cd format question

[affinitysound]

might be a stupid question but what audio format are used on major label cds. and are there different formats that can be used. i noticed after i make a beat in pro tools and export it as a wav....it sounds great . then when i converty it to mp3 to throw on my ipod it sounds like crap and loses alot of quality and volume.

[bgrotto]

Well, I can tell ya this: mp3s are NOT the format of choice for commercial CDs.

Read up on "Red Book". Google and/or Wikipedia can be your friend.

EDIT: I should mention: the format used on major label CDs is the same as used on, well, every other audio CD out there. As always, your tools (or formats, or whatever) are not the problem.

[E-Irizarry]

Originally Posted by affinitysound

might be a stupid question but what audio format are used on major label cds. and are there different formats that can be used. i noticed after i make a beat in pro tools and export it as a wav....it sounds great . then when i converty it to mp3 to throw on my ipod it sounds like crap and loses alot of quality and volume.

That's why I seek digital music players like COWON that play OGG or MP4 Audio or Windows AIF. They are my favorite compressed music formats for Windows.

[Stitch333]

IF, after all is said and done, your MP3 sounds good:
you have done a GREAT job.

Most (if not all, at this point) of your consumer audience will be listening to the MP3 mix at the end of the day anyways...

[MERC476]

Originally Posted by affinitysound

might be a stupid question but what audio format are used on major label cds. and are there different formats that can be used. i noticed after i make a beat in pro tools and export it as a wav....it sounds great . then when i converty it to mp3 to throw on my ipod it sounds like crap and loses alot of quality and volume.

Besides the fact that you're loosing quality right of the top when you convert to mp3, you may want to check what your converting at. you should convert to at least 256kbit. Even then, you will still hear the lose of quality but it will be better than 128 which is what most converters default to.

[district78]

CDs use a standard that is called Red Book. It's basically the same as a 16 bit 44.1kHz WAV or AIFF. When making music, you should use AIFF, WAV (or CAF or SD2) because these are the best quality audio formats. If you're going to burn a CD, never convert to an MP3 because it's going to lose quality. MP3 is a compressed format (as is MP4 and AAC and OGG) which means it sounds worse. Most professional music doesn't become an mp3 until it's ripped from a CD and uploaded to the internet by pirates

My guess is that you're using a low bitrate mp3 and so it sounds bad. If you set the bitrate to 256kbps I think you'll be happier with the results. However, it doesn't compare to keeping files as AIFF.

[affinitysound]

yea these mp3s are terrible. i need a terabyte drive fast for all these wav tracks im exporting from pro tools. thanks for the replies

[E-Murder]

Originally Posted by affinitysound

yea these mp3s are terrible. i need a terabyte drive fast for all these wav tracks im exporting from pro tools. thanks for the replies

Wow, you must be tracking some serious hiphop records for your track counts to be that wide and therefore in need of a terabyte drive...a lot of my hiphop work is based on loops and samples and the vocal tracks are what takes up all the major drive space.

Nothing like a rock band tracking a full record at 24bit 48k, with over an hour of material and each track being 24+ tracks wide, and that is generally around 50gig to 70gig for the entire album.

I find large drives, like terabyte drives take tooooooo long to defrag and maintenance.