More LAME questions

["Hawes,Timothy Edward (GEG)" <haweste@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm trying to understand the switches for LAME, when used with EAC for
ripping to MP3. I've ripped half a dozen albums so far, but seem to be
getting some unexpected results - i.e. very high reported bit rates, but
only average file sizes.

For testing, I'm using John Mellencamp's Scarecrow album. Picking a track
for comparison - Justice And Independence '85 (a 3min 33sec Rock track) - I
get the following results:

Original settings:
%l--alt-preset 128%l%h--alt-preset standard%h %s %d, EAC bit rate = 192
kbps

Reported bit rate for MP3 = 453 kbps, file size 4.9 MB


I then changed the EAC bit rate to 320 kbps and got the same results, i.e.

Reported bit rate for MP3 = 453 kbps, file size 4.9 MB


Changing the LAME settings to:
%l--alt-preset 128%l%h--alt-preset insane%h %s %d (EAC bit rate = 320 kbps)

Reported bit rate for MP3 = 320 kbps, file size 8.3 MB


>From the LAME documentation, "preset 128" would appear to set
the bit rate to 128 kbps, which then seems at odds with the "preset
insane" setting (max quality and 'hang' the file size).

The other bit I don't understand are the %l & %h switches, why is there
both low and high quality ?

Can you guys shed any light ?

Many thanks,

Tim H.

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