Trouble with playback of Golden on car radios [Solved]

battle79

battle79

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Hi Brains trust,

[Solved, see post #8]

Got an interesting problem with the new song this year.

All my songs sounds crisp and clean except Golden. I have purchased 3 different versions and acquired 4 more for testing purposes and all have the same problem. The bass is terrible and heaps of distortion throughout.

My wife has seen 2 TikTok's of setups (one in QLD, other unknown, wish she had more details for me) playing Golden and their audio both had the same problem, so at least I'm not the only one.

Strange part is that it sounds perfect through my PC, through the TV, and through the laptop. But pass it through the Sound Blaster and the FM transmitter and it's terrible.

Any audio guys got any input into what I could try as trial and error hasn't got me anywhere so far?

Or anyone got a version that is sounding good through a car stereo please let me know where you bought it?

Regards,
Rowan
 
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you could try put it through MP3Gain which may clean the file up ... i put all audio file through this to level the sound the same across all
nothing worse than thinking you've set the volume spot to only find you have a really loud mp3
 
Thanks for suggestion. Was a bugger to figure out how to install on windows 11. Two different dependencies that needed to be installed. Anyway....

Gave it a try with one of my mp3s and it didn't help just made it quieter overall. Will continue trying with other files and see if I can get better results.
 
If you run FPP, it has this type of audio feature built in. I think you can find it in the audio section for files and it might need a command to run and process everything. This reminds me I need to do it also. :)
 
Out of curiosity, have you plugged headphones into the sound card to confirm if it’s the audio output or the transmitter???
 
Sounds odd that its only the 1 song. My 2c is that perhaps that track (regardless of its obtained source) has a certain frequency in the mix that your transmitter has trouble reproducing and causes the distortion.
As Tric suggested above, try to see if its coming from the Pi's output, or from the transmitter, to try and isolate where the distortion is being introduced.
 
Thankyou all for suggestions, solved.

TriC) Sounded normal through earphones connected to sound blaster.

DJ, Juddge) Turning down in FPP to 70% get rid of most of the problem (bass distortion) and a new 3.5 to RCA to connect the transmitter got rid of the little bit of crackle that may or may not have been present previously. Other songs seem unaffected by change.

Still very weird that only one song was having issue, but glad it's fixed. My wife spent a lot of hours making the Free golden sequence into her own derivative creation and will be very happy we will be able to use it.

This is why I love this community so much,
Rowan
 
After a bit more trial and error, the solution is both the mp3gain and the turning down in FPP, removing either one from the equation results in the distortion still being present. At least I know now and have a solution.
 
Sounds like a specific bass frequency might be at the sweet spot of your transmitter to distort. Glad you got it sorted!
 
battle79 said:
Turning down in FPP to 70% get rid of most of the problem (bass distortion)
Click to expand...
This is particularly important.
It's one of those settings where "setting it too high" causes problems when you wouldn't think it would.
I would always recommend for every FPP install not to exceed 70 on the volume settings, and turn up the Amp/Transmitter for a bit more gain where needed,
 
I have to admit, my 4yo asked me to play Golden in the car this afternoon which I begrudgingly obliged.

Our car has a decent sound system in it so I was pretty shocked at the range, depth and amplitude of bass frequencies it has in it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the modulator in the FM transmitter is struggling to reproduce the lowest ones as @djgra79 has mentioned.

If you have time, perhaps applying a bass cut filter from 40hz to the track might help.
 
I have an EQ on my transmitter output that rolls off 100Hz by about 3dB and 50Hz by 6dB, for exactly that reason.
 
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