Jesse

Loaded the lame processor up and works great.

Any thoughts on how to build the tag info into it?

ORIGINAL: Jesse G

Instructions:
Open SONAR 3, 4, 5 and go to Tools -> Cakewalk Ext. Encoder Config.
In the Friendly Name Field write: Lame Mp3 Encoder.
In the Extension field write: .mp3
In the Description field write whatever you want.
In the Path field write the path where the Lame encoder is located. That is where lame.exe and lame_enc.dll are located. I keep my Lame encoder in my C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Shared Utilities\Lame Folder or (copy and past the extracted zip file to your Sonar shared utilities folder and then when you have to perform this step, click the browse button to find the location.
In the Command Line field write: lame -b 192 -m j %I %O
Press Save button.
Uncheck Keep Wave File.

(In Sonar 5 I went to the "Tools" menu and there is no choise for "Cakewalk Ext. Encoder Config." Where is it?

ORIGINAL: pharohoknaughty

Jesse

Loaded the lame processor up and works great.

Any thoughts on how to build the tag info into it?

Yup - just use winamp.

Kind regards

Dave Rich

I use the LAME 3.96.1 encoder and I agree, it's the way to go - sounds great and it's free. I have configured Sonar to export using Jesse G.'s advice, and also have RazorLame to use as a stand-alone front-end.

One question - what is the difference between "joint stereo" and "stereo" encoding and why would one be better or more desirable than the other?

Not sure about the difference using Joint stereo or just stereo, I jsut followed the instructions I read and then passed the information on.


I just want others to be able to use the MP3 export options, but now sure of the weighing of the options for use.

Peace

A quick google confirmed my understanding!

Joint Stereo: The Myths ... and The Realities

If gives the encoder an additional compression technique like M/S, which it can use on a frame-by-frame basis to encode the audio in L/R or M/S, whichever is better for the given bitrate.

Regards,
David

ORIGINAL: joseph.barron

I finally broke down and paid the 19.95 to unlock the LAME encoder.

HAHAHAHAHA! LOL!
You paid for LAME?
I'm afraid that makes you the lame one man!

You need to do a bit more research my friend.
Lame is free.

Reminds me of a mate of mine who recently paid $29
for Spybot Search and destroy.

Some people have more $ than sense.

ORIGINAL: Jesse G

The LAME encoder is FREE and even Scott R. Garrigus, or was it Craig Anderton, well one of them wrote an article on how to configure Sonar to use the Lame MP3 encoder. Also, when you upgrade, from an earlier version of Sonar and allow Sonar to copy its settings, the MP3 settings are copied to the next version as well.

Follow these directions:

If you don't want to unlock(buy) the cakewalk mp3 encoder, you can invoke the Lame mp3 encoder directly from SONAR 3, 4, 5. With this you don't need to first export to wav and then encode to mp3. Remember that the Lame mp3 encoder is high quality, open source and free.

Download and install the lame 3.96.1 (STABLE) encoder. ~~~~> HERE <~~~~~
If you want to select your own version of a Lame encoder, download from the ~~~> LAME ENCODER SITE <~~~~

Instructions:
Open SONAR 3, 4, 5 and go to Tools -> Cakewalk Ext. Encoder Config.
In the Friendly Name Field write: Lame Mp3 Encoder.
In the Extension field write: .mp3
In the Description field write whatever you want.
In the Path field write the path where the Lame encoder is located. That is where lame.exe and lame_enc.dll are located. I keep my Lame encoder in my C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Shared Utilities\Lame Folder or (copy and past the extracted zip file to your Sonar shared utilities folder and then when you have to perform this step, click the browse button to find the location.
In the Command Line field write: lame -b 192 -m j %I %O
Press Save button.
Uncheck Keep Wave File.

This will export to a 192Kbps, joint stereo mp3 file. If you want 128Kbps, replace 192 with 128 in the Command Line field. The next time you click on File->Export->Audio in SONAR 3, 4, 5 you'll find 'Lame mp3 encoder' as a type of audio.

Hope this helps,

Peace

i tried that but it doesn't seem to be working. every time i click export it tells me that i have to unlock the cakewalk mp3 encoder. what's wrong?

The next time you click on File->Export->Audio in SONAR 3, 4, 5 you'll find 'Lame mp3 encoder' as a type of audio.

You have to select 'Lame mp3 encoder' as the type of audio when you export it!

To clear up the issues with licensing and LAME - I found this via the cwenc faq( http://cwenc.sourceforge.net/faq.html ):

"Q: What about MP3 licensing? I have read that you need to have a license from Fraunhofer/Thomson if you use an MP3 encoder?
A: Strictly speaking this is correct. According to the licensing conditions put forward by Thomson (who owns the MP3 patents), anyone who develops software with MP3 encoding or decoding must purchase a license for each copy of the software sold. But for free software they have unofficialy accepted that no such fee is required."

--

Thus, it's OKAY to use the free LAME encoder, and you're not going to get pegged by Thomson for it. Cakewalk's implementation of the LAME encoder is a pay-for product probably mostly because 1) Sonar isn't free and 2) Thomson could change their license down the road. File that under "cross that bridge when it happens" as far as I'm concerned.

The big problem I have with Cakewalk's LAME encoder version is that they're obscurring the settings that you get if you download it and set it up as an external encoder. The people who use that one get better results, it seems, and I think it's worth a try. Definitely use Variable Bit Rate, as it will help compensate for quality problems, especially at lower bit rates. Also - I hope you're not sending the encoder a stream that peaks at 0db or 100% - mp3 will introduce some artifacts if there's no headroom. Better to compress/limit the program content a bit for the podcast and encode it when the max level is somewhere around -3db give or take. You may also want to make sure you don't have any dc offset, extreme low frequencies, etc, as these can rob some fidelity. Better still would be to do external ogg's but I guess that's out for podcasting. Ogg-Vorbis is well known to be better than mp3 at basically any bitrate, but it's more audible with lower bitrates, obviously.

pete