I like mp3 and was wondering what is the best settings for a 96k encode at 44.1 rate.At the moment i have made this command line working with lame 3.90.3.

--preset cbr 96 -h -substep1 --noshort --lowpass 12.0 --resample 44.1

Would it be better to go from 44.1 to 48 rate because i heard some rumours some time a go about encoding at 48khz you will avoid some artifacts But then again lame was tuned for a 44.1 rate.

You will notice if you just do cbr 96k you might get a ringing sound which is real annoying.

I am not actually doing a resample beacuase of the commands lame automatically wants to switch to 32 khz so i had to add it.

Just wondering is nspytune built into the presets

Is there a nspytune2 model

.Just like for somebody to check out my cli and answer back. Thanks,

I'm afraid -substep1 might have a negative effect on tonal purity, and might also add colorization.

--preset cbr 96 or --preset 96 if you want ABR. 32kHz is better for 96k than 44.1 since your lowpass will be below 16kHz. Try the ABR line (drop the CBR) and listen if you get that same ringing.

I don't see any reason for adding switches.

ok i tried 3.96.1 and it was even worser so i stayed with 3.90.3 and used this.

--alt-preset cbr 96 -h --noshort --nspsytune --resample 44.1 --lowpass 17.2

even if the lowpass is below 16 khz 32 khz will sound even crappie plus lame was tuned for 44.1.removed substep1 as JensRex said and to me it brang the ringing up a bit.tried abr and it just lowers it dow 7 kb and varies 2kb either way.nspsytune2 doesn't sound a s good as nspsytune probably needs some more tuninig.Shocked at how bad 3.96.1 was i knew it wasn't as good as 3.90.3 but gee it is bad though alpha5 looks good.

You're trying to encode up to 17.2kHz with 96kbps CBR mp3

Anything past 16kHz requires sfb21 to be used which requires much more bits due to limitations in the mp3 format (there have been threads on this. it requires you to add more bits to the first 20 subbands because band 21 doesn't have its own scalefactor). Trying to keep this high of a frequency would surely probably produce ringing.

LAME was tuned most for 44.1kHz but can work with 32 and would probably work better with it at such low bitrates.

Actually I just tried it and while none of them are transparent I much prefer the ABR's sound. Fewer artifacts and distortion I could hear from the long horn in the intro of this one song. Used 3.90.3.

Remember though that CBR and ABR don't use sfb21, just VBR. But regardless, 17.2KHz is simply too much bandwidth for 96kbps MP3.

Perhaps 3.96.1 doesn't like your custom command line options. Have you tested it with straight "--preset 96" as dreamtactix previously suggested ? Also what about trying 3.96.1 at "-V7" if the bit rate doesn't need to be precise.

About the 32kHz versus 44.1kHz, you just cant have everything if you're encoding at 96kbps, I dont think that the forcing 44.1 is going to gain you anything.

If you don't have to have a CBR file, you might want to try lame 3.96.1 -V 8 and see if you like it. I think, in noisy environment, this setting sounds really good considering the low bitrate.

-V 7, as uart suggested, should be closer to 96kb/s then -V 8. See this table.

That's true , but I was thinking if you encode regular stereo rock/pop music (the kind of crap they play on the radio over and over again), -V 7 will be more like ~112kbps from my experience, and -V 8 is usually closer to 96kbps. But if you consider quieter music and all kinds of other music -- both mono & stereo -- we should go by the numbers from the table. mp34ever can decide which setting to use depending on what kind of music he is encoding if he wants to try VBR.

lowered the lowpass and down a bit and tried encoding at 32khz sounds bad and i got a weird artifact round the low to mid range khz It makes the voices very shaky.Trying the -v option now.

ok i am gonna download 3.96.1 and try the -v n switch, though this is good

--alt-preset 100 --nspsytune --short --resample 44.1 --lowpass 12.5

shoul i try lame 3.93.1 didn't that better abr\cbr tunnings

It has already been said but I think you are messing too much with the presets. Chances are higher that you are actually getting worse quality than by just using the presets as they are. They are already very much optimzed.

Have you tried just --preset 100 (In 3.90.3) or -V 7 (In 3.96.1) without any additonal switches? That should be the optimium choice. The only thing that is considered OK to add is --lowpass

--nspsytune (already default i think when using --alt-preset)
--short (already default i think when using --alt-preset)
--resample 44.1 (this should degrade quality, best is to let lame handle this)
Noticed that you tried 32 kHz, and that it got worse, seems very starnge.

i don't think --nspsytune was added to the presets in 3.90.3 because i did some tets and they sound different, the preset get's ringing but with
--nspsytune i dont get as much.Later versions of lame probably choose it automatically.

yes --short is already used by default (Xing)

i don't really need the lowpass because it sounds good enough for me but you recommended lowering it.

i need to resample to 44.1 because it souns so bad 32khz.


When in lame the resample commmand is it resampling or is it just converting(encoding as khz given).

that is why i must use all of those options.

If you think yours sounds better then use it. We've been telling you what we think is better and you can choose to use it or not.

ok i tried the -v switch in 3.96.1 like this

-V 7 --nspsytune --resample 44.1
and i thought this was gonna be the best but
--preset cbr 96 --nspsytune --resample
the i added lowpass 12.1 and preset gave me the least ringing in the tests.
looks like the -v n switch is'nt that good at low bitrates.

So i use this one
--preset cbr 96 -h --nspsytune --lowpass 12.0 --resample 44.1

abr/vbr maybe because i was selecting such a low bitrate it didn't sound good for these modes.i did notice that it went up to 160 kb, file ended up to big that's partly why

i do remember ages a go somebody recommended this on r3mix for 96k encoding
-b 96 --nspsytune --lowpass 19.5 (something like that,longtime ago )

Oh well

some people will never learn...don't mess with all the switches...what do you think presets are for? Why do you think you can come up with a setting that is better than the ones the developers created? Just use LAME 3.96.1 and -V 7 - no other switches, just -V 7...just like that! Also, try a blind test...

I did about 40 tests and -v 7 just isn't good enough quality
I know vbr and abr are recommended but preset cbr gives good results and i like it.And if i don't add swithces to this it sounds bad
-V7
Does that use nspsytune if not add that
does it go down to 32khz yes add resample
does it ring yes lower the lowpass

Did abx test
Differences
-v7 is bigger file = sounds a bit better in hard to code parts
they both sound bad without the extra switches

Take a look at this. VBR settings at low bitrate with latest encoders seems to be a very bad idea. But nothing could replace personal tests.

This is what i have been saying about the tests i have conducted cbr is the best for low bitrates with lame that;s why i use and i find the best.

--preset cbr 96 -h --nspsytune --lowpass 12.0 --resample 44.1

I don't think i can come up with a setting better than developers i am just changing it to sound a bit better with my music collection.all it does is just get rid of the ringing for low bitrates.

why do you resample to 44.1 khz when you use a lowpass of 12? I'm not sure why you lowpass that much, but did you try -V 7 --lowpass 12.0? If the bitrate is too high you could try -V 8 instead....

I mean, -V 7 lowpasses to 14900, so it's not really fair if you compare that to some setting that lowpasses to 12000...

It was said before abr and vbr do not do good with the latest encoders that includes the -V 7 switch.I did tests with that switch and it had some bitrate fluctuations and sounded bad.Have you tried my settings it sounds good.If i encode
to 32khz i don't need a low pass but it sounds if i have lowered the lowpass even more plus the voices treble a bit so that's why resample to 44.1 and i did try
-V 7 --lowpass 12.0 and it still had artifacts plus the file ended up bigger.Once i convert a file with my settings it sounds great.Still sounds sharp and high.

Some people will never learn....


@mp34ever - how about posting the results of your abx tests? It seems you only say it sounds good or bad, and this sounds like placebo to me.

i am and was not talking crap but to tell you i can not be bothered posting the results.(sorry).Maybe someone else can post the abx results using the suggestions and settings above.Really my objective was to find the best way to encode to 96k with the least ringing.

Did some reasearch and this should be better

--alt-preset cbr 96 -h --nspsytune --ns-bass -8 --athtype 2 --lowpass 14.1 --resample 44.1

The difference between --alt-preset with and without --nspsytune is pure placebo effect.

well...the problem was that LAME 3.96.1 doesn't resample to 32khz, but that doesn't matter for you since you use 44.1khz anyway...and sorry, your statements are pure placebo effects...resampling to 32khz cuts everything above 16khz...however, since you lowpass to 12khz how can it cut off even more frequencies?

Also, the problems posted assummed that you don't add extra switches...however, if you extra lowpass the ringing should be also gone since there are a lot more bits available due the lack of high frequencies...

Since -V 7 resulted a higher bitrate, just try LAME 3.96.1 -V 8 --lowpass 12.0 --resample 32 this should sound far better than the switches you used...

Ideally you should use 44.1KHz sampling all the time with LAME (--resample 44100). When you switch to 32KHz or 24KHz you are increasing the length of both the long and short blocks and this is probably where some of the artifacting occurs. The problem is that LAME is optimized and tuned for 44.1KHz only and lower sampling rates may not produce the results you expect.

Another reason to stay at 44.1 khz.That may be causing the artifact that i hear when encoding to 32 khz with some songs.

-V 8 --lowpass 12.0 --resample 32

1.vbr and abr don't do good.
2.i don't want to resample to 32khz and if i do i get more artifacts.
3.final filesize ends up bigger.

The difference between --alt-preset with and without --nspsytune is pure placebo effect.

So gabriel your saying with lame 3.90.3 stable from rarewares
--alt-preset cbr 96
this preset automatically encodes with nspsytune
or there is pratically no differences with it on or off

The above tests were made between 3.90.3 and the 3.97 alpha's. It seems to be inferred above that the problems with low bit rate -V settings and the 3.97 alpha's are equally applicable for the stable 3.96.1 version. Is there any justification for this ?

Just finished two hours of testing


This should be much better quality but is still in testing stages

I used Lame version 3.97 alpha 7
Expiremental - I am looking forward to the next official release of lame

-V 9 -d -q 0 -X 3 -B 192 --nspsytune --athtype 2 --replaygain-accurate --scale 0.72
--lowpass 18 --lowpass-width 2 --resample 44.1

I was suprised it had good Hi khz , it sounded nice and there was no ringing plus no clipping.

I only tested it on 1 file though

100k average it encodes at!

Edit: Added -X 3 Switch

Enjoy!

Oh no! Once again....

@Gabriel

for some reason the -X 3 switch is increasing the bitrate ?

totally nonsense!

@ Gabriel
I hope that new LAME releases don't allow people to abuse LAME with such crappy switches....just the presets, no Stereo switch, no k switch and all these other harmful ones. If you need them for testing, that's fine, but it would make sense to remove it from final releases...

We can not remove already existing options from releases until v4. For the v3 line unfortunately we have to keep compatibility.

April Fools Day comes early this year.