Audio Quality Check?

[soundinmotiondj]

dBpoweramp is a bit better to use in this regard. It gives you a context menu for audio properties, which will tell you not only the bit rate, but also the codec used to rip it. What you really want to see here is that LAME was used to encode the MP3. You'll still have to open the folder and right click the file, which takes a bit of time.

LAME is ubiquitous. But, for high(er) bitrates I find that the Fraunhofer mp3 encoder does a better job. The difference is "obvious" in a spectrgram when encoding from lossless. And I even think I can hear it...but that's a hard thing to quantify. YMMV.

Below 192kbps, LAME makes some "hard" choices that tend to result in a better listening experience (low pass at 16kHz for instance)...but that's all relative given the lower bitrate. For spoken word narration, podcasts, and even "sample" edits for clients to review I prefer LAME when working at low(er) bitrates.

I believe Foobar can also tell you the codec used to encode the MP3 (I am using a heavily modified version of Foobar, don't remember the defaults.)

I see the encoder in my Windows file browser. I may have a plugin loaded to enable that feature, I don't recall.

In either case, I use MediaMonkey for all library maintenance, and MM will display the encoder used for mp3's.

AllDay posted a very important picture too...the spectral analysis of a 192 kbps MP3.

Lots of good advice in here...but all for "Step 2" of the sorting process. If an mp3 has a bitrate below 192kbps, you can directly sort it into the "LowBitrate" bucket and act accordingly. That tends to go a long way in any first time sort of a music collection.

[AllDay]

You should be able to show the bitrate column in windows explorer to help you.

This is wrong tho, because if a file is wrongly converted from say 192 upto 320. It will show as 320 in explorer. But the file itself isnt that quality.( you cant make the quality better from a compressed audio file )

[Jester]

99% of blog house is like this.

[Glitchwerks]

You should be able to show the bitrate column in windows explorer to help you.

That works for immediately spotting and removing low bit rates, but like AllDay said, the problem is if the file is a lossy transcode.

The original poster said:

Like many young ambitious DJs on the digital side, I scrambled early on to gather the largest library I could hold.

That to me implies they downloaded their files from "unofficial sources." There's a huge probability of lossy transcodes with that, or bad encodes that have digital artifacts in them, which a lot of people don't seem to hear, and of course "mutt rips"...

Spectral analysis is the only way to verify the actual quality.

[soundinmotiondj]

This is wrong tho, because if a file is wrongly converted from say 192 upto 320. It will show as 320 in explorer. But the file itself isnt that quality.( you cant make the quality better from a compressed audio file )

This is true. But, it remains a "Step 2" concern. If a mp3 shows as 128kbps, that can be safely sorted into a "Low Bitrate" bucket. For DJs who have obtained their music in and orderly fashion, this is likely sufficient.

If a file has been transcoded to a higher bitrate, that is a harder nut to crack. There is no "automated" method to detect songs that have been treated in this manner. This kind of inspection is a VERY manual process. In practical terms, if I had concerns about the quality of an mp3 @ 320, I would get a new version before I would pull it up in a spectragram (but that's me). I would update the mp3 by either converting it again myself from the FLAC rips I have done from CD, re-downloading the song from where I purchased it (if applicable), or repurchasing the song if it was that concerning to me.

By all means be careful when working with your music collection. But don't drive yourself nuts.

[deevey]

itunes match can help with replacing "dodgy" transcodes with legit higher bitrate 256kbps AAC

After that, whatever is left sorting by bitrate and remove / replace / re-rip or re-buy tracks that fall below 256 AAC or 320 MP3