Thread: Distortion on Mp3s

is it possible to remove Distortion on a Mp3 using Audacity ?

i have recently downloaded a magic Stu Allan set from another forum but the bass is really Distorted and i would love to beable to sort it out, any help would be great Thanks

I wouldn't have thought so mate. The software may cut the distorted stuff out - along with the bass.
This question crops up from time to time and I honestly don't think you can do that much with an mp3... unless you've got a £10,000 studio.
Think billybob2007 may be able to help further

Originally Posted by swipezster

I wouldn't have thought so mate. The software may cut the distorted stuff out - along with the bass.
This question crops up from time to time and I honestly don't think you can do that much with an mp3... unless you've got a £10,000 studio.
Think billybob2007 may be able to help further

If something is amped too much, there's not a lot u can do to remove it afterwards I'm afraid.
Even if u could find what the frequencies are that make the 'distortion sound', removing them would also remove other parts of the sound that use those frequencies.

Thanks for your help guys

If it's hiss you are trying to get rid of you can use the 'remove noise' fuction in effects.
If you sample a bit at the begining of the tape were it is only hiss and the remove a small amout of that it can help. I've done tat a few times but it can have varying results.

Originally Posted by Wigs

If it's hiss you are trying to get rid of you can use the 'remove noise' fuction in effects.
If you sample a bit at the begining of the tape were it is only hiss and the remove a small amout of that it can help. I've done tat a few times but it can have varying results.

its not hiss mate, the hole thing is distorted. i think the original uploader Amplified the tape when they converted the tape and now the whole thing is distorted

Originally Posted by malgossno1

Originally Posted by Wigs

If it's hiss you are trying to get rid of you can use the 'remove noise' fuction in effects.
If you sample a bit at the begining of the tape were it is only hiss and the remove a small amout of that it can help. I've done tat a few times but it can have varying results.

its not hiss mate, the hole thing is distorted. i think the original uploader Amplified the tape when they converted the tape and now the whole thing is distorted

oh.. think you are buggered then.

oh.. think you are buggered then.

i think so

If its an mp3 its already distorted in one way (filters out alot of sound to make the files smaller) You'll spot the lack of bass or high end on 128kbps mp3 right away.

So if you could remove noise from an mp3, saving it as an mp3 again will filter it again. Before long it starts sounding like something off youtube or real audio if anyone remembers that?

But this kind of distortion your describing sounds like either the tape was ripped too loud (digital clipping) or the actual tape was recorded too loud causing analogue distortion/saturation. Very likely both!

To rip tapes well you need to make sure you record pretty loud so you make the most of your bit depth, whilst making sure it doesnt clip the soundcard (going over 0)
Any cleaning up, eq or compression should be before its converted to mp3.

I know thats not all relevant to this post but might be useful to you guys anyway