Wavosaur

[kenoracle]

I have just begun audio editing. I have several formerly separate .mp3 files that have been attached together.

Each consists of only clips of other .mp3 files, and live feed microphone work.

Inevitably, after attaching them together, or merely re-orienting clips and MIC clips, the audio degrades terribly, and the mic work sounds as if there is now a 'phasing' problem.

I have heard that .mp3 files are not the best to use for editing purposes.

To maintain my files internal integrity, and keep the audio sounding OK, which file format should I convert my files to PRIOR to editing?

Thank you.

[ZooTooK]

Never save as mp3 when saving intermediat files/work i progress. Convert to mp3 only as final step. For mp3 try use at least 160k bitrate, preferably more. 128k is cleary degrading in most cases.

[Rex]

that's right, stick with uncompressed wav format as long as you can (from recording to mastering) , export as mp3 only as final step.

[kenoracle]

Thank you. As I go, I will convert things that will be edited and then placed into the new project, into .wav.

Related question:

If I am merely cutting an mp3 clip and placing the clip into the new project, should the original .mp3 audio be converted to .wav first,or is it OK just to cut the .mp3 clip and paste away (into the new .wav project file) ?

Thanks again.

[Rex]

The best to do is to record as wav,
if the original clip are in mp3 format, try to avoid re-encoding several time.

when loading a mp3 for editing, it is converted to wav, it's impossible to edit directly mp3 at sample level (only at frame level)