MP3 recordings can provide unusually realistic playback, if made the
right way. You wouldn't believe the degree of "you are there" feeling
you'd get from playing a free download --- unless you actually visit a
certain website and do it. The site address, and an explanation of the
science behind all this, are in an article that just go printed (August
2005) in a music and equipment review magazine, "The Audiophile Voice,"
Vol. 11, Number 1. (If you subscribe, ask to start with that issue,
that has Janis Joplin on the cover.) Info available at

http://audiophilevoice.com/

Generally, the secret of super-realism seems to be that some recordings
(like those downloadable from the URL in the article) happened to be
close-miked and then MP3-encoded at 160 kbps. However, you could
probably do some of this yourself, if you have decent equipment and
carefully read the article. (Also, the reviewers in the "T.A.V."
magazine often describe other super-realistic recordings, available on
specific CDs, when they use them to test loudspeakers, etc.)
DanS.
--------------------------------------------
OK, the Moderator insisted, so here is the site for downloading (even
tho I don't like to post anything that's copyrighted and still for sale
[and I'm not claiming to be any saint or angel ! ] ) By the way, the LP
recordings in the downloadable site are no longer being manufactured.
Since I earn part of my income from texbook and magazine-article
royalties, I try to be careful about not competing with things that are
still for sale (not that you guys care about that!) :

http://shanefield99.blogspot.com/

DanS.
---------------------------------------------
Since the Moderator wanted me to add stuff, here's more (but maybe
he'll delete this). I sez I'm not any angel, which you guys can see, if
you quickly read thru my little electronics industry stories linked
from the following site. (Yeah, I did "steal" the $30,000 tool, but I
gave it back when thru. And, yeah my geometry error did pollute the
James River fisheries for a week, but at least we did save the jobs of
a couple thousand workers. And, yeah my stupid process did burn down a
guy's factory, but he eventuall made a ton of money (more than I ever
made!) when he rebuilt and resumed stealing my patented process. And
no, I did not (NOT!) murder Jack! And so on.

http://homepage.mac.com/shanefield/Resume19.html

Dan Ain't-no-saint S.

"MP3 recordings can provide unusually realistic playback, if made the
right way. You wouldn't believe the degree of "you are there" feeling
you'd get "

I have heard excellent "you are there" recordings done with inexpensive
cassete gear and mics. In my experience this is due to capturing phase
and other information in a way near that we normally use for direction
clues and ambient information. This can happen even with recordings with
limited frequency response and highish noise levels and has nothing to do
with the "hocus pocus" said to be contained in some majic gear, often
expressed as "throwing such and such an image". The information that
produces such effects can also be added during the reproduction, as in:

"Ambiophonics"

http://www.ambiophonics.org/

DanS. wrote:
snip

Since the Moderator wanted me to add stuff, here's more (but maybe
he'll delete this). I sez I'm not any angel, which you guys can see, if
you quickly read thru my little electronics industry stories linked
from the following site. (Yeah, I did "steal" the $30,000 tool, but I
gave it back when thru. And, yeah my geometry error did pollute the
James River fisheries for a week, but at least we did save the jobs of
a couple thousand workers. And, yeah my stupid process did burn down a
guy's factory, but he eventuall made a ton of money (more than I ever
made!) when he rebuilt and resumed stealing my patented process. And
no, I did not (NOT!) murder Jack! And so on.

http://homepage.mac.com/shanefield/Resume19.html

Dan Ain't-no-saint S.

Dan,

Ur probably wrong about MP3 "fidelity", hard of hearing or otherwise
derranged from work with dangerous heavy metals and other exotic
materials that have toxified key centers in your brain... ;_) ---
--(indicates sarcastic, cutting edge humor)

But, your "war tales" at AT&T are a worthy read!

" ... two thumbs up on the B+!"- not Ebert & not Roper

_-_-bear

Big Bad Bear:
Well, I've prob'ly ingested more than my share of heavy metal (the
chemical kind, not the musical kind) and other toxins, and might be a
bit deranged by now --- wouldn't be surprised. Still, you ought to
actually download my file and play it (especially at the 15 minute
point--- the bass clarinet piece) before claiming I'm hard of hearing.
If you do that and think it's lo fi, then post a little report on your
results --- I'd be interested.
Dirty Dan, the hard-of-hearing man

I think you are probably right.
Dan

DanS. wrote:
Big Bad Bear:
Well, I've prob'ly ingested more than my share of heavy metal (the
chemical kind, not the musical kind) and other toxins, and might be a
bit deranged by now --- wouldn't be surprised. Still, you ought to
actually download my file and play it (especially at the 15 minute
point--- the bass clarinet piece) before claiming I'm hard of hearing.
If you do that and think it's lo fi, then post a little report on your
results --- I'd be interested.
Dirty Dan, the hard-of-hearing man


MP3 sounds good - that's why it works.

Where you find the "difference" is when you get a chance to compare it
to "redbook" or better recordings on a system that has low enough
distortion and bandwidth, imho.

No matter what the compression method, the "higher" the "sampling" the
less the effective compression, eh? So, at some point, presumably the
methods do start to converge.

And, I wouldn't pick bass clarinet as an indicative sort of source
material (for a variety of well known reasons), nor would I pick
electric guitar, btw...

_-_-bear

Well, of course MP3 sounds "different" from standard CD, or from live
perfomance. All I'm saying is that MP3 isn't bad enuf to spoil "realism
illusion" cues, if the original recording had them. I picked the bass
clarinet and the guitar and others on this download because the
original LPs each had WAY more than usual realism cues (confirmed by
many listeners). But anyhow, it's all an illusion --- you are not
really "there," of course. (When I invent that kind of
teletransportation machine, you won't have to visit this website to
hear about it [I hope].) More about all this is in the article.
Dan the illusion man

DanS. wrote:
Well, of course MP3 sounds "different" from standard CD, or from live
perfomance.

Not necessarily. Chances are you would have a very hard time
distinguishing some MP3s from their CD sources, if at all.


--

-S
"God is an asshole!" -- Ruth Fisher, 'Six Feet Under'

There's no doubt in my mind: MP3 can sound really good, if done right.
In my particular system, I can hear very slight freq. resp. change when
using it, but nothing really bad. (After all, moving the loudspkr. can
do that also, of course.)