Mix CD's

[ezdj]

ok thanks heaps for the feedback everyone! This has helped me so much!

[TCMuc]

Most people mix with Mp3's. And by that, I mean saving the mix in format of an Mp3 where you can fit 3-4 mixes onto one CD, rather than a normal audio (.wav) CD, which you can only fit one mix on there usually.

It's just about compression and space. I don't really care to get into the debate about what quality is better or whatnot, because most people are starting out on Mp3's these days anyhow so the point is moot when it comes to converting via recording to .wav quality.

Not saying people should throw Mp3's on a CD and hand it out, but saving the mix as .Mp3 and having more than one on a singular CD.

Not wanting to start any argument here, but there's one thing you should keep in mind:

When saving a mix as Mp3 this means another compression process. So especially people who start out on Mp3s should try to avoid saving their mixes as Mp3s as well, as it means that the same process that originally was used to convert the track to Mp3 will be applied to the mix as well, i.e. the already compressed file will be compressed once more. Even if you use 320 kbps Mp3 to mix with, every further compression step will further decrease the sound quality and the degredation in sound will eventually get noticeable.

So even (or especially) if you're mixing with Mp3s, your format of choice for saving your mixes should always be WAV! Only use Mp3 if you have to, e.g. for streaming, or if there are any storage space issues (like if you want to put severaly mixes on one CD).
I always keep a WAV copy of all my mixes.

[Gryz]

Doing what you describe has absolutely no advantage...saving an MP3 as a wav. It will not up-convert, it is already lossy. If you save your 320 MP3 as another 320 mp3, the effect of the compression is minimal to none. Now, if you save your 320 mp3 as a 256 kbs, then yes, it may be noticeable, but then again, to the normal listener most likely listening in a car or iPod, probably not.

So in essence, your saved wav mixes sounds exactly like your original 320 mp3s...