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I don't know if anyone else has run into this. I finished a mix and encoded it into an mp3 with DP. Then opened it and it defaults to itunes. Well, it sounds like crap (I mean, even for an mp3.) I opened it into quicktime, and it sounds fine. I changed the import settings in itunes, and no matter what I choose it's still the same when re-imiporting. I've run into this before, and thought it was my imagination, but this time I'm for sure about it. Sounds WAY fuller and nicer in quicktime than itunes.

Anyone?

jayman

make sure your export settings in DP are set to a higher quality

I've noticed this since day 1 with itunes, it just sounds horrible, I don't know what it does to the sound, but i listen to all my mixes in peak or spark. itunes sucks.

I've never noticed a difference in iTunes. Whether I import a mix of mine, or a track from a commercial CD.

Do you have all the sound enhancer crap in iTunes turned off?

There is something like a "normalizing" function in iTunes, which leads to a lot of artifacts.

Uncheck that box.

I don‘t know how it‘s called exactly right now, I haven‘t iTunes at hand.

<small>[ June 15, 2005, 02:11 AM: Message edited by: cycless ]</small>

You need to turn off iTunes' Sound Enhancer in Preferences/Audio. It jacks with the EQ and tries to do some fakey widening as well. Make sure the EQ section is disabled, too (little button at bottom right of iTunes main window). Then everything will sound right again.

Thanks ya all!!!! I should've known that they were gonna jack with something; trying to make it sound better. "Sound Enhancer" - OFF......... "Itunes built in Massenburg EQ" - OFF!..... Now all is well! Now my friend and I won't have to call it "ipubes" anymore.

Thanks a ton!

j

Itunes adds an unnecessary reverb element. Itunes does suck now that I think about it. Damn.

I've always had much better luck exporting AIFF or WAV from DP and then converting to MP3. Not a big fan of the lame framework, but lame itself is a great encoder .. I use LameBrain to encode all my MP3's which gives you MUCH finer grained controls.

Try this: Take a commcial CD that you know sounds great. Import it into iTunes as an AIFF. It should sound the same (assuming you have the enhancement stuff bypassed). NOW, use iTunes to convert it to an MP3 at 128, then again at 192. Now make two addition conversions using AAC, again at 128 and 192. Now you should have five versions of this song. Using a 1-10 scale, let's assign the AIFF version a "10". What value would you give the others? Do this test and report back here.

I don't want to give the answers away just yet...

iTunes and QT use the same audio engine. There should be no difference in the playback as long as the Audio "enhancers" are off. I've found iTunes does a better job encoding mp3s at low bit rates and the LAME framework does better at medium to high bit rates.

Hmmm, let's see........Do I like Suck #1, or Suck #2 ?......Hmmmmmm......