[deeplove]

My buddy let me hold his Jack Johnson CD Sleep through the Static CD to rip. I love that CD. Sounds great. Well, my dumbass decided to rip it at 320 because I don't have iTunes at work. Well, story short...

I'm playing my iPod through the factory LOD that my Scion brings. All my other songs that I've ripped at Lossless sound fantastic. No hiss no nothing. Loud and Proud. Now, I play the Jack Johnson CD and the HISS is EVERYWHERE!!!

It's bad. Now, is it my fault because I recorded it at 320, should I have recorded it VBR or WMA? Or could it be that the actual recording wasn't really done right? I'm sure it was me, but can you guys help? Recording VBR better than the 320 I recorded or should I have recorded WMA and then convert it to APple Lossless? I want the easiest steps possible.

Thanks in advance.

 

[pdennis]

Recording.

 

[paul_lindemann]

Compare the original CD to your recorded version to confirm, but I'd say the hiss is part of the original source.

 

[deeplove]

Sucks. The CD is great. The opening track All at Once, has Jack with his guitar all alone. And man, the hiss just doesn't stop from there. It's all through the song. Worse off the headphone out.

I really don't know what's the whole process from the recording to the finish, but why or how can that bad hiss actually go out with the finished product? Am I wrong for expecting a bit more quality or am I really being a bit of an ass for expecting better?

I'm going to ask my buddy to lend me the CD so I can bring it home and rip it a Apple Lossless so I can compare. Weird since I have 192kbps songs that sound saw better than this 320kbps I recorded for the CD. A shame. I really love the CD.

 

[Squirsier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deeplove /img/forum/go_quote.gif I really don't know what's the whole process from the recording to the finish, but why or how can that bad hiss actually go out with the finished product? Am I wrong for expecting a bit more quality or am I really being a bit of an ass for expecting better?

I got this from amazon.com. Jack talking about the recording process :

"We recorded the songs onto analog tape machines powered by the sun in Hawaii and Los Angeles. One day, JP Plunier walked into the studio and told us, "It has been 4 to 6 feet and glassy for long enough," and so we gave him a variety of wind and rain as well as sun and so on. And Robert Carranza helped to put it all in the right places."

Might explain the hiss... heh

 

[deeplove]

I will agree. I'm also thinking about the pick ups on that guitar. I'm sure they might have upped it a bit. So I'm sure it's picking up a bunch of garbage along the way. The CD is pretty clean through out, but you do get the hiss a lot. Wonderful CD though. I'm just a bit upset for that Hiss.

What do you guys recommend as far as ripping CDs on the go? Basically, at work I don't have iTunes since it won't allow me to install it. I can rip CDs in WMA, VBR or such but not Apple Lossless. I don't really want to go through the hassle of converting to Apple Lossless but is any VBR rate better than 320kbps?

Mind you, I'm transferring these rips to iTunes for the Classic.

 

[Squirsier]

I personally rip CDs using CDex CDex | Open Source Digital Audio CD Extractor with more than 32,000,000 downloads (freeware CD ripper) with the LAME codecs at 320kbps CBR, Stereo, using the "Very High Quality q=0" setting. Haven't felt the need to go lossless because I can't really hear any difference between the original source from the CD and the rips.

You might also want to check out another excellent CD ripper, freeware too, called "EAC (for Exact Audio Copy) Introduction » Exact Audio Copy ". I believe a lot of people swear by it here

 

[tpc41]

the hiss is definitely on the recording, I just dropped the album into my cd player and it doesn't sound very good at all.

when an album is poorly recorded, it really doesn't matter what format it is encoded in, the recording will never sound any better.

i think jack needs to go record in a real studio and ditch his solar powered tape recorders

 

[Kilane]

From what I remember it's a fairly deliberately lo-fi recording. Whether it's more pronounced on the lossy copy of it or not, it certainly could be... but to be honest I doubt it.

 

[krmathis]

It is most probably the recording. Cause afaik ripping and encoding to MP3 will not introduce hiss.

 

[deeplove]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tpc41 /img/forum/go_quote.gif the hiss is definitely on the recording, I just dropped the album into my cd player and it doesn't sound very good at all. when an album is poorly recorded, it really doesn't matter what format it is encoded in, the recording will never sound any better. i think jack needs to go record in a real studio and ditch his solar powered tape recorders

I'm actually glad that it's not me only. I do agree though. Though I do think it's more apparent especially on his solos. Some other tracks don't have it as bad. But it pissed me off a bit since I like the CD.

Is VBR better than regular 320kbps?

 

[clarke68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deeplove /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is VBR better than regular 320kbps?

No. VBR (Variable bit rate) algorithmically lowers the bit rate in the parts of the music where it (theoretically) won't matter. If done well, it should sound the same but with a smaller file size...definitely no improvement.

Giving Sleep Through the Static a spin right now, and honestly I think you guys are missing the forest for the trees. Yes, there is bit of noise, but nothing like many classic albums from the '70s and earlier. It doesn't detract from the performance one bit to my ears, and overall probably sounds more natural than it would have had it been done digitally in an antiseptic studio environment.

 

[Jo-Vo]

Hi!

I think that this hiss was introduced by the electric guitar and its amp. I wouldn't say that it's the tape machine's fault since the other instruments and vocals are clean. If you try to gate or filter the guitar hiss you get "pumping hiss" or lose detail. So the best option is to leave it...

Regards,
Jonas

 

[tpc41]

well, thousands of other muscicans have somehow managed to get rid of that hiss... ha sorry im a little bitter, i just wish jack johnson could someday manage to produce a nice sounding album...