forums : Producing

FLAC Files?

Now that I've switched to digital, I've been noticing some MP3's sites have the option to purchase FLAC files. Can someone give me a lowdown on this file type? Does it sound better that an 320kbs MP3? or does it just take up less space? A normal 320 is anywhere from 12mb-18mb, how big is a typical FLAC file?

Also, can CDJ's and Serato play FLAC files?

I know this isn't necessarily a production question, but I figured the people that visit this section would be more knowledgeable in this area.

Re: FLAC Files?

Actually, this *is* a production question... formats are actually a big deal in production

A couple corrections: any quality level of mp3 will have a file size relative to its length. Higher quality files will be larger than lower quality files due to the amount of frequency content represented in the file. (320 bit contains frequencies from 20Hz-20kHz - lower quality cuts off at a lower maximum and uses other perceptual coding tricks such as masking to reduce file size / quality).

MP3 is a LOSSY format, based on the preceding information. In order to encode, information is removed from the file. FLAC is a LOSSLESS format, and therefore on par with the audio quality of a .wav or .aif file. I have no idea how the file size compares to MP3 or Wav, but if it uses a more sophisticated coding scheme (i.e. MP4 is more sophisticated and smaller than MP3), it very well may compare to the file size of a lossy format.

The reason some MP3 sites are now offering FLAC files is because the standard quality of a commercially sold MP3 is about 128kbps. Granted, they are prepped for encoding by mastering or other engineers who know how to get the most of perceptual coding - to give you an idea, NIN's album "With Teeth" was mixed to sound as good at 128kbps as full quality CD, and it does a pretty damn good job, IMO. Still, for a bigger system, you'll notice the difference.

CDJs will only play CDs. That being said, you may have to convert your FLAC file to a more widely accepted format (wav or aif) to burn it onto a CD (in order to burn an audio CD from MP3 files, the files are first decoded into wav and then burned from this "raw" format, not directly from mp3). Serato, as far as I know, can play a large variety of formats. FLAC may very well be supported. I'm sure there's info on the Serato site.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

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According to trench ...

Now that I've switched to digital, I've been noticing some MP3's sites have the option to purchase FLAC files. Can someone give me a lowdown on this file type? Does it sound better that an 320kbs MP3? or does it just take up less space? A normal 320 is anywhere from 12mb-18mb, how big is a typical FLAC file?

Also, can CDJ's and Serato play FLAC files?

I know this isn't necessarily a production question, but I figured the people that visit this section would be more knowledgeable in this area.
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Re: FLAC Files?

Serato does not play flac files.. Yet?

You will need a flac player to play these files.

I dont really mess with flac files yet, but I know of them and there supposed to be pretty dam good.

Re: FLAC Files?

they are great and HUGE. less than wavs but not much so if you are a digital dj or if you are collecting music you better bring your externals if you want flac versions for your collection. i would love to have only these.. but 320s sound fine especially for dance music in a club.

Re: FLAC Files?

I do a lot of ripping in FLAC now and I immediately encode all my WAV downloads into FLAC format upon purchase.

phrantek is right, FLAC gives you a perfect replica of a WAV track, and filesize is generally in the 40-60% of the original WAV file. Yes, they're still somewhat large...but not AS large as full WAVs. When I buy music, FLAC is the lowest format I will accept -- which sucks, since Beatport + JunoDownload won't offer s**t in FLAC and they charge extra for WAV. (Digital-tunes.net doesn't though, but their prices went up.)

Also with the price of flash drives nowadays, you could easily fit 15-20 hours of music on a 8gig pen drive encoded in FLAC... assuming a full-length CD takes up 400mb average, that's 20 CD's worth of music so really 30 hours.

I'm actually looking for software, or short of that, writing my own software, that keeps and updates a mirror image of my library, except its in 320 mp3 format and not FLAC. Ideally you have that for the road and your master library at home.

My biggest thing with MP3's is that they mess up the stereo image. This is very, VERY subtle and not noticeable unless you're processing the file in Sound Forge... if you're trying to lift the vocals off a track by screwing with the spatialization, for example, the fact that left and right channels are encoded SEPERATELY in an MP3 file means that effects and operations that compare stereo channels will not work as well.

Re: FLAC Files?

I have a suggestion for backing up files in mp3... just use iTunes, highlight your entire library, convert the entire thing to mp3. then, search for all files in your iTunes folder with the extension .mp3 (i think if you use windows you can search in that location for "*.mp3" and it will give you a full list), select all of the items that pop up in the search, and drag to ur backup location. iTunes will list all those MP3s that have gone missing, but simply delete your entire library (keep files, obviously) and drag it back in.

Re: FLAC Files?

Hmm, I actually don't use iTunes...

Does it even read FLAC files? My media player is Winamp, so I can use ml_ipod to transcode FLACs to mp3 upon upload to my ipod. If I switched to iTunes I'd have to transcode all my FLACs to Apple Lossless, right?