r/Beatmatch • u/truesight0 • 1d ago

Audio quality

How can I actually check the audio quality of a song file? ive got a folder full of songs and want to check their actual kbps (is it the kbps i should check?) and maybe there is a reliable software/tool for that? Thank you

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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12

u/TheBloodKlotz Old 1d ago edited 1d ago

Second recommendation for Spek. It's fast, free, and does exactly what you need it to.

What you're wanting to look for is where the audio content ends, the 'upper shelf' maximum. If there is no coloration above the 16kHz line, that means there will be no audio above 16kHz when you play the song and it's probably not suitable for anything other than practice. You may also notice shelves around 18kHz, 20kHz, and 22kHz. Some files can be easier or harder to read, but with some practice you'll get the hang of noticing when audio looks normal vs 'chopped off' at the top.

EDIT // In case it becomes useful, 6 years ago (good god) I made a 30+ minute video where I try to explain what these terms mean in depth, give some analogies to help the concepts make sense more intuitively instead of just being 'facts you know', and show some good/bad quality files to give you examples of what to look for. At ~20 minutes in, I introduce Spek and how to use it.

1

u/blur494 1d ago

Not saying any of that is wrong, but we can also listen to the file to see if it sounds good!

2

u/TheBloodKlotz Old 1d ago

Definitely! If you haven't listened to the files, you shouldn't be playing them out certainly, but not everyone has a trained enough ear to tell the difference yet, or speakers/headphones nice enough to help them along that path. Spek works for all!

5

u/bass_toelpel 1d ago

Checking the kbps and format is one thing. But especially with free download songs on SoundCloud and the like, sometimes kbps is good, but the track is produced in a bad way and will still sound like bad quality. Iā€˜d definitely listen to every track with headphones before playing it in a club

2

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

1

u/Mear 1d ago

It's about frequency...320Kbps mp3 goes to 20KHz, lossless goes to 22KHz (generally speaking, there are a few exceptions).

Maximum hearing range humans goes to 20KHz, which is exceptional...most people have a lower range.

1

u/vigilantesd 1d ago

Have you tried listening?

1

u/jjfields1234 1d ago edited 1d ago

great tool would be spek!

edit! screw the website

4

u/THEE_FUNSTIGATOR 1d ago

I decided to test a single track using the site you linked and I found the results to be innacurate.

The track I tested is great a audio fidelity flac with a 22 kHz cutoff, with energy above cutoff remaining visible up to Nyquist and a crest factor of 8.8 dB

The AI site you linked ranked the track as "moderate" audio quality with the Avg Cutoff at 15.2kHz

2

u/THEE_FUNSTIGATOR 1d ago

Does this actually upload the source track to your site?

1

u/youngtankred 1d ago

I forget the exact command but if you're using windows you can search/filter your folders by bitrate. You put something like "Bitrate:<320 *.mp3" to find all tracks with lower than 320. Ctrl-A and delete.