Simple Guide To Music File Formats [For DJs] đ
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 8. 07. 2024
- Phil Morse is live from the Digital DJ Tips studio, with another free DJing lesson. What's the best music file format for DJs? This week we're bringing you a no-nonsense, super simple guide to audio files, explaining everything DJs need to know when it comes to picking the right one..
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Great video! I totally agree. Unless youâre playing on a great large sound system, lossy or lossless wonât really matter. Most people wonât hear a difference. (When purchased from a reputable source) I have both Flac and mp3s in my library. Works for me
Absolutely!
I'm not even going to disagree with you in the slightest, as long as you're using 320kbs MP3s. Last year, I decided to trial using FLAC files and, in all honesty, I notice the difference now (I don't believe I would have previously). Is in negligable? Yes. Is it enough for me to completely switch? Yes!
I've got a collection of ~50000 tracks though, and I'm not going to re-purchase or re-rip all my music. But I am now buying FLAC files exclusively.
Ultimately, be the best you can be. Why should you compromise your sets? Why isn't every DJ wanting to be the best they can be?
Phil, being an old pro (analogue) dj, now a Telco Engineer and hobbyist digital DJ, I must say this is one, if not the, best explanations on general music formats I have heard. Overseeing all the (most probably unnecessary) oversimplification of many concepts and procedures for digitalising audio, I have to fully agree with your approach and congratulate you and your team for such short and down to earth teaching.
Will only add on the AI discussion for "recovering" the lost info from a lossy format that in fact, at the current state of the art, the algorithm will complete what it presumed lost with extrapolated information that is statistically more probable to have been part of the lossless file. However, the harmonics lost in the process of digitalising, and the actual information discarded by the lossy compression is lost forever as you rightly said... Having said that, in theory and potentially, the AI algorithm could make the "new" recovered version a better one than the original lossless file... will not be more truthful to the original source, but could be better sounding as if the original piece would have been remastered and digitalised again.
Great content and a great explanation well aimed to the DJ crowd.
FWIW, reputable mp3 320Kbps are very adequate for most applications. I have found that very very few people (talking about one in thousands, even tens of thousands or more) can hear a slight difference between a wav and an mp3, or at my time, an analogue source and the CD quality wav digital version. Those could hear noises of transformers from TVs, bats frequencies and some very high pitch noises that nobody could without special measuring equipment. All of those I have met were well under 40 years old, and lost much of such capacity with the age. So, 320Kbps mp3 works fine in the environments where the music is going to be played when DJing...
Thanks! Agree completely re 320s. And AI definitely changes the game (we already use it to upscale HD video to 4K reasonably successfully).
I thought I could tell the difference between mp3 and lossless files. Then I tried an online blind test, and found out I couldnât. But thatâs fine by me because it means I donât need to buy all my DJ music all over again in WAV or buy an 8TB hard drive to keep them on đ
Phew! đ€Ł
I know several people who still own gear like xdj rx2 which doesnt play flac. And I've had some WAVs that won't load on CDJs, so ive defaulted to AIFF or 320 mp3s
Makes sense Holly!
Excellent information here. Real World application and straight forward. Thank you!! BTW, what do you use for a video switcher?
Thank you! We use an ATEM Mini Extreme
Thanks for the great video. One question please, what is Dolby Atmos format that we usually see on âMusicâ in the Apple Store. Apparently, you can download a song but you cannot transfer it outside the app.
Thanks
Dj Sammy
Not relevant for DJing at this time, no DJ gear can take advantage of this type of file.
thanks so much for supporting Ukraine!
Yes mp3 tag is available for Windows. I use it alot
Thanks Dj Elmo
This is a great discussion on formats, but I still have some questions.
I thought flac was always the way to go, but I learned a handful of cdjs arenât compatible with VBR which flac/alac can be. Should I stay away from these formats entirely, or put the extra work in making a backup mp3 usb in case the venues equipment is a little older and doesnât work with VBR?
Looking for your general opinion really. There isnât a hard right answer on this one.
I've never heard of FLAC-compatible CDJs rejecting certain FLACs - pretty sure FLAC is VBR by design. If it were me I wouldn't worry.
My entire library is mp3 320. Serato takes a second to load. I heard MP3âs take cpu power to uncompressed an mp3 where a wav and aiff doesnât bog down the cpu. For that reason I want to convert to aiff or wav using platinum notes and auto adjusting the gain. Iâm worried about losing all my cues and loops. Do you suggest I do this?
Nah, you're good as you are - don't worry.
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I use Spek to analyze my tracks.
Been reading about this, is it good yeah?
@@JamesFoxx It's pretty accurate.
Yes, it's similar to Fakin' The Funk
I buy any music I can from iTunes (256 kbps AAC) and I record my mixes in WAV format, then export them to MP3 (192 kbps) for distribution to Mixcloud and internet radio because Mixcloud HQ, and the station which airs my mixes, do not support streaming higher than 192 kbps and they use an MP3 back-end. I have over 60 hours of mix recordings in WAV format, or around 300 GB and growing, but compared to video editing, even this atrocious lack of compression has little impact on the storage space of iCloud and my Apple devices. If Iâm really running up against the limits of local storage one day, Iâll batch convert them to ALAC, but I hope not to need to do that - I hope to organically never run out of space.
I can hear the difference in AirPods Pro / AirPods Max between listening to the WAV file (compressed for Bluetooth streaming down to 256 kbps AAC) and the 192 kbps MP3 for Mixcloud HQ, but I donât think my audience can, and I whole-heartedly recommend people listen on Mixcloud. As for the 64 kbps MP3 my radio station still streams at, itâs trash, and everyone can hear that itâs trash. Iâm pushing for them to bump it up to 192 by default because multiple listeners have complained to me about the quality, and I agree with them.
I have also optimized my mixing style to preserve as much sound quality as possible. Whenever Iâm just playing one song, Iâm looking for the right time to creep its tempo up or down until itâs back to default. The less alteration to tempo and key your DJ software does, the more of the original file will be faithfully recreated live and in the recording, and when I listen back, I can tell if a track has been sped up, slowed down, or pitch-shifted digitally even a little bit. You can preserve the quality by turning off keylock, but then any tempo changes put the track off-key like a record, so in digital DJing this is rarely the best choice.
This is a very good point re keylock - a lot of the reduction of quality happens way before choosing a file format.
Iâm still the âcanât tell the differenceâ between 128 kbps, 320 kbps or FLAC files guyâŠand I generally stay with the 128 kbps (nonVBR) mp3 files because of that reason. Thatâs always been my preference, though, and have no reason to make people use my file type preference, as most others usually go 320 kbps or FLAC files, and that works for them. Also, I fold every mp3 down to Mono, as It knocks down some of the vinyl artifacts.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and how you do it, George!
@@digitaldjtips anytime!
@25:53 and AAC files at 256Kbps are just as good as MP3 at 320Kbps. The AAC files are encoded better.
I just wish Traktor didnât throw up warnings about not reading Apple Lossless. They work, but Traktor says it canât read them.
How weird re Traktor
"AAC files at 256Kbps are just as good as MP3 at 320Kbps." - this is true but it's a massive rabbit hole. Minidisc used a 160kbs compressed format, but it was also much higher quality than 192kbs MP3s.
AIFFs for me. Storage and computer power are no longer a concern đȘ
Great, thanks for sharing.
I believe that Platinum Notes also can adjust the gains for a file.
It can but it outputs a completely new file, unlike MP3Gain
@@digitaldjtipswill it create a new file and also convert cue points and saved loops?
Definitely hard to hear between Lossy/Lossless when the track is played at normal speed, but I was always worried about pitching/effects/live event stuff making a Lossy file have a hard time keeping up. I may switch back to MP3 soon tho, been using Lossless but I feel SO guilty having tracks this large on my computer, and frankly the difference between Lossy/Lossless doesn't compare to the difference between digital/vinyl.
Not all that interested in big gigs either, and how great can a smaller system be that it makes 320kbps sound like ass anyways.
I don't believe it makes a difference, but that said, would be a good additional test to run - thanks for the idea Jordan!
196kbps flac Serato did not ready only 44k
Listening through Bluetooth ear buds is the same as using a potato to listen to your music.
IF you want to "Actually" hear the difference between .MP3/320Kbps and .FLAC or .WAV you should at least use: 32 Ohm Wired Headphones.
I can hear the difference between .FLAC and .WAV music files.
I have a good friend that was a House DJ at a very popular Night Club in Miami and we actually did a test (In the daytime Nov 2019) between most Music Audio File Formats and I can confirm that .FLAC and .WAV formats sound different. The winner is defiantly .WAV
.FLAC Bass is is shorter and less kick
.WAV Bass is a Full Hit with better Bass Volume Quality, it's hard to describe here but the feeling of the Bass is just way better than any other music file format.
About Metadata: As you stated and as I always thought that you can't Tag Metadata to a .WAV music File Format. . . . . . . BUT . . . . . I just Ripped an old Silverchair/Frogstomp CD to .WAV with Exact Audio Copy and then used MP3TAG to imbed the Metadata and Album Art.
I can now see the .WAV Metadata in Windows FILE Explorer and VLC Media Player with the Album Art.
As we always say, if you think you can hear the difference, go with the format you feel sounds best.
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Email music? đČlol
Gosto do canal, mas tem coisas q sĂŁo bem genericas, nĂŁo dĂĄ pra cravar regras em tudo...sei lĂĄ....
Simple guide to file formats: 40 minute video