Guide for Encoding CDs into *Supa-High Quality*
MP3s
Gamingforce standard
First-time setup:
1) Download & install Exact Audio Copy, a good CD ripper, from
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de
2) Download the currently recommended compile of LAME, an excellent mp3 encoder, from
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?act...t=ST&f=15&t=478 (
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?act=ST&f=15&t=478)
You want the EXE binary. Download & unzip it to somewhere you will remember.
C:\Program Files\LAME for example.
3) Run Exact Audio Copy. The Configuration Wizard should pop up (if not, start it from the "EAC" menu).
When it asks you, select all your CD drives. (Note: CD-RW
drives are typically best for ripping purposes.)
Select "I prefer to have accurate results" for each drive.
Autodetect your CD drive features. This requires an audio CD to be in your drive.
Check "Install & configure the external LAME.EXE compressor." Stop the search, manually find the path where you downloaded LAME, and select either quality option given (this will be changed later).
Enter your e-mail address.
Select "I am an expert."
4) Open the "EAC Options" from the "EAC" menu.
Under the Extraction tab, put "Error recovery quality" at "High."
If you have a constantly-on Internet connection, under the General tab select "On unknown CDs, automatically access online freedb database."
Under the Filename tab, change the naming scheme to
%N - %T
which is basically the format "01 - TrackOneName". You may want to put additional parameters in there too, that's fine, but make sure the tracknumber gets in there somewhere... unless you feel like having the tracks listed in alphabetical order rather than the natural CD order. :erm:
5) Open the "Drive Options" from the "EAC" menu.
Under the Extraction Method tab, it should already be set to "Secure mode with following drive features." If not, change it.
This is completely optional: Get a scratched-up audio CD & hit the "Examine C2 Feature" button. If an error is detected during the test, check "Drive is capable of retrieving C2 error info," otherwise leave it alone.
Under the Drive tab, hit the "Autodetect read command now" button.
6) Open the "Compressor Options" from the "EAC" menu.
Under the External Compression tab, change the "Parameter passing scheme" to "User defined encoder".
The path to LAME.EXE should already be there, unless you skipped the Config Wizard. If it's not there, Browse to where LAME was downloaded.
Enter under "Additional command line options" either
--alt-preset standard %s %d
Make sure no extra spaces are included when you copy/paste! This can cause LAME to fail when it tries to encode the music, and you will just end up with WAV files!
Under the Offset tab, look at "Construction of the ID3 tag comment field", select "Write following text into ID3 tag comment", and then typeLAME 3.92--alt-preset standard or your version of LAME & encoding method used, if different.
Each time you want to rip a CD:
Run Exact Audio Copy & put the audio CD in the appropriate drive.
Either enter the CD/track/artist info yourself, or query the CDDB (ALT-G) if you're connected to the Internet.
To rip & encode the entire CD, click the "MP3" button on the left. To get individual tracks, select all the ones you want and press SHIFT-F6.
That's it! The End! Once everything has been set up, you shouldn't need to go back & mess with any of the settings. =)
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Questions and explanations.
I hate VBR mp3s! They always give me problems, and are certainly not high quality!
LAME's --alt-preset VBR (variable bitrate) settings are markedly improved over any other VBR mp3s you've heard. Read just below for more specific information.
Why use LAME's --alt-preset standard mode?
What's wrong with 128Kbps?
Why not encode with a constant 192Kbps?
Why not use LAME's own --r3mix -b128?
Firstly, if you can't tell the difference between 128Kbps mp3s and the originals, do yourself a long overdue favor: buy yourself a better set of speakers.
We use the LAME encoder, as it is considered the best encoder out there for bitrates above 112Kbps. LAME produces better quality mp3s than even the commercial Fraunhoffer encoders. Isn't it great that LAME is free?
--alt-preset standard invokes a VBR (variable bitrate) encoding mode in LAME. VBR is, in theory, inherently superior to CBR (constant bitrate). CBR mp3s may at times have too few bits available to encode all the required information in a frame. Or one frame may only need a fractional amount of the available bits to be audibly the same, requiring the rest of the frame to be filled with inaudible data to keep
the mp3 at a constant bitrate. A variable bitrate cures such problems of lost audio quality & wasted filespace. (Admittedly, the "bit resevior" in CBR mp3s attempts to resolve this as well, but it is usually much less effective than pure VBR.) Usually, a VBR file will have audio quality equivalent to a 10-20% larger CBR file.
While --r3mix -b128 is also a pretty good method for encoding, --alt-preset standard has several advantages. APS more appropriately detects the number of bits needed to encode each frame without creating an audible difference between the mp3 & original. APS invokes a developer-tweaked internal mode in LAME, whereas r3mix only uses a set of external switches. APS has *significantly* better joint stereo implementation than in any previous LAME VBR mode. In fact, the developers assert that
there is virtually no stereo image degredation from using a joint stereo --alt-preset vs any true stereo file. And lastly, development of r3mix has completely halted, while the --alt-preset modes still seem to be progressing.
What (generally) are the average bitrates of mp3s using --alt-preset standard? --alt-preset extreme?
APS mp3s will typically be between 145Kbps and 220Kbps,
depending on the waveform complexity of the song being encoded. The usual average seems to lie around 190Kbps.
APE mp3s will usually be between 195Kbps and 270Kbps. The average seems to lie around 240Kbps.
If --alt-preset extreme gives higher quality, why not recommend this instead of standard?
The LAME developers emphasize that APX (eXtreme) functions very similarly to APS (Standard), only APX encodes higher frequencies that are near impossible to hear with music playing at the same time.
APS will result in smaller files & quicker encoding.
You can still rip in APX if you wish.
If you *really* are a quality nut-head, you can use --alt-preset insane (CBR 320Kbps). You probably won't be able to tell the difference between APS at all, but if you want to waste the disk space, that's up to you.
Why is the encoder set to "User definied encoder" in EAC, when there is already an option for the LAME encoder?
Choosing "User defined encoder" and entering --alt-preset [standard/extreme/insane] %s %d" effectively disables all other mp3 encoding options in the External Compression tab. This is done because certain quality parameters in LAME can interfere with APS's functionality, even some typically associated with producing hi-quality LAME mp3s. We are merely making sure that --alt-preset standard and the source & destination files are the only parameters passed to LAME.
Why set Error Recovery to High? Why use Secure Mode?
If any kind of error occurs while reading the CD, this tells
EAC to rescan this section of the disc the most number of times EAC will allow. EAC will then use the most prominent result found from these reads.
The Burst & Fast modes may often make copying errors without realizing this or attempting to make any sort of correction. Secure Mode does rip more slowly, but it attempts to make a more perfect copy of the track than either other mode.
Err... why are we putting LAME 3.92--alt-preset standard into the ID3 comments?
People concerned with audio quality will often want to know what encoder & method was used to get the mp3 they posses.
The default Comment ( Exact Audio Copy ) does indicate that EAC was used as a ripper, while my suggested Comment does not. However, EAC automatically inserts a statement that the mp3 has been ripped with EAC (i.e. Exact Audio Copy (Secure mode) ) in the "Ripped by" catagory of the ID3v2 tag. Putting it in the "Comment" field is just redundant.
Filesharing programs are notorious for having mp3s done by many different encoders & methods. Even programs like
EncSpot (
http://www.guerillasoft.com/EncSpot2/index.html) cannot recognize the encoder correctly 100% of the time, and no program, as of yet, would be able to tell someone that --alt-preset standard was used. Someone who ananomously finds your tagged mp3 through a filesharing network will be able to know these things for sure.
How can I get the *ABSOLUTE BEST* quality possible?
You can get completely lossless compression (input exactly equal to decompressed output) via Monkey's Audio (
http://monkeysaudio.com) or FLAC (
http://flac.sourceforge.net/). However, the compression ratio is usually only 50%, compared to 14% with a 192Kbps MP3.
As far as lossy compression (input *approximately* equal to decompressed output; MP3 is lossy), the best codec is not MP3. MPC (
http://musepack.org/), also known as MPEG Plus, is much less popular but considerably more powerful.
More info about audio codecs at the Hydrogen Audio forums (
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org).
Why is this post so long?
:sweat:
If you have any problems with Exact Audio Copy or LAME, or any
additional questions, feel free to contact me.
