Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/04 20:09I hate to say this cuz I love Virb... even more than I hate MySpace which is so full of ridiculous adds & SPAM that you can hardly see the artists info your looking at... You all probly know this, and I remember Tim Theriault mentioning it last year too... it's just compression poopyness... but check it out, it's pretty bad sounding.
I swear this isn't just plugging my sites! but if you check out the song "the works" on the Color virb site here http://virb.com/colortunes you'll hear this crazy deep distortion on the opening rhodes part... once you tune into that sound you can kinda hear it across the whole tune all the time! ouch! Then listen to the same tune here http://www.myspace.com/colortunes and notice how much better it sounds!! BUMMER!!!!
Pretty sure that they process the file that you upload, meaning they compress it again... arg! o well... Maybe if we all mention it to the Virb folks, they will change it so our songs don't sound so crappy on their site! Or maybe no one cares...
Rock On!!
Chris
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mick
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/04 20:15Nah we care. We found that out with Samm Bennett's tune while working on the compilation project this summer. It distorted his song opening so much we thought the master was screwed. We all agreed they re-compress with some terrible algo. Certain songs (especially the intro) are awful.
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Gumbo
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/04 20:24Damn I was just working up to making a virb page ....
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Chris Decato
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/04 20:56Sorry about that Gumbo... but you know, I don't think that it's not worth building a Virb site just cuz it sounds poopy... 1st off, it doesn't seem to be REALLY bad on every tune... the tunes on my other Virb site from PRM 07 http://www.virb.com/chrisdecato don't seem to sound as bad as that one Color tune does... it's kinda bad all the time, and really bad on bassy stuff or something... 2nd thing is, maybe they will change it someday soon... maybe if we hassle them!!
cuz there sure are a lot of cool RPMrs on Virb!
chris
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Gumbo
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/04 21:22Chris. good points. It would be good to put some pressure on.
I just uploaded a song to Soundclick and it did something similar. They ask for a 128 kbps file and I didn't bother to check. I realise now I sent them a 160 kbps file so they may have squashed it. I'll try replacing it with a 128 and see if it sounds better. Do virb have a similar recommended bitrate?
I don't think Myspace do ...
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ACL
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/05 03:54Sadly, we can also confirm this change - and it seems to have undergone an even worse change recently - because some of the stuff we had on our page didn't sound nearly this bad up to even a few weeks ago.
We also just put up three demos - and geeeez. Wha' happened?
Gumbo, as far as I know, Virb hasn't listed any requirement as to bit rate - but they state there's a limit to size (8mb), so that really keeps longer cuts from appearing. (Especially if you wish to encode at a higher bit rate, like we do.)
Then again, it's free... beggars can't be etc.
Does anybody know if the same thing is happening at Pure Volume? (Virb's software design runs Pure Volume.)
I guess we may eventually have to invest in a website with decent streaming...
kirk & wendy, aka, another cultural landslide
P.S. Just checked - Pure Volume sounds just as bad. Hmmm.
Post edited by: ACL, at: 2008/02/05 03:57
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Joshua Wentz
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/05 03:58I uploaded an mp3 at 128 and it seems just fine... I haven't listened in headphones though, so I suppose the verdict is still out.
I think that definitely is the key, not to let it recompress your files.
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ACL
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/05 04:16Joshua - hate to disagree, but I hear the same distortion on your new piece, and on mine (is your new demo 128K?)...
Also, previous stuff we uploaded was in 128, and it's still there - it almost sounds like they're streaming at a ridiculously low bit-rate.
On a hunch, I tried it in Safari (I tried it on Firefox before) and I heard the same distortion.
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Joshua Wentz
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/05 04:19Huh, you are right... that's odd! I'd be more annoyed if it wasn't just a demo. All the old mp3s sound crap as well, so something screwy is definitely going on... peh.
Guess it just goes without saying (so I'll say it): if you want something streamed right, gotta host it y'self!
Post edited by: Joshua Wentz, at: 2008/02/05 04:54
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malocchio
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/05 05:29Interesting...I always had a problem with one of the tracks I posted last year. I've tried deleting and restoring the file a few times, with no improvement. The Virb mp3 player tended to delete a few milliseconds here and there, just enough to ruin the beat.
Hmmm....
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Lunarsight
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/05 06:05Yeah - Virb is aesthetically pleasing, but it's not my favorite for audio quality. (Myspace sucks in this regard too.)
Soundclick is still my favorite. Last FM is also good, but you have to post entire albums at a time. (But the exposure you can get is incredible, if your songs are well-tagged..)
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Joshua Wentz
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/05 16:56This might be a good time for people to try Alonetone. I'm liking it:
Easy upload and streaming, perfect for RPM demos, I think.
Post edited by: Joshua Wentz, at: 2008/02/05 16:57
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transmit
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/05 19:54Yipes, yeah, my stuff doesn't sound very good. I wasn't really paying attention to the requirements and posted mp3s at 192. Whoops. And here I thought I was doing the listener a service by offering them high-quality mp3s!
So do we know yet if files at 128 go left untouched? Or is it a file size issue? I think my 1-minute song might still sound pretty good...since it's so short, the file size is still pretty small.
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Floppy Jalopy
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/05 20:05Joshua Wentz wrote: This might be a good time for people to try Alonetone. I'm liking it:
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Mosfet
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/06 05:07I think this is really funny - because I JUST OUT OF THE BLUE - messaged ACL telling them that their stuff on VIRB sounds great, and I'm listening through my monitors pretty clearly.. I mean thoroughly great for comfortable listening!
Then I come and read this thread... I guess that they may be doing this - 1. Storing the source MP3 up on a streaming media server 2. Provisioning access to said file in varying bit rate outbound streams - which they can govern. 3. Applying limits to the outbound bit rate either based on load/volume of simultaneous streams - perhaps - because they can't afford the bandwidth. 4. MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdock and he's got gobs of $$ to throw at full bandwidth MP3 and Videe Streaming?
PS - go to http://www.virb.com/acl and check out that song Home - just basically made me want to play strings on my album..
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Mosfet
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/06 05:09Oh crap - my point - The reason playback quality varies is that you are actually listening to different quality streams at different times... or so my theory (somewhat back-ed up) would purport..
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Chris Decato
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/06 09:29Well... I wish I could report that our tune sounds better, but alas... it's the same as it was... poopy and my mp3's were all 128 to start with...
Seems like alonetone may be the way to... also Soundclick never gave me any trouble, maybe I'll get some roughs up there too... o well! actually I have the old Colr stuff up there... as well as lots of other stuff too... here's some links if yer bored!!
interesting theories about how it might be that it sounds crappy, but it in the end it's just that it sounds crappy!
hehe
it's still perty lookin though!!
You all are a gas!
Chris
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Mosfet
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/06 14:29You've just got ultra discerning audio perception - me - I actually go out of my way to add random clipping to my tracks (just kidding - I in no way intend to clip my levels)
Oh Chris.. I'll listen to the Color tracks again! Baaaaaaa!
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room34
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/06 20:22Didn't read the entire thread so I apologize if this has already been covered.
I haven't used Virb yet, but I just set up a page on SoundClick last night (http://www.soundclick.com/room34 -- the music on there now is from my last project, not the stuff I'm working on right now for RPM), and when I listened to it I noticed it sounded like utter crap.
Then I realized they have two audio qualities, with two separate play buttons side-by-side. This really could be labeled MUCH better on their site, but both versions are there: if you click the gray play button, you get the crappy low-fi version (which presumably exists solely for slow Internet connections), but if you click the black play button next to it you get your original hi-fi version, which at 128 kbps still isn't going to be exactly CD quality, but it's much better (and should be the exact same version as what you uploaded).
The low-fi versions are really going to suck for two reasons: 1) the bitrate and sample rate are lowered significantly, and 2) they're converted to mono.
Personally I think the latter does even more damage, at least with my recordings, but maybe that's because I don't know enough about how to do a stereo mix without creating sound waves between the two channels that cancel each other out when combined.
Post edited by: room34, at: 2008/02/06 20:23
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Wobinidan
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Re:Virb Sounds Crappy! - 2008/02/08 04:58I just uploaded to virb.com and I have to agree with you guys, the sound quality sucks, but the same thing is happening to my youtube videos too.
Maybe we're just in an age of sucky online audio? I hope not.
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Mosfet
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SCREW VIRB! USE THE RPM DEMO PLAYER!! - 2008/02/08 05:53You guys.. the RPM Demo player in your Account Details is a PUBLIC FACING FREE MP3 JUKEBOX..
until the actual RPM Jukebox is tied into the account systems - which will be the MOTHER SHIP OF ALL COOL music sharing sites..
THE DEMO THINGY will serve as a perfect means of sharing your files.
BRING YOUR LISTENING TRAFFIC TO THIS SITE!!!
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