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Lamescript Drag'n'Drop mp3 encoder utility


tigermaster

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This is not strictly related to Logic, but as Logic user i suggest you to avoid using its internal mp3 encoder, i had experiences in the past where i heard substantial differences between the wav files and the mp3 at 320kbps encoded with Logic (that is the same encoder shared in Quicktime and Itunes aswell)

For this reason i've decided to program this little utility that lets you able to convert your wav/aif masters in mp3 directly with drag'n'drop using the great Lame encoder.

It feature a lot of options including batch encoding, multithreading and so on....

 

Another very useful thing is the ability to see the terminal when encoding, Lame calculates the ReplayGain value at the end of each encoding, that value is very useful expecially for electronic/dance music as is the same value used by Native Instruments Traktor's auto gain.

Basically a -7.3db value in Lame is equal to 0.0db Gain in Traktor, if you do mastering i think it's something you should have a look just to understand if Traktor will lower your master or not.

 

Please note that the program is written in Applescript Studio using Xcode, it's not a professional coding as i'm not a coder, by the way it looks it works very well (now!) and i think i've solved most of the bugs, by the way it' still in beta stage so if you find any issue please report so i can try to fix that and hopefully release a final 2.0 release totally bugfree.

I'm using this beta version since 6 months on daily basis and i've not encountered any bug so far.

 

here's a screenshot of the options panel

http://www.bakerloofiles.com/images/lsdnd_options.png

 

I paste the readme file below where you can find more informations about the program features.

 

Current version is 2.0 beta14 (release candidate 2)

 

LameScript Drag'n'Drop mp3

by Riccardo Ferri

v2.0 beta 14(RC2)

25 May 2012

 

What is LSDnD mp3?

 

This little application converts wav/aif to mp3 simply using drag'n'drop

 

 

Features:

 

-Support for .wav .aif and .aiff file extensions

 

-Support for Batch encodings using (configurable) multithreading

 

-Support for drag'n'drop folder(s) also with multiple levels

 

-Ability to set up a custom destination folder with optional folder hierarchy preservation

 

-Option to display Terminal when encoding

 

-Option to select overwrite action when duplicates are found (overwrite,rename,skip,ask)

 

-16 editable command line presets with editable descriptions

 

-Optional log visualization and logfile creation

 

-Basic Progress Bar for encodings

 

 

Usage

 

To convert just drag file(s) or folder(s) over this application, by default mp3 will be created in the same directory where the original file(s) resides, else you can choose to save to a custom location, original file(s) will NOT be deleted!!

Accepts only audio files with extension .wav .aif and .aiff, all other files will be discarted.

Double Clicking on the application will bring you to options, where you can configure everything.

Application can be placed everywhere, please note that a preference file will be created in your user library/preferences called 'LSDnD.plist', it doesn't create any other additional file on your system and lame encoders are included in the bundle.

The program doesn't check the Lame command line itself, by the way it will write on the logfile if some encodes has failed, also you can always see results in Terminal.

 

 

System Requirements

 

Universal Binary, Supports for PPC PPC64, x86 and x64 intel machintoshes (newer lame only).

Tested only on Mac OSX 10.5.8 and 10.6.8.

 

Note for 10.7.x Lion!!

 

LSDnD works fine on Lion aswell, by the way, as Lion has dropped Rosetta, is not possible to use any preset including "lameold" anymore, as Lame 3.96 is built for PPC only. There is not much we can do about it, if you want to use old lame encoder avoid upgrading to Lion. If you are already to Lion you can install a Virtualbox/vmware Snow Leopard istance and use your old rosetta apps inside that.

 

Why LSDnD mp3?

 

As a musician i just need a tool to convert my wav files to mp3 without compromises and at best possible quality, lame does the job perfectly, there are no programs on OSX that allows a full command line customization, so i've decided to program this little utility.

I'm using Lame on PC since ages, but now that i have this, i finally encode my stuff on OSX!!

You may ask why i don't use Logic/Cubase/Ableton/Pro-Tools mp3 encoders?

Answer is as clear as simple, at least in Logic mp3 encoder is the same used in Itunes/quicktime, alias really bad, so bad that on some tracks i hear the difference between the wav and the mp3 at 320kbps, This does not happen if you encode with Lame DnD mp3 at default settings!!

I don't know about other daws, but at least for Logic users this program will be your new best friend :)

 

 

What DnD means ?

 

Both Drag'n'Drop and Do Not Disturb, i've made it in order to launch huge batch encodings making you able to go away from your mac while it's doing the job, and hopefully find everything done perfectly when you are back :)

 

 

Why there is also a lame 3.96.1 build?

 

After many tests i've discovered that from lame 3.97 and newer there are major problems with --cbr encodings at low bitrate, resulting files sounds very bad, it looks like sound is somewhat distorted losing both crispness and precision, the more bitrate you use, the less this "effect" appears.

Based on my tests i was not able to hear that anymore at 192kbps (hardly noticed at 160kbps).

For this reason, as a precaution, i have included also the old lame build, usable writing "lameold" instead of "lame" at the beginning of the command line, i've made also "Max Quality preset 2" that use this encoder, just to be sure that this effect never appears, it's probably a bit paranoic, so it's up to you, lameold is very slow!!

 

Known issues:

 

-Terminal does not allow a lot of opened windows simultaneously,if you plan to encode a huge folder (50+ files), disable terminal view.

 

What about next versions ?

 

v2.x

support for mp3 re-encode & choose filetypes option

support for --decode command

support multiple preferences setups

basic tag support

support for other filetypes as input (aac,flac,mp2,sd2,etc..)

 

v3.x

total rewrite in Obj-C

 

 

For feedback/support/suggestions please drop a line at www.riccardoferri.net

 

 

Lame encoder licensed under LGPL

lame.sourceforge.net/

 

Lame 3.96.1 build by Vas the Man

www.vastheman.com/blog/

 

Lame 3.99.5 build by tmkk

tmkk.pv.land.to/lame/index_e.html

 

Applescript/Obj.C code by Riccardo Ferri

www.riccardoferri.net

 

Hope you can find it useful as i did.

 

P.S. Let me know if it works on Mountain Lion, thank you

 

EDIT: Link removed, you can find it on my new website riccardoferri.net

Edited by tigermaster
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Hi

Thanks for sharing your encoder! I have 2 considerations.

 

1.- I was trying to compare it to the onboard logic pro encoder and I saw yours provides a mp3 file which has around 900 samples of delay in the audio data. I was trying to make a nul phase comparison and can not do it because of this delay. Is it not possible to have it without this delay so it is easy to compare original vs encoded file?

 

2.- I can not make it work via drag and drop. It does work right click open with... selects app.. and then it works. but not drag and drop. 10.6.8

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1 - i did not do the encoder, the encoder is LAME, you should ask to them, mine is just a frontend. http://lame.sourceforge.net/, despite the initial delay (that i've never noticed to be honest) is by far the best mp3 encoder.

I know also that start and end of file is a known problem in mp3 econding, as the encoding uses "blocks" so it will never be perfect.

 

2 - quite strange i'm using daily on 10.6.8 with drag'n'drop, have you tried drag'n'drop also a folder for example ? or multiple files ? basically you can't drag'n'drop at all (the application icon doesn't become black when you mouse over it with files) ?

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