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How to Convert Audio to MP3 With High Quality

Most music today is distributed electronically through a compressed format, such as MP3. The problem is that music is not recorded in this way. When music is recorded digitally, it is recorded in an uncompressed format, such as WAV. Therefore, when converting to a smaller MP3 file, it is important to make sure that you lose as little of the original quality of the WAV recording as possible. You can do this by creating slightly larger MP3 files using certain settings.

Instructions

    • 1

      Download the free, open-source sound program called Audacity. This program is available for all operating systems.

    • 2

      Download and install the LAME MP3 encoder. You can dowlnoad this from the LAME website. Follow their installation instructions, and note the directory that you install the encoder to.

    • 3

      Click on the "File" command in Audacity, and choose "Open." Then select your file from your hard drive that you want to convert into an MP3 file. If you want to record a file and have an input source plugged into your computer, hit the "Record" button on the Audacity toolbar to record live sound instead.

    • 4

      Click the "File Formats" preferences tab to open the preferences for Audacity.

    • 5

      Set the bit rate to a high level. At the bottom of the file formats preferences pane you will see a drop down menu in the "MP3 Export Setup" section where you can adjust the bit rate. The highest quality that you will be able to notice is 256. Set it slightly lower if you want to put the file on a CD. Recording at 192 will still give you a very high quality file that will play well on a CD.

      If you have the most recent version of Audacity and LAME, you can choose from predetermined presets. "Insane" will make very large files, and you won't be able to notice a difference in quality unless you have an outstanding audio system and a trained ear. "Extreme" is more than enough, and will result in high quality files. Extreme encoding utilizes what is known as a variable bit rate rather than a constant bit rate.

    • 6

      Make your file a stereo file. This results in better sounding MP3 files. If you do not have a proper stereo track, you can make your file stereo by copying your entire mono track. Hit "CTRL+A" on a PC, or "Command+A" on a Mac to select the entire track. Then select "Edit" from the toolbar, and click "Copy." Click on "Project" in the top toolbar, and select "New Audio Track." Click anywhere in the new track to select it. Click on Edit again, and this time choose "Paste." Click on the arrow in the controller at the beginning of the top track. Select "make stereo track."

    • 7

      Click on "File" and choose to export the file as an MP3. Chose the file name and directory that you want to save the file to.

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