My problem is i have denon dj cd players they can play vbr mp3s but with limited functionalty i need to use cbr. I was thinking if i rip my cds to cbr 192 will people notice it on the dancefloor?

Unless you possess extremely good speakers and other equipment I very much doubt anyone will be able to notice anything at 128Kbps or even lower considering the background noise at clubs.

To encode in CBR using LAME you should use the following parameter in the commandline: -b 128

(this is for 128 Kbps files but I'm sure that if you need 192Kbps files you can work out what to change )

AliL

Edit: I've found out that if you just select lame.exe with no parameters it automatically defaults to 128Kbps so there's no need to add the "-b 128" parameter. You would only need to if you wanted something like 192Kbps.

No, people will not notice, if you use LAME. See the recommended settings for cbr.
Note, that you can use cbr 320 kbps, just to be on the safe side.

If you're in a real pinch, you can try adding padding to MP3 frames to make the files CBR:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=32379

Omion's MP3 repacker is for making files smaller, but you can make files bigger as well.

do the different genres also play a roll on the bitrate? Because i do different genres for different occasions.

Personally I'd have thought 320Kbps is a tad overkill not to mention a bit heavy on the amount of hard disk space used up. But if you'd feel safer using 320Kbps, you should used the parameter: "--preset insane" (without the quotation marks). This has been optimised for the best quality files in the VAST majority of circumstances and I'd say you'd be included in there as well.

If you're not going to go the "insane" route, I suggest that you add the "-h" parameter to your commandline as well as this results in higher quality files at the sacrifice of encoding speed but if you're using a modern computer then this shouldn't be an issue. I use a 5 year old laptop and I still get encoding speeds of about 17x.

Hope this helps.

AliL

i know about it, but i am trying to get as much mp3s on the disc as i can without going to "low" on the quality

Most likely they won't. Even if at some tracks was a well audible difference to the original, people will not know this cause what they do is by far not an abx test.

Thanks for the replies guys. BTW you guys are damn quick, i am still typing and i have replies without knowing it. I thought i would have to wait a few hours before getting a reply.
There is a catch though to all of this, i also want to keep these mp3s for personal use. What do u suggest.

Well if you're going to keep the files for personal use I suggest that you do an ABX test first on the equipment that you have so that you're happy with the quality of the files before you use them on the dancefloor, because there's no point in re-ripping if you don't need to.

If you want a program that can do ABX tests I reccommend foobar2000.

If the personal use you speak of doesn't exclude the use of VBR then I'd personally recommend VBR at -V3.

Cheers, Slipstreem.

For any recent version of lame, --preset insane and -b 320 are one and the same. Also, -h is the default.

cbr 320 kbps way to go

i was thinking about ripping at that bitrate, but then i thought about how many dj sites that sell cbr 192 mp3s.
In the end all i want to do is rip my music for myself and for djing. If i have to use 320 then i will but if it is not needed and i can use 192 then i would prefer that birate.
I have done many abx tests but failed all of them even at 128, unless it is really crap quality or a multiple transcoded mp3.

From what I hear Id say CBR 192 is a good compromise. I doubt anyone will be able to hear any differences compared to a cd, especially in a club... And since you can abx @ 128 I think you are on the safe side for personal use as well Good Luck!

/Kef

Although I can abx most lame 128 cbr encoding, the real world difference is not normally huge, but can still be too annoying for my taste and I never use use cbr 128. For a noob abxer its not that easy not to mention a typical clubber ! so you have little to worry about 128 k lame. It will not sound lossy unless it meets a really difficult sample.

For more security go for 160 cbr but no more !

so i will also be safe with 192 for personal use?

i'd say encode at cbr 256kbps. you know the quality will be damn and with a slightly smaller file size compared to 320kbps

Heh, you've gotten many different replies all from 128 up to 256 kbps. I'd still say 192 is a good compromise. And as you say yourself, many of the dj sites sells downloadable content at 192. Why not just follow their example? Sure, 256 or 320 is better quality, but if you can't ABX yourself at 128 why go to such extremes?

If there's nothing physically stopping you from encoding and playing back in VBR for your own personal usage then it seems a bit silly not to really. LAME is very well tuned as a VBR encoder and should produce better results at an average bitrate of 128Kbps than CBR will at a fixed bitrate of 128Kbps.

I personally have trouble ABX-ing VBR at -V3 which seems to come out at around 160Kbps with the kind of music you're talking about with LAME 3.98 Beta7. -V5 may be sufficient for you personally and that seems to sit around 130Kbps for the same encodings. Either have the opportunity to use 320Kbps blocks as and when the encoder deems necessary without bloating the final filesize, so it doesn't seem to make much sense to deliberately strangle the encoding engine by forcibly limiting it to anything lower in my opinion.

Cheers, Slipstreem.

Clubs are such a dirty listening environment (reverb, way too much bass, blown speakers etc) that i really don't think it matters. 128 is probably fine. Anyhow people aren't doing critical listening here... it'll still sound "good" to the crowd, just subtle things like cymbal crashes might potentially not be as crisp.

@ Jebus: The OP has shifted topic and is now asking for advice on settings to use for his own personal listening pleasure, not for use in a club environment.

Cheers, Slipstreem.

in your situation... i'd use 192kbps cbr


later

I would use 192kbps with Joint Stereo for CBR, which makes a dramatic improvement from 128kbps, expect Blade encoded mp3s . Which also has a great combo of file size and sound quality, just like V 2 VBR or preset standard VBR does if you used VBR.

192 is good, but doesn't have the trigger mechanism for pre echo like vbr tuning... Expect V3 / V2 to have better handling of pre echo.

Go for 320 CBR unless you're pressed for HDD space

This was the original question ...



With some more info ...



And more ...



First answer ...



Second ...



And then another one ...


Now, the question is, did you guys really bother to read the entire thread? Both of your latest answers are already "answered".

He can't use VBR because his dj cd players doesn't support it properly and he doesn't want to waste space, ie he want's to put as many mp3's per cd's as possible without going too "low". It doesn't matter if VBR is better or have better handling of "insert favorite technical term here". He can't use it!

Just a thought ...



ps. Sorry if I offended anyone, it was not my intention ... I just thought the whole thing was a bit funny ...

As the question seems to have changed and the "personal use" may not involve the use of equipment with the CBR 320Kbps only limitation, maybe we ought to wait to find out what the actual question relates to in terms of hardware before wasting any more time posting what may be totally irrelevant answers.

Cheers, Slipstreem.

You know what guys i was actually stupid, i should rip my stuff to a lossless format and then i can have what ever bitrate i want.