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Song Submission Quality - 192kbps?

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:21 pm
by BradGray
Hey All,

I'm new to taxi and I'm trying to navigate my way around here. When uploading songs to my profile, I notice I have to lower the quality to 192Kbps. Does this reduced quality affect songs that I would be submitting for a listing? It appears that when submitting, I just submit songs that I've already uploaded...unless I'm missing something.

Thanks,
Brad

Re: Song Submission Quality - 192kbps?

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:34 pm
by ResonantTone
Yep, you got it Brad. Your songs are uploaded at the 192Kbps quality as an Mp3, and that is the file you submit to a listing.

It is downgrade in quality, but it's still plenty good for the screeners/music supervisors/libraries to listen to your music and make a decision on it. Once you get in contact with a supervisor/library, you'll need to supply them with the file format and quality that they request. (usually 24bit 48Khz .wav or something similar) I'm guessing the reason behind Taxi using the MP3 format is because of the massive amount of music they have to store at any given moment and the amount of space needed for it.

It's also important to know that when you listen to a song on a taxi members bio, it is streamed at a lower quality than the 192Khz file you have uploaded. This is not the quality that screener or the entity that created the listing will hear if it is forwarded. They will hear the 192Khz audio quality.

Hope that helps some! And welcome to Taxi! Lookin forward to hearing your stuff. :)

Andrew

Re: Song Submission Quality - 192kbps?

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:18 am
by BradGray
Thanks Andrew!

When reading the requests for Broadcast Quality, I was just a bit confused as 192 is far from Broadcast quality IMHO. =) Your explanation makes sense.

Cheers,
Brad

Re: Song Submission Quality - 192kbps?

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 4:11 am
by ttully
Hi Brad,

My ears CANNOT hear a difference between 192kbps mp3s and 24/48 wav files.
But I know some people can easily hear the difference.

Just remember.... the files you send to the library (if the accept your music)
are NOT the files you upload to your profile.... they will be higher quality .wav or .aif files..... usually.

My 192 cents worth,
Tim

Re: Song Submission Quality - 192kbps?

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:45 pm
by BradGray
Thanks Tim.

There is definitely a difference in the lower formats. I used to hear flanging, in the top end, of 192Kbps Mp3s, and have not encoded anything in that format for years. It also depends on your reference that you're listening on as well, how easily you can hear a difference.

I'm usually listening on a pair of AKG-Q701 headphones, which have good clarity.

Cheers,
Brad

Re: Song Submission Quality - 192kbps?

Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 5:59 pm
by ttully
Funny...I just listened to a bunch of tracks I did... at 192kbps mp3 and 24/48 .wav... I hear zero difference.
I listened on both headphones and speakers.

Maybe they sound better because I am creating the mp3's directly from protools.

My 192 cents,
Tim

Re: Song Submission Quality - 192kbps?

Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:25 pm
by ResonantTone
ttully wrote:
Fri Sep 13, 2019 5:59 pm
Maybe they sound better because I am creating the mp3's directly from protools.
I am not an expert, but it makes sense that an MP3 created directly from a DAW would have less issues than something that was created as .wav or something similar, and then converted to MP3.

I struggle to hear any difference as well. I think there was a video by Rick Beato with some highly trained big wig music person that did a blind test and did not do well either.

Andrew

EDIT: Found the link .. it was .wav vs another type of MP3. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YgEjI5PZa78

Re: Song Submission Quality - 192kbps?

Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 7:34 pm
by ttully
And of course it could be my 30 years of super high volume heavy metal drumming....
I have a tea kettle going off in each ear constantly!!!!

Na....that couldn't be it....... now somebody get that phone!!!!
Am I the only one that can hear it ringing!!!!! Ha!!

My 2db worth,
Tim

Re: Song Submission Quality - 192kbps?

Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2019 6:16 pm
by BradGray
Lol. Good discussion, and good answers.

Just to be clear, the lower the bitrate your transcoding your wav file, the more information you loose. You are taking a larger (uncompressed) wav file, and transcoding it into a compressed format. The compression, by its definition, removes repetitive information, to make the file smaller. The smaller you make your mp3, the more information that is lost. It could be static noise, it could be in upper end information. Where I first really heard it, years back, is when listening to classical music, and you could really hear some strange things in the upper high-end, that sounded akin to a slight flanging.

I remember the days of 128 mp3s, and how much better the 192's sounded...then 256 and so on. I'm not talking from a low-fi to a high-fi type of difference, I'm just talking about noticeable subtleties when compressing and throwing out information.

Best way to describe it is this. Listen to your favorite album on CD (uncompressed), and then listen to the same album from mp3 files. They both sound great, but you'll find more detail in the uncompressed versions.

Re: Song Submission Quality - 192kbps?

Posted: Sun May 31, 2020 3:39 am
by robinjade
ResonantTone wrote:
Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:34 pm
Yep, you got it Brad. Your songs are uploaded at the 192Kbps quality as an Mp3, and that is the file you submit to a listing.

It is downgrade in quality, but it's still plenty good for the screeners/music supervisors/libraries to listen to your music and make a decision on it. Once you get in contact with a supervisor/library, you'll need to supply them with the file format and quality that they request. (usually 24bit 48Khz .wav or something similar) I'm guessing the reason behind Taxi using the MP3 format is because of the massive amount of music they have to store at any given moment and the amount of space needed for it.

It's also important to know that when you listen to a song on a taxi members bio, it is streamed at a lower quality than the 192Khz file you have uploaded. This is not the quality that screener or the entity that created the listing will hear if it is forwarded. They will hear the 192Khz audio quality.

Hope that helps some! And welcome to Taxi! Lookin forward to hearing your stuff. :)

Andrew
Oh, this is what happening. Thanks!