FLAC to MP3

Is there a way when I use the batch processor to convert a FLAC file to an MP3 file for it too keep the meta-data?

Apparently the option to inherit from source is only for wav files

thanks,
~Jay

The inherit function is only when you don’t change file format.

Maybe you can help me solve a problem.
Here is what I want to do:
-I have 3000 church sermons. Their master files are .wav files.
-We need to encode them to two types of MP3 files for download for a total of 6000 files.
-I used the audio injector to add an audio tag at the beginning and end of each MP3.
-After they are encoded I use MP3 Tag Studio to edit the meta data.

Now we need to re-encode all 6000 files because the audio tag needs to be changed.

I would like to do a lossless encode which includes meta-data so that when I encode to MP3, the meta-data is preserved.

Is there a way to modify Wavelab so that an MP3 can inherit the meta-data from the FLAC file?

Or, is there another way to solve my problem?

thanks,
~Jay

After they are encoded I use MP3 Tag Studio to edit the meta data.
Now we need to re-encode all 6000 files because the audio tag needs to be changed.

Why not just edit the tags in MP3 Tag Studio and leave the audio untouched?

The audio is being changed, not the meta-data. Re-tagging 6000 files is a big job.

To be more clear, there are 3 element to our MP3 files:

  1. The sermon itself.
  2. An announcement at the beginning with brief details, and a free book offer.
  3. An announcement that the end of the sermon with detailed contact and copy write information.

Periodically, well need to change the announcements that appear on all 6000 files.
The meta-data is still the same - Title, Artist, Date, Genre.

By using Wavelab’s Audio injector, adding announcements is 100% automated.
If Wavelab could inherit the meta-data from a FLAC to MP3, then the whole process would be 100% automated.

Automation is good because it can eliminate user error. And when we have 3 million downloads per month, a single error can get widely multiplied!

~Jay

I see. Still your workflow isn’t clear; you say the masters are wavs, so where does FLAC come in to play? Further, you speak of only MP3s in the above workflow. But anyway, what you want seems not possible…

I should be more accurate.
The inherit function is when the input metadata format is compatible with the output metadata format.
For instance, if you have wav files with ID3v2 data, then this metadata will be transmitted to mp3 files.
This means, your procedure could be 100% automated if you used wav file instead of flac files.

This is what has me really confused. If wav files can have ID3v2, why do we have to bother with RIFF, BWF, aXML, etc.? And don’t FLAC files normally have ID3? Is Wavelab the only program doing ID3 in wav?

Thanks, this is even better than what I asked for. I had no idea that you could tag .wav files.

Is it safe to assume that ID3v2 is compatible with most playback devices and software?

~Jay

Sorry to confuse you, and thanks for your help.

My initial understanding was that there was no way to tag a .wav file. Therefore, I wanted to use FLAC for the master file.

So I was going to convert all the wav files to FLAC files with meta-data. Then use those newly created FLAC files as the master for whenever we needed to make new MP3 files.

But now according to Pg, and I just confirmed it by testing, I can actually add ID3v2 meta-data tags to .wav files, thus eliminating the need for the intermediate FLAC file.

~Jay

One more followup question for PG,

Is there a way in Wavelab to merge a txt file with all 3000 titles, dates, and other data fields, with the 3000 wav files?

thanks,
~Jay

Is it safe to assume that ID3v2 is compatible with most playback devices and software?

All devices or softwares can play wav that contain id3v2, but not all recognize the the metadata itself.

My initial understanding was that there was no way to tag a .wav file.

You should study the WaveLab 8 doc about this, because this domain has been completly redone and enhanced.

Is there a way in Wavelab to merge a txt file with all 3000 titles, dates, and other data fields, with the 3000 wav files?

Not possible (this is not the 1st request, hence I might study this in the future).
This bring said, the batch processor has meta-data capabilities for wav files (limited to wav). When you can add or replace tags in all your wav files. There is a chapter about this in the doc.