Buying music, what files to get.
Home 2023 › Forums › The DJ Booth › Buying music, what files to get.
- This topic has 12 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 13 years, 5 months ago by
DrBlue.
-
AuthorPosts
-
October 11, 2012 at 10:12 pm #1013439
backtothefront
ParticipantIn the most part 320kbps MP3s are absolutely fine, it all depends on the source file of course and it’s mixdown and mastering. But in the main 320kbps are fine. If you can afford lossless then yes, def go with that.
October 11, 2012 at 10:14 pm #1013440DrBlue
Memberbacktothefront, post: 29906, member: 1433 wrote: In the most part 320kbps MP3s are absolutely fine, it all depends on the source file of course and it’s mixdown and mastering. But in the main 320kbps are fine. If you can afford lossless then yes, def go with that.
When u say lossless (you men like not compressed or whatever).. can u get that on beatport or any similar sites? and the Mp3 formats on beatport, are those 320kps? larger, smaller?
October 12, 2012 at 12:05 am #1013443Anonymous
InactiveBeatport sells 320k MP3s. AIFF is good as it could contain meta-data such as track names. For remixing, always get the WAV/AIFF files. For playing live, well that’s a big debate. My take is, crappy bar sound system, anything sounds bad. Huge 10000 WATT system, you better have lots of low end (WAV/AIFF.) Bedroom or internet streaming DJ:ing, MP3s are just fine.
October 12, 2012 at 6:49 am #1013452Terry_42
KeymasterI play and played very large venues with excellent sound systems and can tell you:
mp3: Anything above 256k is fine. (I use 320k just to be sure)
aac/mp4/iTunes: The current 256k is just fine and sounds a tad more dynamic than mp3 in my opinionWAV/AIFF are of course fine since they are lossless.
October 12, 2012 at 7:20 am #1013460ParticipantDrBlue, post: 29907, member: 1831 wrote: When u say lossless (you men like not compressed or whatever).. can u get that on beatport or any similar sites? and the Mp3 formats on beatport, are those 320kps? larger, smaller?
As the chaps above have said, AIFF/WAV are 2 lossless formats, so will sound pretty much as the producer intended with no audio compression. They are larger and generally more expensive to buy (still cheaper than vinyl! 😉 ), but ultimately the best choice. I mainly use 320kbps MP3s for playing out in bars/clubs/radio show and not had an issue to date. As internet speeds and affordable storage continue to increase, lossless will be the staple choice I believe and really this is the way we should be heading. Compressed audio, one could argue, is a regression from vinyl and CD, so it will be good to see the world come out the other side of a decade (and a bit) of mainstream compressed audio consumption.
October 12, 2012 at 10:25 am #1013469Rob Francis
MemberMP3 320 is fine unless you are playing proper big clubs, chances are you are not otherwise you would be famous and probably not on these forums!
MP3s tend to be more universal and you can store tags on the files so are more useful. I tried to use Apple’s lossless format for a while but some DJ software won’t play it.
WAVs are great but I hate paying the extra £1 just for the file – total rip off in my opinion.
October 12, 2012 at 11:24 am #1013480MemberAight, thanks for the lessons.. and yes, im just playing around in my bedroom, but having been listening too vinyl and cds alot, i just want to make sure im not decreasing my sound quality.. Seems like mp3 320 is fine for now, however I have 1 more practical question: If one were to buy a track of,f lets say beatport (as thats what i use atm), and i pay 2$ for a track in mp3 format, i later wish to change format and return too get the .aiff format. Do i get it for only 1$ or do I have to pay the full price over again?
October 12, 2012 at 1:14 pm #1013491KeymasterI played in a venue for 8k people with my mp3/mp4’s and had no complaints.
Armin van Buuren and Paul van Dyk both stated in interviews they use mp3s 192k and up, same with Ean Golden. I cannot see why the size of the venue dictates the sound file you use.
Actually the lower your volume and the more slight dynamics the song has (aka playing in a bar or lounge) the better your files should be.October 12, 2012 at 2:19 pm #1013504madman
Participant320kbs MP3’s are no problem at all, I think around 90% of my music collection is in that file format. I don;t think you can hear a difference between that and lossless audio formats. I only use wav files when I use it in a remix that I’m making, but that’s only for when I slow down th tempo with more than 25% or so.
October 14, 2012 at 8:32 pm #1013603MemberTerry_42, post: 29959, member: 1843 wrote: I played in a venue for 8k people with my mp3/mp4’s and had no complaints.
Armin van Buuren and Paul van Dyk both stated in interviews they use mp3s 192k and up, same with Ean Golden. I cannot see why the size of the venue dictates the sound file you use.
Actually the lower your volume and the more slight dynamics the song has (aka playing in a bar or lounge) the better your files should be.Hmm, wasnt aware of that.. I`ve heard that compressed files get sorta “thin” at bigger soundsytems, but I guess its just a myth.. That sorta hifi mentality i guess (your audio is only as good as it weakest link, to justify buying a cable that cost 1k ^^ )
October 14, 2012 at 9:01 pm #1013607InactiveThere was a recent Armin Van Buren Youtube video where he showed his CDJ video and audio setup and he said that he uses WAVs…
October 15, 2012 at 6:40 am #1013628KeymasterYou will get enough Pros using mp3’s… even if van Buuren switched back to wav (prolly only because he gets his promos this way, or do you think he pays for music?). Check out BT or Sasha… presonally I do not like what they play, but they use mp3 also.
You are right that sound gets thin if the dynamic range is not enough, this hold true for 128k and below in my opinion.
I honestly cannot hear any difference on 192k and up. (Well I can, but only in a controlled environment with audiophile reference equipment and not a PA.) -
AuthorPosts
- The forum ‘The DJ Booth’ is closed to new topics and replies.