I really like the new feature of being able to hear sound clips from member studios. Some of these have been to demo a mix done ...say with Tara Labs lightpipe (in this case there should be 2 mixes: one with Tara Labs, the other with Hosa or whatever)o..otherwise there is NO WAY to 'hear' anything really at all. But, how are we going to be able to really hear the true quality of a mix in MP3 format? It is below CD quality.

You have a point there Paul - kinda makes you wonder. Perhaps those considering uploading songs for comparitive listening should do so in an uncompressed form.

As I like to mention here every few months, you can hear samples on my website at www.NaturalSoundStudio.com.

The quality of MP3 encoding is TOTALLY dependant on what you're using as an encoder and the bit rate. I've had great luck doing 128k bit rates using the PMLAME encoder, an open architecture plug-in that, at this point, works with Audion www.panic.com/audion .

In an emergency I had to decode from an Audion encoded MP3 back to AIFF to burn a CD, since it was the ONLY backup available. The CD sounded great... I couldn't tell the difference listening side-by-side.



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ERIC SEABERG • San Diego, CA
eseaberg@home.com

I've noticed that there is a certian smearing and loss of clairity with MP3's. They don't sound horrible though. Good enough for getting the idea.

Makes you wonder about the listening public, MP3's becoming so popular a format because they are free. What's the point of all the gear to record it if folks listening to it use MP3's?

I had a client bring in a CD he made of all downloaded mp3's. It's what he listens to in his car. They all sounded flat, compressed and lifeless. All in the interest of free music?