Has anybody else encountered this: When bouncing a 320 kbps, joint stereo MP3 from Logic Pro 9 and playing it back in iTunes, I am getting dreadful clicking and crackling throughout the track. I'm using the latest version of iTunes on an intel Mac running OS 10.5.8 Any thoughts?

Hi Gerald! Sound strange... not something I've come across, but admitedly I rarely bounce to mp3 from Logic. I'd usually let iTunes handle conversions. A few questions: What sample rate is your project? If it is 48 or above and 24bit depth are you dithering.... Does this happen when bouncing down other projects to mp3? Does this happen when bouncing to aiff and importing the file into iTunes and converting to mp3 that way? :) Rounik

To be honest Rounik, because our main delivery conduit to the world is the web, MP3s are pretty mission critical to us although, yes they are not as good as a lossless AIFF etc as we all know.. We usually record in 24 bit at 44.1 Khz and when bouncing 'the final', I bounce both a dithered AIFF to 44.1 Khz, 16 bit and a 320 kbps, interleaved, joint stereo MP3. The resulting MP3 I've just always dropped onto Quicktime to play it back and never had a scratch. I only discovered this iTunes glitch this weekend and has me really worried now that all the stuff we have out there is going to do the same thing on other peoples machines. I have tested streaming the the same MP3 that cracks and pops in iTunes over to my hi-fi system via Apple TV and no problem when playing back To be honest, I've never really thought about using iTunes to do the MP3 conversion from the master AIFF, thinking it best to create the MP3 straight from the Logic session itself. I think Martin briefly touched on this in some of his Logic tutorials a while ago. I did a test by dropping an MP3 into iTunes that crackled and popped then used iTunes to convert it to AAC which did seem to do the trick for iTunes playback Given that 'web' distribution is so prevalent I'm wondering if you guys might consider a short tutorial on the best way to optimize ones tracks for web delivery. We have just started to use Soundcloud to be able to distribute our stuff a lot more efficiently, but not much point if the resulting MP3 sounds like crap! I have researched this topic online and there is some chat about it, but only it seems in regards to Logic 7. Many of the tips have been to recommend turning off all iTunes 'sound enhancers' like the EQ, but this seems to have had no effect. So much to learn, so little time! g

I've not experienced this issue, but it rings a bell. I'm pretty sure I have come across this with some other Logic 9 users. There are a few things I would suggest. What if you bounce to Aiff... reimport the file into Logic and bounce to mp3 from there? Do you still get the crackles in iTunes? If you want you can send me the mp3 that crackles when you import it into iTunes by email (you've still got my address?) I can test it here on a 10.5.7 system with latest iTunes and a 10.6.2 system with latest iTunes. --- Deployment for web delivery... well, formats etc are covered across a number of tutorials and the Compressor tutorial(s) may interest you. I love compressor as it enables me to batch convert multiple video or audio files to different formats and just runs in the background. :) Rounik

Well old chum, I think I'm finally cracking up... I've just replayed the dodgy MP3s and now not so much a 'hic' To be honest, I think I really just have to ask you a straight question and that is what you would recommend for MP3 conversion There is another biggy that Nick and I still aren't sure about. This has come about after slavishly watching Steves really useful course on Mastering. At the end SH does a wrap up with some 'golden rules', the one that we just don't get is his advice to always keep the mixing phase and mastering phase as separate tasks. I don't understand why one can't get the mix 'just about right' and then Master in the same logic session. Oh well, guess I know what I'm doing tonight... watching MPV Compressor tutorials!! Cheers mate g

[i]At the end SH does a wrap up with some 'golden rules', the one that we just don't get is his advice to always keep the mixing phase and mastering phase as separate tasks. I don't understand why one can't get the mix 'just about right' and then Master in the same logic session.[/i] Of course you can... I just don't recommend it. Mixing and mastering are separate processes. Though you're able to do both in the same project I like to create a separate mastering template with all kinds of bells a whistles ready to go on different audio tracks so that I can try different approaches and A/B the results.

That makes sense, brilliant course btw SH, can't thank you enough