Garageband to iTunes - BIG quality loss

[babbler]

I need to export a 'composition' comprising some background music but mostly clips of speech from GarageBand to Macromedia Director. As soon as I export it to iTunes, from which I can bring it into Director, I suffer serious loss of quality.

Any suggestions on a better route or a way to avoid the quality loss ?


Thanks

[zimv20]

i don't know what you mean by "serious loss". are we talking about the kinds of differences one hears from mp3 compression or incorrect dithering?

or does it sound like something has just gone horribly, horribly wrong?

[lad1509]

same here, its not a "big loss" in quality but I can definitely hear it.
why is that?

on a side note, what is the best way to transfer a beat from reason 3.0 to garage band?

thanks

[babbler]

It is speech, the original is not great, after going through iTunes it is still understandable, but it sounds as if the speaker has his head in a bucket. Muffled and indistinct.

[zimv20]

can you post some audio samples and exactly how you're going about importing and exporting?

[beatsme]

have you tried to modify the original with some EQ? It might produce better results...

[babbler]

have you tried to modify the original with some EQ? It might produce better results...


err sorry, I don't know what that means.

[babbler]

can you post some audio samples and exactly how you're going about importing and exporting?

I will have a play and generate some clips to post....

I export from Garageband simply by using the 'export to iTunes' option. I have not yet tried importing to Director - because it is not good enough in iTunes.


Thanks

[beatsme]

err sorry, I don't know what that means.

some equalization...you could probably boost the upper-mids of your vocal tracks before you export. It may help compensate for signal loss.

[LaoTzu]

some equalization...you could probably boost the upper-mids of your vocal tracks before you export. It may help compensate for signal loss.

Yeah, ? + I, choose EQ, preset Enhance voice, etc.


Where do I start? Did you set iTunes Import to anything? If not probably AAC 128K default - you may like MP3, Lossless, AAC @ 256K, Wave etc.

Oh, most spoken words you hear are compressed. TV, Radio, etc. Try using the compressor - maybe EQ - and if it still needs to be hotter/ louder/ more up front - Peak Limiter ( maybe built in, or Logic Express AU )

That should do it...

[iMeowbot]

Speaking of all this enhancement stuff, it would be a good idea to make sure the "sound enhancer" thingy in the iTunes playback preferences is turned off (it's on by default). If enabled, it will give you a false impression of what was imported.

[dejo]

Well, it's definitely not the GarageBand-to-iTunes transfer part, since this is done as an AIFF file.

[scottlinux]

Logic and Logic Express can open garageband sessions. There's a Logic Express 7 demo. Download that, open your song in LE and see if it's better.