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[HybridMind]

I'm having no luck using either Audacity or Flash IDE in converting some game loop WAVs over to MP3s without serious crap-tastic sounding artifacts.

They are chiptune in style and I am not sure if that midi-feel is making them tougher than normal to convert.

I have tried both mono/stereo conversions and moved through bit ranges from 16kbps to 128kbps. I can't really go above 128kbps because its going to be a flash game and I don't want the filesize to get ridiculous (read: over 2.5mb.. max 3mb for my preference.)

I'm using LAME via Audacity.  Not sure what interal the Flash IDE (CS4) uses.

Anyone got any other MP3 tips tricks?  I can post examples but mainly I want to know if I'm missing some cool tool or best practice.

Thanks.

[pgil]

I'm interested learning more about this too.

As for what I already know--

-Use Variable bitrate and Joint Stereo. They compress simpler parts of your song more, leaving room for the more complex stuff.
-Remove any excessive high frequencies before encoding. Anything above 16 khz or so is difficult for most people to hear, and will just add more artifacts when you encode. Use a low-pass filter in audacity.

[HybridMind]

I'm interested learning more about this too.

As for what I already know--

-Use Variable bitrate and Joint Stereo. They compress simpler parts of your song more, leaving room for the more complex stuff.
-Remove any excessive high frequencies before encoding. Anything above 16 khz or so is difficult for most people to hear, and will just add more artifacts when you encode. Use a low-pass filter in audacity.

Thanks for the reply!

I don't see options for VBR or JS in Audacity--what tool are you using for that?

EDIT: Here is some info from Audacity webpage:

Audacity 1.3.3 and later
From 1.3.3 onwards, the advanced encoding options are accessible in the "Options" button when you export as MP3, as described above. The new 1.3.3 export options are for:
Bit Rate Mode (Variable, Average, Constant or use a Preset)
Encoding Speed (with other than constant bit rate encoding)
Channel mode (currently Stereo or Joint Stereo) .

I was using v1.2.6 and I'm going to try updating now as well as grabbing latest lame_enc.dll

The high and low pass filter is a GREAT idea and one I should have thought of.. I'll see if that helps clean out some unwanted freqs ahead of the conversion.

[soundofjw]

I'm interested learning more about this too.

As for what I already know--

-Use Variable bitrate and Joint Stereo. They compress simpler parts of your song more, leaving room for the more complex stuff.
-Remove any excessive high frequencies before encoding. Anything above 16 khz or so is difficult for most people to hear, and will just add more artifacts when you encode. Use a low-pass filter in audacity.

I have to highly encourage you to make that highpass at or as close to 20khz as possible.  On proper speakers we most certainly CAN hear above 16khz, and removing it will cost you a lot of presence that you may want, especially if you're creating a truly authentic chiptune. 

[HybridMind]

Thanks for the further suggestions soundofjw.

I ended up getting this to work well enough thanks to the new beta version of Audacity. I found a good balance with VBR, joint stereo, and a LP filter of 20khz.

All my loops are about 30-40 seconds long and are about 400K or so in size.  6 loops in my game bring it with the rest of the game data to 3MB.  I'm comfortable with that result and it doesn't sound like shit anymore.

Thanks again pgil and soundofjw.

[soundofjw]

Glad to hear it! Good work