Hi all,

i just started with all that MP3 stuff and started with the www.r3mix.net site and tryed to understand all.
actual i tested some stuff myself and used LAME 3.93.1 (hopefull a bugfree version) with this settings
"--abr 112 -mj -b64 --athtype 3 --scale 0.98 -X0 --lowpass 19.5 -B 256 -h"
i just mixed that settings together from the r3mix.net site
mainly i used --abr 112 cause the file was much smaler than the V 1 (VBR) file

since i still have no clue what settings work best for me i ask here again....

I need settings for a portable MP3 player (but just 80mm disks so just 180-200MB space) so i need "good" Audio Quality and small file sizes. I will add that i mainly encode ebm/industrial musik and im also far away from perfect ears, its more like that i have some problems on hearing high freq. so i guess at some freq. my ear cuts all down.

So what preset ABR/VBR setting can u give me so i get the same quality like my actual settings (wich sound oki to me) but can reduce the file size more by not loosing more quality?

Is there a way to use VBR 112?
for the settings i read much about "--nspsytune --athtype 2 --lowpass 16 --ns-bass -8"
what lowpass 16 means compared to lowpass my 19.5?
what is --ns-bass -8 ? and --nspsytune?
i also saw a portable preset in razorlame wich used resample to 32khz? how this compare to 44.1khz?

thx for your help

PS: is there any setting wich produce very small files but still could sound oki for my "loose" ears? Just so i can compare size/quality to my actual settings?

ADD: um i just did that sweep test from http://ff123.net/samples.html and i cant hear something after 2-3 seconds wich means it cut off at 14.5 - 15.4 khz... so i can safly set --lowpass to 15??

--preset 112, nothing else

Is it better than 3.90.2 --alt-preset 128 -Z ?

edit
I mean from a quality/size point of view

Hi.

Your intentions are good, but your command line is far from perfect

The best thing you can do is to use --preset XXX where XXX is your desired bitrate. That command line will give you the best posible quality with that bitrate. For example, to fit 180 minutes (3 hours) in your 185 MB CDs you can use: --preset 140 (185MB * 1024KB/MB * 8bits/byte)/(60seg/min*180minutes) = 140.3 . Easy, isn't it .

When using --preset XXX it IS a bad idea to add any other command line option, because the --preset setting is the best tunned posibility.

Now, just for your information:

Forget r3mix stuff, it's outdated.

--lowpass 19.5 means that the encoder will delete all the frequencies above 19500 Hz, which in not something bad at all, because the majority of people can hear nothing at all above that frequency, and even lowers. Myself, I hear nothing above 18500 Hz. You will see that with the preset setting, LAME cuts the higher frequencies arround 17500 - 18000 - 18500. That's perfect because that bits you preserve by not enconding those high frequencies, can be used to encode better the lower ones, that are MUCH MORE important.

--abr 112 means you want an average bitrate of 112 kbps. I think that's TOO low, even for a portable player, and if you use it you will probably found some songs that sound like shit...

--scale 0.98 is a normalization factor. It change the loudness of the songs, but you should take care of the clipping in reproduction. IF you want to use it, use --scale 0.97 o 0.96. I think they are good values, but I'd take a lot of space to explain you why... besides, if you are interested you can find a LOT of information about scale and clipping problems in this forum; just use the search funtion.

If you are interested is always a VERY GOOD idea to read the topics of this forum: This guys have so much experience that you'll learn A LOT. (99,9% newbi questions have been asked and anwered many times before by people that know hell a lot more than me).

-B 256 means that you dont want any frame to have more than 256kbps. This is always a BAD idea, even in CBR coding, a you should NEVER use it unless you are having problems with some old portable players. (I think the 8cm CD portable players from Freecom and Expanium have no problems in this, but you can check the product web page)

I think that's all...

2 important points: · READ this forum. USE the search page.
· USE --preset XXX

If I were you I'll use --preset 150 or above, but that depends on your ears and your equipment. Try diferent values. I cannot understand why having 185MB CD-Rs to burn you want that very low filesize. MP3 if far form being a perfect codec, and if you puss it to far (meaning low...), your songs are going to sound VERY bad.

PS: Sorry for my bad English ...

PS: Before LAME 3.92 --presets are called --alt-preset, as in the recomended binary compile, the 3.90.2

No. It's worse.

Gabriel has recomended it because tha guy was using --abr 112 -- ... (lot of stuff here)

ah thx i know i should always read the forum and use search ... but i already did read all those r3mis stuff and also all those settings in the forum but mainly every1 want the "perfect" quality/size thing with high VBR rates.
I just found out that i cant hear anything above 15.4kHz even if i turn the volume up, wich means i have some crappy ears wich also means i can cut that freq. off with --lowpass 15.4

Dont get me wrong but i did some personal tests and even with --abr 112/96 i could not hear that much diff. to the org. wave so im realy a "bad ear" listner.

If i get it right i just should use that setting?

--preset 140 --lowpass 15.4

wich results in an --abr 140 file right?

i tested --preset 140 and i just notice that the time to generate the mp3 is much longer, compared to my org. settings?

It just means that it's more tuned than your original line. I wouldn't worry about it. I use very frequently --preset 140 or 145, numbers randomly chosen depending on how I feel that day, for portable use.

They sound really great. I would try without the lowpass if I were you, and leave it like that in case you are satisfied. That will help if you ever let anybody use your portable

It depends on how you performed the test, with which test files, with which equipment... Using a Soundblaster Live and cheap PC speakers, nobody would have a chance to hear past 16 KHz...

Yes that will produce a file that's 140 kbps IN AVERAGE. (Being realistic the bitrate will range more or less from 130 to 150 kbps, but 140 will surely be the average of a bunch of songs) AND will cut in 15400 Hz, as you have guesed.

Theoretically, that will sound very good to your ears. Good for you

In fact, the only valid advice I can give you is... try yourself. If you find --preset 120 --lowpass 15.4 as being good enough for you, great, you have saved 20 more kpbs

PS: As for the speed of LAME, the only way to be faster than ABR (--preset XXX) is to encode in CBR mode, but at that bitrate it's going to sound much worse. Believe me this, the speed gain doesn't worth the quality you loose.

aye i was also thinking so, i used some high qually headphones and my soundcard is also oki. Since i also was shocked about my low spectrum i asked 2 friends to crosstest my settings.... to bad its no error they could easy hear stuff next to 5-6 seconds wich means 18-19kHz.... seems in my youth i screwed up some stuff

btw i dont see any size diff. with or without --lowpass 16?
Does that just mean he cuts the freq. off and use the space to encode the other freq. better so the resulted size is the same by better qulality in that freq. range?

is there anything beside --preset 112/128/140 i can do to lower the size, execpt to lower the rate?

But I supose having a portable CD player, AndyIEG has tried it with a decent pair of headphones.

Exactly

Nothing that I know, because in ABR modes the goal is to have a file of (more or less exactly) the specified bitrate. So, the higher the bitrate, the bigger the resulting file.

oki thx all,

seems my overinformation first leads to a missinformation hehe why using tonns of commands if --preset 140 does all i need know

i will play around with some presets and see wich fits best for my size/qually

anytime