I will be finally launching my website very soon. With MP3s there are all kinds of formats and levels of quality. What format should I save my MP3 demos in so that they can be easily listened to?

Beakybird

Try using 192 bps gives just the right amount of sound definition and compression.

I agree. Good luck.

You might talk to your webmaster about setting up a streaming server, too. Nothing better for the casual surfer than instant gratification!

But the MAIN thing to do, before you turn your recordings into MP3's is to get them mastered up hot enough. MP3's, at just about ANY bitrate, sound grainy and undefined when working on files that are too low in amplitude and overall SPL.

Some mild compression (on the original .wav), followed by some limiting to raise the overall level to near CD like heights will give the MP3 encoder MUCH more to work on, and add a punch to the sound you won't get on lower levels.

Try comparing your mp3's to commercial ones, and try to get yours at least into the ballpark, volume-wise. Otherwise your potential customers may end up going 'it sounds thin and weak', when all that is wrong is it just isn't mastered hot enough.

Best of luck...

Thank you guys. Diki, what kind of compression parameters would I look for?

Thanks,

Beakybird

Beakybird, it's a hard job to give one set of parameters. A lot depends on the original file. Is it well balanced? Does it have a lot of dynamics? Just how low IS the recording? How loud do you need it?! What tools do you have for comp and limiting (some can be pushed harder than others)? Are you recording MP3's to start with, or are you using 24 bit .wav's?

Picking a well recorded factory demo MP3 is a good place to start, as that will generally have been recorded and mastered and converted by pros. That will give you a target volume and EQ balance. Convert it to a .wav, and convert your mp3 to a 24 bit .wav if you recorded using mp3 (which I don't recommend). Play them next to each other, and you will get an idea of how much massaging you'll need...

Watch out for vocals that might climb on top of the arranger too much. You'll have a hard time taming these without the arranger dropping out from underneath. Compression and limiting are just fancy forms of turning the volume down (in spots) and bringing the gain up - turn down the vocal with compression means you are turning down your arranger, too if it is a live stereo recording. If it's a multi-track, no problem, Just comp the voice independently of the arranger track.

But, in practical terms, I tend to use a soft compression, longish release (300-500ms), not much more than 2-3db of gain reduction if a track is recorded and mixed well, then off to the limiter, and again, if the track after the compressor is sounding good and even, just a few db of limiting. 3-6db, depending on desired loudness.

For those that are interested, I am a BIG fan of the UAD processor card, and their plug-ins, but this, unless you intend to do a LOT of recording work, may be a little expensive. Just try to make sure that whatever software tools you DO use are designed for mastering purposes, not simple instrument and drum compression (too drastic).

The ideal is, if the initial file is well balanced and mixed, the resultant file sounds IDENTICAL, just a lot louder... It's a lot harder than you think! Just don't squash the living daylights out of it, and let the limiter do most of the volume raising.

Keep comparing to the factory demo file, and when you think you have it close, stop! Then convert to mp3, and let us here it here!

Hope this helps...

Beaky,
Just my opinion, but I advise not to have music play or load at startup. I hate the lag time and the distraction when I visit sites. Make the demos easy to find and access, but don't set them to auto play.
Again....JMO.

I agree about auto-play, but on-demand streaming makes for a much better surfing experience than having to download something BEFORE you can hear it, especially as paranoid as many Windows users get about willy-nilly downloading from an unknown (or untrusted) site...

Just thought I'd add my two cents on the mp3's. First I agree on the 192 bps, and this was the recommendation from techs on the Sound Forge forums. I know some have a lower bps on their demos for quicker load time but I wanted to have as good a sound as I could get and also figured most people with the $$ who hire will have cable or DSL anyway. If someone uses a dial up modem, then offering to send them a CD should handle that. Also, many of my demos are only intro, 8 measures of the song and either ending or fade out just so they get the flavor rather than a complete concert on each tune.

I have all the stuff to beef up the sound of any recording and had fun playing around with it. But I decided against it. I decided the best way for me to go was to let the potential client hear what I really would sound like live rather than sound one way on the demos and then sound different live.

Also, really when you think about it, the senior market was used to and prefer the old analog sounds. The mellower tones of their old phonographs etc. as compared to the more brilliant digital sounds.

The same was true if a person liked the sound of Lowrey home organs, they would not care for the digital sound of a Roland Atelier organ. They would always say the Roland sounded tinny. If a person had never heard a Lowrey, they'd say the Roland sounded great because they had nothing to compare it with.

So my slant on compression etc, is that, as long as you have a decent sounding recording to begin with, if you're after the senior market, then leave it as it is. If you're after all the rest of the market, then beefing up the sound may be something to consider, if you think it's worth it and if you can actually get that sound live, if that's the sound you want when you go live.

Best
Scott

http://ScottLMusic.com

But I guess the main thing I was commenting on was, you don't want to make the casual surfer have to go and adjust their computer speakers to compensate for a low level mp3, Scott...

Few will bother, then you have the problem of sounding anemic compared to your competitors..! I agree that, for CD's, it has gotten quite out of hand, the 'volume wars' between record labels, to the point of making some stuff quite unlistenable, but the web surfing experience, especially for commercial purposes, needs to take into account that comparisons ARE being made, and you need to put your best foot forward to give yourself the best opportunity to make the sale...

It's not like you need to go to a professional mastering engineer (though I wouldn't mind the business!), but a small amount of compression and limiting will go a LONG way to making your site stand out as 'professional'