 that produce unpleasant and annoying "ticks" on recordings where the tracks are supposed to be merged with each other (like live albums or DJ Mix CDs). Am I right?

If I am, then there must be something wrong when you are encoding your files (and WHY are you using 3.92 instead of the recommended compile, 3.90.3? Don't be fooled by the "superior version number equals superior quality" reasoning) or you are not using the latest version of foobar2000, because version 0.7 supports "gapless" playback of MP3 files, given the MP3s where encoded by some specific versions of LAME (like 3.90.3) and by specific programs (like EAC). And when using Diskwriter on foobar2000 0.7 to convert MP3 to WAV, correct-lenght tracks are produced, so they can be burnt on a CD and the gapless efect will be retained.

I suggest a revision of your encoding and/or playback and/or decoding methods, because, at last, this problem seems to have an almost perfect solution.

Another thing, if you "mis-encoded" your files, there is still hope. Go to the foobar2000 forum and find the thread about the "Documentation Project", in there, zZzZzZz explains how to fix MP3 headers to achieve gapless playback. It should be no more difficult than what you do manually on Audio Editors.

"So, since I've recently converted from turntables to CD players..."

ARRRRGH!!! That's an awful thing to do.. oh well. I bet you can't do this on a CD:

http://audio.snatchcon.com/DEESWIFT_-_NINJASTYLE.rm

Wow, an .RM on HA of all places...

I'd check it out, but I can't play it. You may want to consider Vorbis or something for high-quality low bitrate storage.

Oh don't worry about the storage thing, everything I own is encoded with either LAME 3.90.3 modified @ --alt preset extreme or mpc @ --quality 7.. despite the fact I only have a 20G hard drive!! The only .rm files I have are my own material kept from when I was a moderator at a scratch DJing board called www.snatchcon.com -- the upload facility could only take .rm, not mp3. I always had a problem with that but the server rejected anything other that Real Audio files.

That file is basically just an original scratch technique developed by me, to most people who don't scratch it'll probably sound like junk but it's merely a demonstration of that technique, just a 19 second file.

If any DJ on this board IS into scratching, here's some more audio.. I hope I don't get told off for posting these links, and I hope it doesn't seem like I'm hijacking this thread for self promotion, that's not the case! For the record, apparently I'm considered one of the best scratch DJ's in the world (I would disagree... but not too strongly, hehe)

http://audio.snatchcon.com/DEESWIFT_-_Stre...imalSkinDrum.rm <--- 2002
http://audio.snatchcon.com/DEESWIFT_+_AWKW...EXCERPT_2002.rm
http://audio.snatchcon.com/DEESWIFT_&_AWKW...NIA_may_1999.rm
http://www.short-e.net/audio/deeswift/Awka...kandSwiftmix.rm <--- 2002
http://audio.snatchcon.com/DEESWIFT_-_DROIDZ_PART_2.rm <--- 1998
http://audio.snatchcon.com/FREESTYLE_-_SPANISH_FLY.rm <--- 1996
http://audio.snatchcon.com/DEESWIFT_-_GUITAR_SOLO.rm <--- 1991!