How I process my music (version 3; part 5/5 - low bit rate notes)

I'm probably one of the few in the world that can do what I can with music - listen to the same song for thousands of times in a row, for weeks on end. Despite that, I'm otherwise unable to identify music genres apart and I can't identify an instrument beyond the basic type (string, wind, and percussion (I consider brass the same as wind)). I listen to video game music at varying speeds. Changing speeds on my computer is easy enough, but I can't do it that way on my MP3 player. Thus, this video explains how I go about processing music for my MP3 player. This video has 5 segments that explains my entire process.

One thing you may have noticed in the previous segment is that I'm using surprisingly low bit rates. How can a bit rate, for MP3, of 31 Kbps be any good. After all, your typical CD-quality involves 128. This comes from 2 things - the fact I'm using ABR (which cuts it by 60%) instead of CBR, and the data rate is significantly lower. Why use a 44,100 Hz sample rate for a speed when nothing is audible above 5000 Hz? By using a 12,000 Hz sample rate for that, the data rate is cut to 27.21% of what it would normally be. This also means you can cut the bit rate by 27.21%. In addition, by using mono instead of stereo (which usually doesn't have much of a difference), you cut the data rate in half which means half the bit rate. This is why even 19 Kbps can sound so good. If you listened to it in pure silence at decent volume, you practically couldn't tell a difference from the original. The bit rate I use is actually 1 higher than this "point of transparency" plus another 10% is added on to that for a "safety" margin.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Music
• audio
• WAV
• MP3
• player
• file
• processing
• speed
• change
• sample
• rate
• Audacity

[LegionsOfAnon]

I think some of the larger file sizes you're seeing with VBR are on account of using a VBR profile that's geared toward keeping the lowest possible bit rate still higher than the bit rates you tend to use. If it were me, I'd look into seeing if the encoder supports a VBR preset option that lets me set the baseline lower.

[ulillillia]

Quality 9, the worst, is still far, far higher in quality than what ABR offers. It's as if VBR assumes you're using 44,100 Hz and stereo rather than mono (using mono cuts the data rate in half and I generally cannot tell a difference between stereo and mono as the 2 waveforms are almost always very similar).

[Mephistel]

Do you have any specific criteria that must be fulfilled for music contributions? I have some MIDI tracks that were self-made a few months ago, simply for my own enjoyment. I also have WAV versions with the MIDI sounds rendered to sound like realistic instruments using special software. If you are interested, I can give you the mediafire link to both. None are more than 1min28sec in length.

[ulillillia]

MIDI won't work, but WAV, MP3, and OGG will (the latter 2 must be of very high quality). I also require a minimum of 44,100 Hz, 16-bit, mono. 88 seconds is rather short though, but there are some cases where even 88 seconds is rather long - the overworld, title screen, boss levels, and other such things are expected to be short. There's also sound effects, though I don't have much planning toward that part. See the "audio" section on PM's site for details and guidelines.

[BobbyBoyMini]

lol u used terras theme from ff6! thats awesome

[ulillillia]

It's actually calculated. At the time, it was 11:12 AM CDT and YouTube was showing 44 minutes left (putting it at 11:56 AM).  Throw in time for YouTube to process the video and noon was in my calculations. I just converted to UTC, the international standard for time designations.

[machriderx]

@ulillillia Heh, you're quite punctual.

[ulillillia]

I haven't messed with SFXR yet. I just got done with the Sentus Mountains world - expect to see the video in about 50 minutes (5:00 PM UTC).

[machriderx]

using an external wav editor of coarse

[machriderx]

@ulillillia Really? Even with the 'mutate' button?

You could always take an explosion sound it generates and mess with the pitch and length a bit. That way it will sound different and distinct.