In article ,
UnsteadyKen wrote:

In article:

Johnny B Good says...

Unfortunately, I don't seem to have the article(s) in question

Possibly not what you were thinking of, but an interesting article
about digital headroom.

http://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/news...dio-goes-to-11

FWIW I use a Benchmark ADC. :-)

I did try one of their DAC/preamps and liked it a lot. However I
found that it was designed for a system that used AV 'triggering', etc
so really aimed at an AV setup based on an AV 'receiver' approach.

It worked well, but simply didn't suit the way I use my systems.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

In article , John R Leddy
wrote:
Now I've opened this can of worms, here's a real-world issue which will
probably never occur again. I have a John Mayall "Blues Breakers With
Eric Clapton" CD [EAN 0042284482721] http://tinyurl.com/plcu65u This CD
contains both mono and stereo tracks which EAC has extracted to all
being stereo. I have separated the tracks into two directories: John
Mayall - 1966 - Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton (Mono), and John Mayall
- 1969 - Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton (Stereo)

I know you're aware I won't be held back by the minutiae, so whether all
the tracks ultimately end up in one directory or two, those faux stereo
tracks will be getting processed at some point. Before I drop them into
Audacity [Tracks - Stereo Track to Mono], I would appreciate your best
practice advice on what to do next.

I'm not sure what you're asking me TBH.

I'd probably use sox to make the tracks into flac files. And add the -c 1
option for the mono examples to get mono flac files. (Use stats at the end
of the command to keep an eye on possible clipping, but it shouldn't
happen.)

FWIW someone in the past found they got clipping with using Audacity to do
a stereo - mono conversion as it added the values before dividing them by
2 to average. But I think they were using fixed point mode. Didn't check
myself as I always use sox for such tasks. I just use audacity for things
like click removal or LP captures.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Just whether it would be advisable to avoid using the Amplify effect in Audacity on my music files.
The '66 Beano Album tracks are now mono.
Thanks.

__________________
.
John

SM6 · VK-3iX · VK-55 · Ninka

I'm going with '66 true mono and '69 faux stereo, due to the studio's reluctance to invest in new stereo recording equipment versus the record company's greed to cash-in on the expanding stereo replay market.
Hopefully EAC will have created left and right channels which are effectively the same due to being from a singular mono source.
All a bit academic now. The conversion sounds okay to my ears, on my equipment, in my room. Job done and move on I guess.

Managed to download SoX despite http://sox.sourceforge.net/ currently experiencing problems, "The sourceforge.net website is temporarily in static offline mode. Only a very limited set of project pages are available until the main website returns to service."
http://sourceforge.net/blog/sourcefo...e-restoration/

http://sourceforge.net/ allowed me to search for "SoX" leading me to http://sourceforge.net/directory/os:...updated/?q=SoX and http://sourceforge.net/projects/sox/?source=directory, so thanks, I'll have a play with SoX the next time I need to process files and time allows investigation.

__________________
.
John

SM6 · VK-3iX · VK-55 · Ninka

So here we are worrying about whether 16 bits is good enough (I think it
is, just) or whether we should sample at 96kHz or 88.2... and I put our
DAB stereo on today. I thought it sounds a bit off, so I checked. 80kbit
mono. Try another station. Same.

I think I might have to get a net streamer appliance and chuck the radio
away!

Andy

In article , Vir
Campestris scribeth thus
So here we are worrying about whether 16 bits is good enough (I think it
is, just) or whether we should sample at 96kHz or 88.2... and I put our
DAB stereo on today. I thought it sounds a bit off, so I checked. 80kbit
mono. Try another station. Same.

I think I might have to get a net streamer appliance and chuck the radio
away!

Andy

Theres a trial Mux being started from Cambridge shortly, AFAIK there are
some 192K streams on there!...
--
Tony Sayer

On Sun, 19 Jul 2015 21:21:05 +0100, Vir Campestris
wrote:

So here we are worrying about whether 16 bits is good enough (I think it
is, just) or whether we should sample at 96kHz or 88.2... and I put our
DAB stereo on today. I thought it sounds a bit off, so I checked. 80kbit
mono. Try another station. Same.

I think I might have to get a net streamer appliance and chuck the radio
away!

Andy

Use the radio streams on Freeview. Not entirely brilliant, but a sight
better than DAB.

d

In article , John R Leddy
wrote:

Just whether it would be advisable to avoid using the Amplify effect in
Audacity on my music files.

Ok, Understood.

I've only even used the amplify effect to essentially 'mute' a section by
appying a gain of -80dB. Sometimes do this (alongside a fade in/out) for
sections of LP/tape background noise when there is no music. Can save time
that would otherwise be occupied removing clicks, etc.

If I wanted general gain changes I'd tend to apply them using sox as I'm
satisfied that works well. But for all In know the amplify in Audacity is
fine. I've never assessed it.

Check, though, what mode Audacity is storing/processing the data. Ensure it
is something in the range from 24 bit int to full floating point. That will
help minimise any degrading during reprocessing.

And if you are going to enlarge the sample values to get a louder result,
I'd recommend ensuring no sample in the result exceeds about -2dBFS. That
ensures the result stays clear of clipping during any later processing.
e.g. in a DAC. Samples above about -1dBFS may lead to clipping at a later
stage. Again, sox, will give you such info if you use its 'stats' option.

FWIW Personally, with 24 bit 96k I tend to leave 6dB or more of headroom.
But this is because I've set a standard 'reference' gain for my ADC so that
I don't have to alter it from one LP/tape to the next. Most LPs then max
sample at about -6 to -8dBFS. But a few reach up to around -1dBFS on rare
occasions. (Usually bad clicks, but on one or two occasions, real musical
peaks.) Given a good 24bit ADC this seems fine.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

In article , Don Pearce
wrote:
On Sun, 19 Jul 2015 21:21:05 +0100, Vir Campestris
wrote:

So here we are worrying about whether 16 bits is good enough (I think
it is, just) or whether we should sample at 96kHz or 88.2... and I put
our DAB stereo on today. I thought it sounds a bit off, so I checked.
80kbit mono. Try another station. Same.

I think I might have to get a net streamer appliance and chuck the
radio away!

Andy

Use the radio streams on Freeview. Not entirely brilliant, but a sight
better than DAB.

Alas, less useful as advice in Scotland. :-/

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

In article ,
Jim Lesurf wrote:
Use the radio streams on Freeview. Not entirely brilliant, but a sight
better than DAB.

Alas, less useful as advice in Scotland. :-/

FTA satellite? I don't much use mine, but pretty well every radio station
seems to be up there if you look.

--
*Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.