Sound Quality after saving as MP3

[SimonB1964]

Hi, I have had this software for a few months now. I used to use "Spin it again" with great success, but had to install Vinyl Studio after purchasing my first I mac!
The main problem I am having is sound quality after saving and album to MP3. I recorded about 12 albums on SIA and have recored about 8 albums using VS, the sound quality is very different using VS!! It seems to be lacking bass. I am using an Ion USB turntable, a Profile Pro.
I am also having some issues when I am trying to clean up the gaps between songs on an album. To be honest, I found SIA much easier to use than VS. i am not knocking VS, just struggling to get good results using it. AS the summer draws to an end here in canada, i will be doing a lot more albums and would really like some help with this, please!!!!!!

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Hi,

We set the default quality setting fairly low when saving as MP3 so as to produce approximately 128 kbps files.  You can change this setting via the MP3 File Options button when yu save your tracks (and the change will stick).  There's nothing wrong with VinylStudio's MP3 encoding per se.  We use the LAME MP3 encoder, widely acknowledged as one of the best there is.

To eliminate gaps between tracks (is that what you mean?):

1.  Position the track break at the end of the first track.

2.  Hold down the shift key and drag the green start-of-track marker past the gap to the start of track 2.

You might also want to add a fixed period of silence between tracks.  You can do this in the Preferences window.

[SimonB1964]

Thanks Paul, what settings would you recommend then? Space on the hard drive is not an issue. I had a quick look this morning and there are many different settings, also VBR which i do not understand.
As for the track splitting, my main issue is trying to clean up between the tracks, for example, there could be clicks etc between track 1 and 2, and i find it difficult to move the start and end lines between the tracks to clean them up. I then end up hearing clicks between tracks. I found SIA easier to do this.
Again, I am not knocking a very good product, I am just trying to make the songs better.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

That's OK, we don't mind a bit of competetion with SIA

If disk space is not an issue, I would use VBR 0.  VBR stands for Variable Bit Rate and reduces the bandwidth used for sections of music of low complexity.  It's widely regarded as 'perceptually transparent'.

To clean up between tracks, what I recommend is:

1.  Remove the gap between the tracks as described in my previous post.

2.  Use the Settings dialog (or Preferences dialog on the Mac) to add a fixed period of silence between tracks.

3.  Save your tracks again.

Step 1 gets rid of the clicks and step 2 prevents the tracks from running into one another when played in sequence.