can someone tell me is a good mp3 editor?
Can anyone recommend any sites that are similar to this one?
http://www.audiominds.com
Search for wave editors that will import MP3 files - there’s probably a ton of them. Many folks around here may chime in with good suggestions about specific wave editors.
MP3 files can’t be edited directly and must be decompressed to wave first, then converted back to MP3 after edits. Even if some editors don’t seem to be doing that they are under the hood. That’s a very much lossy prospect. You’re much better off starting with files already in wave format if possible.
| Quote (phoo @ May 26 2005,17:33) |
| MP3 files can’t be edited directly and must be decompressed to wave first, then converted back to MP3 after edits. Even if some editors don’t seem to be doing that they are under the hood. |
Actually, mpTrim doesn’t have to go through the decode/re-encode process. You could edit an mp3 with it all day and absolutely lose no quality. Check it out:
mpTrim
The free version works fine, but I think there’s a limit to the filesize. The pay versions are a bit more robust.
It’s not really the world’s greatest editor, but depending on your project it might be right up your alley - and it’s the only mp3 editor I’m aware of that doesn’t negatively affect sound quality.
Hi Ashley:
This place in the Netherlands has an editor that I’ve been useing for as long as I’ve had n-Track. He has recently up graded it to include mp3 files. I don’t know if it converts the mp3 files on-the-fly or what… But it works pretty well for how I use it. On my Editing DAW… I have and use it quite a bit…
http://www.polderbits.com/
Of course… it’s not what you use… it’s what you get used to useing… for editing files…
Bill…
mp3Time decompresses under the hood and recompresses. The fact that there is little loss in quality is because it’s smart enough to touch as little of the compressed wave as possible, requiring reencoding of only the parts it changes, instead of doing the whole file. There is no other way.
| Quote (phoo @ May 26 2005,19:28) |
| mp3Time decompresses under the hood and recompresses. The fact that there is little loss in quality is because it’s smart enough to touch as little of the compressed wave as possible, requiring reencoding of only the parts it changes, instead of doing the whole file. There is no other way. |
I’m not so sure about that, Phoo.
mp3 has never seemed to be that picky a format… I mean, say you’re downloading an mp3 file, and boom, your connection cuts off 23% of the way through the download.
As long as the header info is there, you can still play the file (and listen to 23% of the song).
I’m almost completely certain that mpTrim does not affect quality at all. Like, completely zero. I mean, really, I can modify a file time after time after time and there’s absolutely no quality loss, which leads me to believe it’s not truly re-encoding these mp3s. Try doing that in dBpowerAMP…
I’ve been in a testing mood lately, so I’ll work something out and report the results.
The Tools:
dBpowerAMP Music Converter
mpTrim
PrestoSoft ExamDiff Visual File Comparison Tool
ComponentSoftware CSDiff File Comparison Tool
The Music:
Carmen McRae’s version of “I’m An Errand Girl For Rhythm” from her album “You’re Lookin’ at Me”, which is a collection of Nat King Cole songs. I like her better than Billie Holiday.
The Process:
1. Using dBpowerAMP Music Converter, I converted the song to a LAME encoded VBR mp3, 174.5 Kbps average.
2. I copied the file.
3. Let’s compare just to make sure Windows didn’t pull any dirty tricks while I wasn’t looking..gif)
All clear. Cool.
4. I opened the copy with mpTrim. Since we want to do something that modifies the whole entire file, how about we normalize it to +12dB?.gif)
5. I’ve just listened to the file. Man it sounds like shizzle. Clippin’ like a mofo.
6. Okay, let’s compare the edited file to the original..gif)
As expected, they’re not identical.
Now… Let’s see how non-destructive this puppy really is…
7. I’ve just opened the copy (the one I just processed to be loud and clippy) in mpTrim. Since I added 12 dB the first time, I’ll have to subtract 12 dB to make the file return to normal..gif)
8. Listening to the file now. The clipping is gone completely. It sounds exactly like the original in every way.
9. …So let’s compare to see if anything changed under the hood.
The original file and the double-processed file from mpTrim are the same.
The Summary:
This test indicates two things:
1. mpTrim does not destructively edit mp3 files.
2. mpTrim’s volume normalization is very accurate, as even the slightest volume difference produces unidentical files, and I can use mpTrim to bring them back to normal every time.
Still, I wasn’t completely convinced, so I used another file checking utility called CSDiff (link is above) and got the same results every time.
Also, just for kicks, I re-encoded the original file using the same dBpowerAMP settings I mentioned earlier. I compared the two files:.gif)
Different. Not to mention that the re-encoded one sounds like absolute crap!
As always, feel free to debunk me! If there’s something else I should do, lemme know! Or feel free to test it yourself.
- Former Memberj
By the way, is unidentical really a word?
Since the data is encoded, much as a zip file is encoded though more complex, it must be decoded to do ANYTHING to it - it being the wave data. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not trying to debunk what you found. What we are seeing or talking about is two different things – two different meanings of "editing an mp3."
Each packet of data in an mp3 has some bits known as the scale factor. In short (over simplified maybe) that determines how loud each packet is played after decoding. Overall volume changes, fade-ins and fade-outs, and any volume changes in the middle can be manipulated without having to touch the encoded/compressed wave data, avoiding the decode-edit-encode cycle. That’s what you are seeing. There is no need to decode and touch the wave data to do this.
If any editing is done to the wave itself then it has to be decoded and re-encoded. Simply scaling the volume avoids having to do that.
In that sense mpTrim isn’t editing an mp3 in the same sense as we consider editing a wave file - the way I was meaning editing. It’s more analogous to turning the volume up and down during playback, if you see what I mean.
By they way, the fact that mp3 files are a series of packets is why a truncated download will still play up to the truncation. Packets are analogous to frames in video. As long as you have one frame you can see some video…hear some song.
Likewise, when editing mp3 files, edits can be done on a packet by packet basis, making losses minimal. But in that case the packets still have to be decoded before anything is to be done to the underlying wave data.
There is VERY little on the internet about MPEG-1 Layer 3 (audio mp3) format because it’s patented and fraunhofer is really good at keeping it hidden except to those that license it…I can’t imagine why. 
This is about the only one where I even see the scale factor mentioned. It’s about halfway down (page 5).
http://www.minidisc.org/keep/atracmp3.pdf
My test was really more in response to the specific program mpTrim decompressing and recompressing.
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| mp3Time decompresses under the hood and recompresses. |
Of course, you called it mp3Time there, so I guess we could be talking about two different programs entirely!
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| In that sense mpTrim isn’t editing an mp3 in the same sense as we consider editing a wave file - the way I was meaning editing. |
Gotcha. Like I said, it’s not really the greatest editing tool in the world, but it may suit Ashley’s needs…
…Of course, I have this strange feeling that we’re never going to hear from Ashley again…
Females don’t really last too long on this forum (remember Aowryn?).EDIT: Of course, I shouldn’t assume Ashley is a she. There are some dudes named Ashley out there. And I mean there’s always actor Leslie Nielsen. He’s a dude.
…And famous rock drummer Kelly Craven!!!
| Quote (jhefh @ May 27 2005,01:32) |
 best way try http://www.fleximusic.com/waveditor/overview.htm FlexiMusic
|
Best way?
If I were going to use a wave editor, I'd use Audacity instead of that program.
It's got a lot more effects (including some of the best noise reduction I've ever heard), and it's freeeeee.
Check it out: Audacity
Still, if I could get away with using mpTrim, that's what I'd use because it wouldn't hurt the sound quality of my files.
Yeah. I agree. I think it depends on what editing is desired.
Don’t be fooled by imposters. Kelly Craven is not a famous drummer…seriously.
She is Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Force Management and Personnel
http://www.af.mil/bios/bio_print.asp?bioID=5106&page=1
| Quote (phoo @ May 27 2005,11:38) |
| Don't be fooled by imposters. Kelly Craven is not a famous drummer....seriously. She is Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Force Management and Personnel http://www.af.mil/bios/bio_print.asp?bioID=5106&page=1 |
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.