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Digital music: audio formats and their basic differences

The formats used to be clearly specified by the player. Those who had a VHS player bought VHS cassettes and those who had a Betamax payer, well, they were unlucky. It was similar a few decades later with Blu-ray and HD-DVD. If you could bet on the wrong horse with the respective playback devices, at least the purchase decision regarding the individual media was clearly defined. In the age of digital music, one has the advantage of a nearly universal player in the form of a computer and huge media libraries, but even more difficult because choosing the most sensible format in which to buy or convert your music is more versatile.

What points determine the choice of the correct audio format?

First of all, of course, it should be noted that not all programs can play all formats. But especially DJ programs like Traktor or Virtual DJ deal with a variety of formats, which doesn’t make the decision for you at first and requires knowledge of other factors. The question of the correct format is particularly important for DJs, because individual formats differ significantly in terms of handling and quality! So now we want to explain to you where the differences lie between individual audio files so that later you can decide which format is the most suitable for you! We limit ourselves to the six common formats MP3, AAC, WAV, AIFF, FLAC and ALAC.

“To compress an MP3 file, what humans cannot hear is simply cut off.”

A distinction must first be made between simple files and cabinet files. Individual files contain little information beyond the song. Cabinet files are individual file packages that together form a meaningful whole. Here, for example, song texts or album covers, including the actual audio file, can be put together in one package. Additionally, there are different audio tracks that can be contained as individual files within the container, allowing for more accurate use of the audio material.

To individual audio formats: outdated variants

Everyone knows: MPEG1 Audio Layer III or just for short: MP3. The format developed by Moving Experts Group uses psychoacoustic findings to compress the original file. In other words: what the person doesn’t hear is simply cut off. Unfortunately, since this is only what humans with primitive audio technology cannot hear, the format not only requires little hard disk space, but also offers little acoustic enjoyment – loss of important audio information is characteristic of MP3.

In addition to the advantage of the small file size, the outdated format has the main disadvantage of clipped sound quality. What cannot be heard on small, private systems is quickly noticeable at clubs or festivals. The “thump” is missing because the dynamics of some frequencies are cut off, which means that the energy of the track does not reach the listener. If you still want to use MP3, you should definitely opt for encoding with 320 kBit / s, the maximum data rate supported by the MP3 format.

Another lossy format is AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) and it also comes from the ranks of the Moving Picture Experts Group. Similar to MP3, but with the help of a different technology, the audio signal is compressed simply by filtering out what the human ear presumably cannot perceive. AAC also saves a lot of storage space. However, thanks to the improved technology, it is possible to produce a significantly better sound experience than that reserved for MP3 even at lower data rates.

The most accurate error correction and the most efficient encoding algorithms create this superiority over an MP3 file with a comparable data rate. The efficiency of the algorithms is not only noticeable in the sound: with the same audio quality, AAC files are about a quarter smaller than their counterparts in MP3 format.

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Why does digital music need to be normalized?

For younger consumers, the focus is often on the computer, which plays MP3s through the PC’s speakers. “They’re made to rumble a lot during games,” says “c’t” expert Zota. This can be useful when reproducing the explosions in a shooting game. However, when listening to music, such boxes disappoint.

Other consumers use their iPod with clip-on speakers, and mini systems like Bose’s “Wave Music System” are enjoying best-sellers. Of course, they cannot match the tonal volume of a full floor standing speaker.
monitor

Those who decide to buy a high-quality music system generally turn to home theater systems. These are multi-channel systems with up to eight speakers and multiple power amplifiers. Their specialty is DVD playback, where they evoke powerful bass thanks to the subwoofers.

The viewer also physically experiences an earthquake in the movie because the shelves begin to shake. Solo: Compared to pure stereo systems, some home theater systems are disappointing. Some subwoofers are too inaccurate to play music. Above all, the quality is significantly more expensive compared to stereo systems. “The budget has to be divided into many more individual parts than with a stereo system,” says Besic, specialist in “Stereoplay”. For 1000 euros there is a decent stereo, but only a lousy home theater system. According to GfK, Germans spend an average of just over 400 euros on complete home theater systems, and 800 euros if these consist of the individual components of an amplifier, CD player and speaker cabinets.

Music producers flatten recordings

But it’s not just bad speakers that degrade sound quality. Music producers also contribute. They have been making their songs louder and louder since the mid-1990s. In pop, hip hop, rock, and electronic dance music, there are practically no quiet passages. At the same time, musical recordings have lost their dynamism. The mids are emphasized, but very high and fine sounds, as well as very deep bass, are often missing. The idea behind it: the songs should appear and assert themselves against loud advertising on the radio or background noise in the pub.

Additionally, sound engineers increasingly manipulate the sound of rock bands and pop singers with just a few clicks. Engineers use computer programs to smooth the edges and eliminate the smallest errors. For example, the pitch of the song is fine-tuned later; and hand-played drums sound accurate after computer processing, but like a machine and somehow always the same. Not much remains of the musicians’ own sound.

“In addition, the generally short time due to lower budgets also plays a role. In the past, you had much more production time, which of course was reflected in the end result in better quality and creativity, ”says Gerhard Wölfle, director of Dorian Gray Studios in Eichenau, near Munich. Wölfle has recorded CDs with the bands Guano Apes, Reamonn and The Donots. In the past, around six weeks of production time was the guideline for such albums. Today, studio professionals are satisfied when the music industry and artists spend half their time on them. Gerhard Wölfle says: “The excessive volume due to the massive use of compressors and limiters definitely gives many productions to the rest”.

An excellent example of an extremely loud album is the album “What People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” by English band Arctic Monkeys from 2006. The fully adjusted mix quickly rose to the top of audience favor. . The single “I bet you look good on the dance floor” (see the band’s MySpace profile) became a number one hit.

All this has generated a problem in matters such as the loudness of the music, which almost necessarily must be normalized to get them to sound at a similar volume.

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