[Paul Stamler]

"Serge Auckland" wrote in message
...

As to your OP, I think you are asking for a piece of (free) software that
will analyse for any "footprint" left behind by MP3 compression. I have
never come across any such software, free or otherwise

Well, you could look for a 15.8kHz hard bandlimit on the audio using the
frequency analyzer in a DAW. That would indicate the likelihood that a
128kbps .mp3 was part of the chain. It's still pretty unlikely, though,
unless the recording is something like a live gig issued by the band itself,
perhaps from a portable .mp3 recorder.

Not impossible, though. Hey, I once co-produced and mastered an album from a
hodgepodge of sources, and one track on it was from MiniDisc, which uses
perceptual-coding algorithms not too conceptually different from those in
the .mp3 format. It's Art Thieme's "The Older I Get, The Better I Was" on
Waterbug. I'd be surprised if someone can tell me which track it was by ear
(no cheating and looking at the liner notes!)

Peace,
Paul