Who mixes lossless music?

Do ya?


  • Total voters
    26

Rusket

Mix an blend
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Jan 18, 2013
Location
Southampton, England.
I have finally made the switch to lossless music after years of playing mp3 files. I can't believe how shit mp3 files are now and I will never buy another mp3 file again.

So I was just wondering, who here uses lossless music?

I would like to set up a poll if someone could tell me how?
 
I do. I have always been an advocate of buying WAV files whenever I can. The invention of FLAC was a god send as it is half the size of WAV and still lossless.

The poll bit can be added if you edit your thread.

Under the body of your text is a box 'Additional Options'.

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if all my music was in .wav format id need a stupidly big hard drive! Definitely not worth it for me at the moment it seems. I only buy my favourite LP's as .wav. FLAC's seem pretty decent but cant get them everywhere.
 
What do you mix now then? .wavs? what does the term 'lossless' even mean in this sense?

yes I now mix wavs and will never go back to mp3s. Lossless meaning that the file hasn't been compressed into a smaller file, an mp3. You can hear a difference in my home setup, so I am sure on a proper system you would be able to tell the difference even more.

I have been thinking recently, surely all the big names mix lossless music? I cannot imagine andy c playing 320 mp3s!

Mp3s are the worst thing to happen to digital music!
 
320's sound pretty much exactly the same the same as wavs. depending on hoe much you change pitch, it shouldnt make a difference. mp3 = more space for tunes :bounce:
 
Ok! The coup with 320 kbps MP3 and uncompressed audio files.............................Uncompressed audio files (e.g. WAV, AIFF and FLAC) have a limitless frequency bandwidth and response.

When you compress an uncompressed audio file with a codec algorithm to 320 kbps or equivalent (MP3, M4A, AAC, etc) it cuts off the frequency bandwidth and response to around 18Khz. Any part of the waveform above this frequency (Hi Hats, White Noise, Pink Noise, etc) is deleted/filtered out of the Waveform when it is saved as the new lossy format. The lossy format at 320 kbps is around a quarter of the size of a lossless format. (this excludes FLAC though as this is half the size of WAV and AIFF)

Most sound systems (e.g. Hifis and Car Stereos) won't play back the higher end frequency spectrum very well so you won't be able to tell the difference between a lossy and a lossless audio file. When it is played back on a very expensive 'Audiophile' grade pair of headphones then you will be able to tell the difference. If a club's sound system is of good spec then you would be able to tell the difference.
 
Nice one for clearing that up Gloxx.

What sites sell FLAC's as a standard option? Also judging by that info you can't convert an mp3 back to lossless format as those cut frequencies can not be replenished right?
 
MP3's for me, I do wish I had gone the WAV route but have so many MP3's now it would be insane to rebuy everything.

But the con's for me are no ID3 tags, higher price, the storage space, and the fact that I would then need to convert everything to mp3 to also put it on my iPhone.
 
Nice one for clearing that up Gloxx.

What sites sell FLAC's as a standard option? Also judging by that info you can't convert an mp3 back to lossless format as those cut frequencies can not be replenished right?

Exactly Muzza. You can't revert a lossy format back to a lossless format as the process is destructive.

Most online shops sell FLAC now apart from Beatport and Trackitdown. Bandcamp, Juno, RAM, Metalheadz sites all sell FLAC and it is cheaper than buying WAV.
 
as you know the harddrive spins. to make something smaller it spins it really really fast and then the bits come off until its suitably small. and round, this is because it spins. you cant spin in a square. thats why the cd covers are square, but the cds round. and they are pretty small, but not small enough to fit under your ballsack when you nick it in the store and get caught by the police because they catch all badguys and drive fast
 
I advise everyone to buy wavs and not mp3s. Use digital-tunes.net ... Most tunes are between 80p-£1.11, it is by far the cheapest and probably easiest place to buy digital tunes and once you've bought the tune you can download in wav/flac/mp3 for one price.
 
But the con's for me are no ID3 tags, higher price, the storage space, and the fact that I would then need to convert everything to mp3 to also put it on my iPhone.

FLAC has ID3 tag including cover art and everything now mate. But yeah, if you have invested a lot of money in buying mp3's I can imagine rebuying it all in WAV or FLAC feels like a ripoff.

Most online shops sell FLAC now apart from Beatport and Trackitdown. Bandcamp, Juno, RAM, Metalheadz sites all sell FLAC and it is cheaper than buying WAV.

Makes no sense to me. A FLAC is a WAV, just zipped. Convert the FLAC with a freeware program and you can save some money there.
 
Ok! The coup with 320 kbps MP3 and uncompressed audio files.............................Uncompressed audio files (e.g. WAV, AIFF and FLAC) have a limitless frequency bandwidth and response.

When you compress an uncompressed audio file with a codec algorithm to 320 kbps or equivalent (MP3, M4A, AAC, etc) it cuts off the frequency bandwidth and response to around 18Khz. Any part of the waveform above this frequency (Hi Hats, White Noise, Pink Noise, etc) is deleted/filtered out of the Waveform when it is saved as the new lossy format. The lossy format at 320 kbps is around a quarter of the size of a lossless format. (this excludes FLAC though as this is half the size of WAV and AIFF)

Most sound systems (e.g. Hifis and Car Stereos) won't play back the higher end frequency spectrum very well so you won't be able to tell the difference between a lossy and a lossless audio file. When it is played back on a very expensive 'Audiophile' grade pair of headphones then you will be able to tell the difference. If a club's sound system is of good spec then you would be able to tell the difference.
Just so you know muzza, and everybody else, your ears cant really hear above 18k

test urself http://gamquistu.com/games/hearing

If youre willing to spend extra dosh for shit you can hear that takes up x5 the space, go for it. Also, keep in mind there are many blind comparison tests on the net if you still think theres a noticable difference.
 
That is absoluetly true. But since we now have the space and the speed, why not just go lossless now and be safe for the future?

Also, it's not just the frequency range; MP3s mess with transients and bass as well. It's possibly just me, but on my monitors I find lossless files sounding more full and sharp than MP3s sometimes.
 
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Just so you know muzza, and everybody else, your ears cant really hear above 18k

test urself http://gamquistu.com/games/hearing

If youre willing to spend extra dosh for shit you can hear that takes up x5 the space, go for it. Also, keep in mind there are many blind comparison tests on the net if you still think theres a noticable difference.

mp3s are not meant for professional purposes, they are meant for file sharing and for use on home systems or ipods where the difference in quality is not noticeable. Admittedly, I could probably not tell the difference on a lot of tunes in a blind test but that doesn't mean on a better system you couldn't tell the difference.

Another thing is I find I get less tired when mixing lossless music, I can mix wavs for hours in the same way i can mix records but mp3s seem to tire my brain out... dunno why
 
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