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Hydrogenaudio Forums > Lossy Audio Compression > MP3 > MP3 - General
TwoJ
I have a few mp3s that have a few problems, bad headers, glitches, problems with mp3gain giving undermined results (???) because of these problems.

So I wanted to see what programs exist and how people have found them?

Thanks
kwanbis
try http://www.willwap.co.uk]vbrfix[/URL]
getID3()
VBRfix will only recreate missing VBR headers (or convert Fraunhofer-style (VBRI) VBR headers into Xing/LAME-style VBR headers. It will not do anything to the actual audio data, specifically the corrupt data that's causing audible glitches and/or "???" in MP3gain will not be fixed. I am unaware of any glitch-fixing programs.
TwoJ
The header is only part of the problems, there are mp3s that have possibly frames that are all maximized which are causing glitches and possibly seek problems and possibly mp3gain problem.

I know I could convert to wav and re-encode but I just though that there might be a program that could possibly fix some of these problems without the need to convert?
magic75
MP3trim have some sort of cleanup function, but I don't know exactly what it does.
Lev
Re-rip.
tigre
If you can't re-rip you could try using mp3directcut to attenuate (single) frames containing glitches/clicks/etc. This will result in small slightly audible gaps but in many cases the result is much better than before.
tigre
About mp3gain problem:
Decode to .wav, remove clicks/glitches/etc. with e.g. Audition, apply replaygain (e.g. using foobar2000), copy the .wavs' rg values (rounded to next 1.5dB step) to mp3gain and apply manually.
TwoJ
These are mp3s that I do not have the original material for so unfortunatly I cannot re-rip it, and I really do not want to re-encode if at all possible to degrade the quality.

What programs besides mp3trim & mp3directcut let you work with the mp3 without converting to wav first?
mcshaner1
You could try a program called unphuck. I don't really have any experience using it, but it might help.
upNorth
If it's related to file tranfer (a binary/text problem) Uncook95 might help.
It's a long time since I've used it myself though.
Uncook 95!! FAQ
Mr_Rabid_Teddybear
QUOTE(getID3() @ Jan 14 2004, 11:07 AM)
VBRfix will only recreate missing VBR headers (or convert Fraunhofer-style (VBRI) VBR headers into Xing/LAME-style VBR headers. It will not do anything to the actual audio data, specifically the corrupt data that's causing audible glitches and/or "???" in MP3gain will not be fixed. I am unaware of any glitch-fixing programs.

VBRFix has fixed the strangest problems on a lot of mp3's for me --- also glitches like sync errors on CBR files on numerous occations. I guess it's mainly for VBR, but it works wonders on CBR as well. Why it fixes sync errors in CBR files when it's not actually touching audio data I don't know --- I'm not technically savy enough in that respect... But most important for me: It works! (very often, that is --- far from always...)
unmake
I'm in the habit of scanning my mp3s with MP3Utility. Often, when a track is reported as having errors, if I run it through VBRFix or FB2K's header-fix command, subsequent scanning by MP3Utility reports no errors. BUT if I listen to the fixed file and compare it to the original file, the fixed mp3 will have glitches in the same spots as before, and they'll be more noticeable.

So while it might feel nice to have a tool like MP3Utility or EncSpot tell you there aren't any sync errors, it doesn't seem like the files are actually 'better' than before.
mmortal03
There ARE of course ways to test your mp3s for missing frames, bad data, etc. I have a process that weeds out all the trash.

You can use Encspot's Sync Error column (right click the columns to customize and add it) to test for sync errors in mp3s after downloading them. I use a program called mp3test http://home.arcor.de/shivi/MP3Test/ , and the program which is based (a commandline tool) called mp3check http://sourceforge.net/projects/mp3check/ . mp3test will catch all of Encspot's errors, but will also catch truncated mp3s. This can be good or bad, as you can't set the program to skip these as mp3check does, and it really doesn't matter if your mp3s are truncated, as this can be fixed later. Also, MP3test used to be freeware, but is now shareware. It now supports vbr mp3s though.

My advice is to first use the commandline mp3check to check your files, it can output lists of problem mp3s depending on the settings you choose. I usually have a commandline set up for each test, as this allows me to find out which problems effect which mp3s. First of all though, I can also use mp3check to clean up my mp3s as follows.

1. I use the following commandline with mp3check to remove all tag info and cut all bad data from the beginning and end of all the mp3s. I have made sure that this commandline does not "fix" or resample mp3s with missing samples (resync errors). Often though, this does the trick for the majority of problems. My philosophy is that if your mp3 DOES have resync errors, download a fresh copy.

mp3check --recursive --cut-junk-start --cut-junk-end --cut-tag-end "Directory"

2. Next I use mp3test or Encspot to find mp3s that are still bad, meaning they contain resync errors. Those are the ones that I delete, because they are irrecoverable. Mp3test is nice to use here, because it will put the bad mp3s into a separate "bad" directory for you if you choose.

3. With what is left, the good mp3s, I run them through mp3trim to remove silence from the beginning and end of the mp3s. Any truncation that occured by removing bad data from the ends of the mp3s with mp3check "disapears" when I do this, because a new clean beginning and end for each mp3 is created. Make sure you run mp3trim AFTER you remove the bad mp3s found in the previous step, because mp3trim WILL repair the headers of bad mp3s, making them seem "error free", but leaving the pops and clicks from their resync errors. BTW, mp3trim is freeware, but has no batch mode and has a file size limitation. There is a shareware version of mp3trim, the PRO version, that IS batch with no filesize limit, but it costs a lot of money.

4. My next step is to normalize with mp3gain. After normalizing, I move any files that still clip after radio normalizing to a separate folder to remind me to seach for that mp3 again, hopefully finding a better (more amplified) recording. Usually, this is to no avail.

5. To fix file namings, I use a program called Mp3Renamer http://www.dgdr.com/ that is no longer supported but is still availiable for download. This program auto capitalizes and fixes common errors. For unique mp3 names, i go in manually, or use a standard mass renamer program (there are many). Next, I use a program called TagScanner http://xdev.narod.ru/tagscan_e.htm to read the filenames and create id3v1 and id3v2 tags and artist and album directory structure.

All of the above is not needed if you use EAC and your own cds, which is what i do for my own albums, but should be a fine solution for fixing downloaded music. Hope this helps.
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