Members tradivoro1 Posted November 9, 2007 Members Share Posted November 9, 2007 Hi, I recently did background music for a play... Originally I gave them CDs to use with the theater system... Then they told me that they were going to use and ipod and could I give them mp3's... So I gave them a disk of mp3's in 128 44K version... They called me today saying that some of the songs seemed like their were missing bass, and didn't sound good.... Do songs that are played on the ipod have to be converted to mp3s using apple's converter?? Any info appreciated, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members offramp Posted November 9, 2007 Members Share Posted November 9, 2007 No, but you might as well give them the highest quality, around 320, instead of 128.In reality, if it's on a CD, and they're using a CD player, might as well give them AIFF or WAV's, since storage space isn't an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted November 9, 2007 Members Share Posted November 9, 2007 No, an ipod wil play any MP3. There is no "special format". If you are creating an MP3 for this purpose, use 160kpbs minimum (192 would be better). 128 is just not enough to avoid the swirly, low-bass, bad artifact sound that we all know and hate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tradivoro1 Posted November 9, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 9, 2007 Thanks guys, I'll give them higher resolution mp3's and see if it sounds any better... It was on CD, but somebody who is doing sound for them is saying they want to use their ipod... So, that's why they're using the ipod... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted November 9, 2007 Members Share Posted November 9, 2007 The iPod isn't the problem. The MP3 encoding is. As Offramp said, you don't even HAVE to use the MP3 format at all. the iPod will store and playback full-resolution AIFF or WAV files ith no degradation at all from the sound of your CD. But a high-rez (192) MP3 should be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tradivoro1 Posted November 9, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 9, 2007 Well, actually, more info has come to light... Apparently, the original music I did sounds fine... They used a couple of Vienesse waltzes from CDs and that's what not sounding good... So, I gotta figure why that's sounding bad now... It sounds fine at my studio... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted November 9, 2007 Members Share Posted November 9, 2007 Who ripped the MP3s from the CDs? How were they encoded? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boseengineer Posted November 9, 2007 Members Share Posted November 9, 2007 May also be worth checking, if the IPOD doesn't have some funk EQ turned on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tradivoro1 Posted November 10, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 10, 2007 Basically, I ripped the CD, and then encoded it using lame algorithm... Basically, in my studio it sounds fine... since I wrote this post, I've had a chance to go home and listen to everything and I can't understand why the things I did would sound good and theings from the CD would sound "bad"... My guess is that because these waltzes have such a range of dynamics, they're freaking out cuase it doesn't stay at one volume... I haven't had a chance to go to the theater... Also, they don't have an "audio" person doing the sound, they just have somebody that will do sound... So, I gotta to the theater tomorrow, see what they're doing... I'm getting a feeling that they're playing this through an ipod, hooked up to something other than a board, and that the idea of raising a fader hasn't crossed anybody's mind cause there is no fader... so, I gotta see what kind of a set up they have and why if the tunes sound fine in my studio, some sound fine over at the theater and not others... Thanks to everybody for your suggestions and I'll tell you what I find... I've done music and sound design for these people for 4 years and I've never had a problem... But they've always used CDs in the past... This is the first itme they're using an IPOD.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted November 10, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted November 10, 2007 Basically, I ripped the CD, and then encoded it using lame algorithm... Basically, in my studio it sounds fine... since I wrote this post, I've had a chance to go home and listen to everything and I can't understand why the things I did would sound good and theings from the CD would sound "bad"... My guess is that because these waltzes have such a range of dynamics, they're freaking out cuase it doesn't stay at one volume... Check the iPod to see if there's some sort of automatic volume control setting turned on. Those "take it anywhere" music players often have settings for car, airplaine, late night listening, and so on (hard to identify the "just turn the damn processor off" setting by name). That could be applying some sort of extreme dynamic range control on your dynamic music that isn't so obtrusive on a commercial CD that's already been limited to 2 dB of dynamic range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tradivoro1 Posted November 10, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 10, 2007 Thanks Mike, yeah, that's my guess that anything that isn't pop music is not going to sound good over these things, and there just might be a setting as you mentinoned and as boseengineer also mentioned, it may be one of these eq setting for a particular kind of music... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tradivoro1 Posted November 10, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 10, 2007 Well guys, I went to the theater and it turned out to be the eq setting was on... once it was turned off, everything sounded as it should... Thanks for all your helpful suggestions, without owning an ipod, I wouldn't have known what to have looked for right away... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted November 10, 2007 Members Share Posted November 10, 2007 Well guys, I went to the theater and it turned out to be the eq setting was on... once it was turned off, everything sounded as it should... Thanks for all your helpful suggestions, without owning an ipod, I wouldn't have known what to have looked for right away... Isn't it great when you have to climb into your climate-destroying car and drive across town because a grown person can't figure out a basic feature on a piece of highly "human engineered" consumer technology? But you know what? I've seen issues like this from confused recording "engineers" at GearSlutz who couldn't figure out that some iTunes audio enhancer was turned on. ("Why do my mixes sound so different when I play them back outside my DAW?") Gotta love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tradivoro1 Posted November 12, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 12, 2007 Well, luckily, in New York City, we don't drive cars, we ride subways... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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