I've been using MP3 compression for a while with a program called YAMP, but have recently come to realize that Lame is the way to go. My reference until today was at belgacom.net which contained a wealth of info, but now I see that the best way to set up Razorlame is with the alt-preset standard command. My question is simply, how do I go about setting that up in Razorlame? I tried putting it in the "custom options" box, but when I encode nothing happens. Could someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.

be sure not to forget '--' before the 'alt-preset' !!!
Whole commandline woudld be --alt-preset standard
see also my reply in your other thread at
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/showth...21304#post21304

...and don't forget to set the flag for Only use custom options

Thank you for the response quellcore. '--' solved my problem alright. Now I have another question. Since filesize isn't a problem for my applications I'm wondering why alt-preset standard would be better than, say, VBR with max bitrate at 320 and general bitrate (lower) set at 128 ???

Because the VBR --alt-presets have internal tunings that you can't access via command line switches. If you want something above APS, you maybe wanna try "--alt-preset extreme".

I take it you also read this thread?

This question came up so often in this forum, you really should try to use the search function in this forum (...btw... YES, you should use the "*" if you're searching for too short words, a lot of ppl use the short form aps for '--alt-preset standard' here)

To make a short statement to your question (but i still recommend to search for other threads):

A forum member called 'Dibrom' spent months (should i say years?) to tweak LAME for better encoding quality, ... at least internal modificatons had to be done for sufficient results (that means [b]'--alt-preset standard' isn't just a commandline !!!) ... after months of coding and testing carefully the presets were born.

Just to give you a least one link to a thread where Dibrom himself gives some information about the advantages of his tweaks: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/showth...alt%2Apreset%2A

Just in case if you read something about a commandline called '--r3mix':
It's really just a synonym for a commandline, which is completely outdated! So, keep your hands & ears away from that!

Good luck with your search!

(EDIT: Damn, too late again!)

Again, thanks. I actually have been using the search tools. Problem is that the number of responses to a search can leave you with an overwhelming number of discussions to sift through. I find that sometimes if you know specifically what info you need it's quicker to ask the direct question. I know I speak for a lot of people when I say that those quick responses are very much appreciated. I've been reading an awful lot about EAC, Lame, and encoding in general, but have experienced a lot of frustration in adjusting settings. For one thing, EAC doesn't have an up-to-date tutorial, and frankly I think the number of options is a bit of a liability. I gave up trying to rip and encode all in one operation, which means I will have to forgo ID3 tags, or at least leave them for a specific program after the fact.
I'll probably try later when my frustration level recedes. In the meantime I really don't mind ripping the wav files and batch encoding separately, and now that I have a better grasp of settings for Lame VBR things should go more smoothly. Again, thanks all for your kind assistance!

Hmmmmm! It sounds to me that you haven't downloaded the latest EAC so far, during the install process you will be asked if you want to encode your wav's directly into mp3 with the LAME.exe encoder .... you really just have to answer [b]YES ... sometimes NO ...
It's not that hard, even for a new-B and since you're using EAC already you're not a virgin when it comes to rip and encode with your PC!

Don't be frustrated, get the newest EAC from the EAC Webside again! Some people have just installed the new version over older ones, i think with no problems at all! Just try!

To be honest: Of course Dibrom is a little bit more than just a forum member! :flipoff: ... admimistrator ... site owner ... etc ...
Just hope nobody found it direspecting, especiallly the person i was talking about !!! :eek:
Wanted to make that clear !!!

Anyway, Rock on!

Striker: Ripping & encoding all at once with EAC + LAME is easy.

I wrote a step by step tutorial using the latest version of EAC, on how to get EAC + LAME up and running together as fast as possible.

You can find the 'ChrisMyden.com Guide To Creating Amazing MP3s' at

http://www.ChrisMyden.com/music/

chris

Talking of Alt presets, my wish has to be to see them implemented in the LameEnc DLL, I feel sort of left out of the party

@spoon

Then your wish has been fulfilled. The --alt-presets have been in lame_enc.dll for some time and are implemented in the latest CDex beta release. However, the --alt CBR and ABR presets are not implemented in CDex even though they are present in the dll.

Excellent I will check it out

Now I just wish they were available in EAC! (The alt preset settings)

Or maybe they are, haven't upgraded to the latest version in a while.

chris

Um, you guys, EAC *does* support --alt-preset standard. Download the latest version of LAME, or what the heck just download the newest version of EAC and you get the latest LAME too. =p

"Thanks for bumping this thread!"

What Chris meant was that EAC doesn't have the alt-presets accessible thorugh the GUI with convenient drop-down-lists or whatever - you have to enter the command line manually.

IIRC, the latest version of EAC has "--alt-preset standard" as the default LAME command line when "high quality" is checked, and "--alt-preset 128" as the default when "low quality" is checked.

I use EAC as a LAME frontend, but a friend of mine who is using CDex asked me how to get the best quality MP3 setting with LAME. I downloaded the latest version of CDex, 1.40, to check it out, but I couldn't find the --alt-presets in the option window. The only presets I could find drop-down quality menu, aside from a few q(x) settings, were 'voice' and 'r3mix'...

How do i get for example --alt-preset standard in CDex?

Use the "external encoder" option, and enter --alt-preset standard "%1" "%2" as the command line.

The latest version of CDex, 1.50 Beta7, has the alt-presets directly available through the GUI, and it goes via lame_enc.dll.

CU

Dominic

Thanks! I'll tell him to download the latest version of CDex. No need to confuse him with commandlines if it isn't necessary.