where is this distortion coming from in 192/256kbps??

let me preface this by saying.. I am a newbie when it comes to mastering and I realize a 256kbps mp3 is not going to sound as good as a 320 or a wav. Obviously. but.....

I am finishing up a track and i think it sounds solid enough. Good full bass, good volume, not painful to listen to etc.

when I listen in Wav it sounds solid.

but when I convert it to a 128kbps or 192kbps or 256kbps mp3 there is a small amount of rather undesirable distortion that falls behind the kick drum that is not present in the Wav or 320 version.

Is this typical in the 256 and lower kbps mp3s and I just never noticed.

Could it be too much volume or compression on the master?

Too much bass?

stupidity?

any ideas?

sounds like you've limited it at 0 - mp3s dont like 0 and will impart a slight distortion, i usually set my limiter to -.02

a wav should transfer to a high quality mp3 with very little differance and certainly no distortion

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rhythmtech

sounds like you've limited it at 0 - mp3s dont like 0 and will impart a slight distortion, i usually set my limiter to -.02

a wav should transfer to a high quality mp3 with very little differance and certainly no distortion

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thanks for the advice rt!! to test the theory I went ahead and tried it with no limiter whatsoever and am still getting a slight distortion at end of the decay on the kick. It's ever so slight but it's there none-the-less.

Starting to wonder if I need to re-eq the kick a bit.


any other ideas.

just put an envelope on the kick to get rid of the end of it.. maybe its a click in the sample thats getting brought forward in the mix due to compression.

can you render the kick on its own and post a short sample up so i can hear exactly what you're talking about?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rhythmtech

just put an envelope on the kick to get rid of the end of it.. maybe its a click in the sample thats getting brought forward in the mix due to compression.

can you render the kick on its own and post a short sample up so i can hear exactly what you're talking about?

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will do.. thanks a million! If I can't get rid of it by shortening the envelope I'll post something up in a bit...

make sure you are using a decent encoder with the latest codecs
they make quite a big difference to sound quality
i use LAME codecs, and it treats all my stuff well