IndustryStandard

I found out last year that the regularly streamed 256 AAC actually sounds slightly better in the mids and highs than 320kbps MP3 and the AAC format was developed by the same guys who made MP3.

It turns out that it’s not all about the number. I feel really sorry for Beatport Link who actually send out high quality streamed sounds and people are always grilling them for being 256.

There are countless articles about it, I just googled this one and to quote it:

“A rule of thumb is to use 320kbps MP3s and 256 AACs for professional use (highest bitrates). Or use the original WAV/AIFF uncompressed files.”

As for the lossless files, I genuinely can hear a slight difference in WAV/FLAC on a good sound system.

To me though, everyone has fun, loves the music, and it sounds great, when on a dance floor listening to a DJ playing MP3/AAC. That extra 2% shine doesn’t seem worth the storage costs at all. You can become very efficient with MP3/AAC files.

I do admire when someone has actually pulled that off and has thousands of tracks on those formats, mind.

    I buy the odd tune on Bandcamp, but my mate luckily runs her own promo company and so you get to see what FK, Terry Farley, Optimo, Jimpster, Ashley Needle and Bill Brewster think of them The tracks are free and upfront. I could never sit there and go through Beatport anymore.

    I know it’s lazy…..I organise monthly music/ideas into crates.

      Dan The tracks are free and upfront. I could never sit there and go through Beatport anymore.

      Lucky bugger. Its depressing sifting for tunes, masssive peaks and troughs.

          Mad_Cyril Mostly troughs. “Oh look a new Anjunadeep release!” “Is that a new Sound Avenue compilation album? Thats only the third one this month”

              Mad_Cyril I’ll doff my cap to Matt & Damo as they really dig out the stuff that gets missed by most of us. I basically swpie their tunes 🤣

                Hang on… are we saying that when you back up your music to the cloud with Apple, you can only then download a low rez version rather than the original??? Whut?

                SM001 totally….. a sea of averageness.

                Still think the best way to source tunes is via DJs you follow and their mixes, especially at cracking venue/cities where they have to up their game. I also quite like the thrill of sourcing tracklistings and when/how tracks are released. The odd free DL here and there. Edits. Ive even had luck approaching some DJs via Soundcloud to get track info. Makes things a bit more fun……old skool trainspotting !

                    IndustryStandard Ive even had luck approaching some DJs via Soundcloud to get track info.

                    Instagram too. 😉

                      @NasserAlazzawi

                      Did you have any problems managing levels whilst using Beatport Link?

                      I’m having real trouble balancing since I’ve been playing about with throwing link / local sources in a mix and seem to get in a vicious circle of cranking the gain controls.

                      Could just be me not managing properly as well, something I really struggle with using the Radius 2. Not sure I have a solid approach to it!!

                        Mad_Cyril

                        The only time this happens for me is when I get free Soundcloud download promos, or promos that weren’t mastered properly, directly from an artist.

                        It very very rarely happens when I buy or stream a properly ‘finished product’ but does pop up now and again.

                        To be honest when I was learning to DJ I used to use file sharing platform soulseek to have a mess around with tracks and in that case it happened quite often.

                        Sometimes I was downloading a track someone else had bought which was fine, and at other times people must have been ripping tracks at different levels or doing dodgy youtube rips using a variety of methods / software that provided different results each time.

                          Just be glad you’re not buying vinyl. The amount of badly cut, badly pressed stuff that used to be about was crackers.

                            Thanks chaps, maybe I’m fucking aboot too much!

                            Could never afford a setup when I was buying vinyl, spent too much on ‘leisure’!

                            I’m gutted getting set up wasn’t more accessible in the early 90’s

                            Never factored in vinyl rips!

                            Yeah I think I wouldn’t be DJing now if my price of entry was what the 90s DJs paid.

                            I reckon the average price of vinyl when I bought it was about £6 upto £20. Agree with Amps as well on the sound quality. Some had no bass or to much bass which would drown out the mids & tops. Every record I bought on Choo Choo sounded awful.

                            9 days later

                            Amps Have to say some of the recent vinyl i’ve bought from Shall Not Fade sounds a bit ropey. Think some of these producers get a bit too “90s” in the mix and it can sound really muddled and mid-rangy…..or in other words like a piece of turd is stuck to your needle .

                                IndustryStandard I’ve heard of some producers putting the crackle and pops of vinyl into the final mix of 90’s/Italo inspired tracks.

                                  IndustryStandard It appears vinyl production was a bit of an art.

                                  I know I bang the same fuckin drum all the time gents, but all you need to dj is a usb full of wavs, a modern pro mixer and two cdjs (pioneer stuff being my choice). Anything else is a waste or indulgence. Wavs from a professional producer, through a decent mixer will sound sweet as fuck.

                                    IndustryStandard

                                    Was talking to lexicon avenue about this. He said it was remarkable back in the day how much you had to remove sound out of tracks and give the remaining sound ‘room’ for it to sound right on vinyl when producing or it just wouldn’t sound right at all compared with today’s methods.

                                    Wondering if some modern producers aren’t factoring this in.

                                      2 years later

                                      Does anyone actually use the Rekordbox Cloud solution? It’s only £7 a month now and I’m tempted as long as it’s improved since I trialed it when they first launched it

                                        Along_the_Wire errr i might but what do you use it for - just to store music or as a place to load tracks from to your CDJ or other player ?