Hello all,

I have a number of Jazz CDs (and some classic Rock) which I would like to re-rip into mp4 using Nero. I have currently been using LAME VBR at -h -V 0 for stereo recordings and -h -b 96 -m m for mono to create mp3 files. I'm not too terribly concerned about file space. But, I have hundreds of CDs so I can't save in a raw format.

What are your suggestions regarding the settings I should choose in Nero that are optimal? I was thinking of using VBR/Stereo - Audiophile 160-250 kb LC AAC for stereo music. I'm not sure what to do with all of the mono CDs I have. Simply checking the "downmix to mono" box still creates a "big ass" file that probably is overkill for the hundreds of songs I have that I have that were created in the 40s and 50s.

What setting would create an mp4 file that is as close as possible to the original mono content? I am guessing that VBR/Stereo - Transparent 110-150 with the "downmix to mono" box checked would be fine. Is this high enough, or way too much?


Thank you for your suggestions!

Aggie

I have been using the vbr transparent profile with Nero AAC. Mono files encode at 110-124 kbps (old Nat King Cole, Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris et al) without using the downmix setting at all. It is similar behavior to --alt-preset standard with LAME and mono files. Seems to work well, file sizes usally a bit smaller than 1 meg a minute with Nero.

I just did an experiment with a mono song and I don't understand the results. I took a song, Nellie Lutcher's, "Allexander's Ragtime Band," which is a mono recording and created an mp4 file in Nero.

Using the VBR/Stereo - Transparent setting at the default, the file size created was 2,233 KB.

However!!! Using the VBR/Stereo - Transparent setting with "downmix to stereo" selected, the file size was 2,376 KB!!!!!

I would have expected a MUCH smaller file size for a mono recording. After all, isn't only half of the original raw data available on a CD when the song is in mono? Why would a downmix to mono be larger? I would think that in general, a 3 minute song that is mono would be a noticeable size smaller than a 3 minute stereo song.... I know that on a stereo song, there is quite a bit of data that is going to be the same for left and right at any given instant so the savings won't be .5 for a mono song.

I'll have to do a test with a stereo recording that is the same length as a mono recording and see what the file sizes are. Obviously, it isn't going to be an exact test because the type of music, frequencies, et. al. are going to be different for the two sources.

Regardless of the test design process. My end goal is to create digits that I can save to hard drives/backup media in case I loose my CDs. (I'm in the military and move at least every 2 years).

Oops!!! change the "downmix to stereo" to "downmix to mono" in my previous post!

FLAC lossless averaged 300 MB per CD for my 800 or so pop CDs, so you could store about 650 CDs on one 200 GB hard drive.

I don't have anything mono, it might compress better.

That's a bit more that what I want. 300 MB a CD probably averages out to 25 MB or so per song. I am looking for something in the 5 to 7 MB per song for stereo material range. Plus, I want something that can play on a wider variety of software. I had hoped that mp4 would give me better quality than MP3 at the same file size that the MP3s I create now do.

However, I'll be honest. I've never been able to personally tell the difference between an MP3 at 192 kb or better range and the source material. So, perhaps it's overkill for me to try to do better than a very high aac setting.

I recently switched to Nero LC-AAC.

I'm actually encoding at the medium range (100 - 120kbit). You might think it is insane to use anything lower than transparent in the Nero presets, but I've attempted and failed to ABX a handful of m4a files at this bitrate. If I can't ABX above the medium setting, why waste the hard drive space? So, this setting works well for me.

I'd suggest doing some blind ABX tests to see what suits your needs.