Distortion in Windows Media Player

Fifteen years ago, I published a post on my personal (non-music) tree planting blog, talking about how to solve distortion problems in Windows Media Player.  Some people are still using this app on older operating systems, and continuing to run into problems, so I'm going to migrate that information to this music blog.  But remember, this is for the Legacy player, not the new one!

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Have you ever listened to songs in Windows Media Player and found them to be distorted in places, so the sound quality is terrible? The same files may play perfectly in all other programs - I've had files that worked in WinAmp, RealPlayer, Quicktime, Nero, and a host of other programs with no problems, yet Windows Media Player would not handle them properly.

As it turns out, MicroSoft has a Creative PlayCenter MP3 decoder resident in the operating system which (in many but not all cases) is what causes the problem. Certain versions of Windows Media Player use this decoder, but there are compatibility problems. If you're not using that decoder file for whatever reason, you probably won't run into the distortion problems.

The simplest way to fix the problem, assuming that you're running on a Windows operating system, is to go down to your start menu on the bottom left side of the screen, click on it, then go into "search." You need to search your C: drive (or whatever drive your O/S resides on) and look for a file called "Ctmp3.acm" - if you can find that file, don't delete it, just rename it to "Ctmp3.bak" instead.

If you can't see the file extensions when you're doing searches (the default option on Windows, but one which I detest and disable immediately whenever I set up a new computer), I'll show you how to make your file extensions visible. Go to Windows Explorer, either through your Start menu or by holding down the "flying window" key (left of your left side alt key) and then pressing the letter "E" at the same time. Next, go into the Tools menu, and chose Folder Options in the drop-down Tools menu. In Folder options, click on the "View" tab. The seventh or eight option in that list usually says "hide extensions for known file types" and has a check beside it. Uncheck this, then click OK. Now you'll always be able to see file extensions in Windows Explorer and associated panels. If you're quite computer savvy, you might also want to set the other three options above and below that let you show hidden files, show O/S files, and display the full path name in the Title Bar (although this is only applicable if you're trying to conserve system resources by switching to Classic View, such as for intensive audio or video processing).

 

Anyway, now you know how to show file extensions, and how to fix the distortion problem on Windows Media Player. This may not be a problem on newer versions of Vista, but it certainly was on certain versions of WMP running on XP.


If you want a different approach to disabling the problem codec, here's another set of instructions:

The Creative Playcenter software rudely blocks the Windows MP3 codec. The following instructions show how to unblock it on Windows XP system. The instructions for other Windows versions are the same except the steps to get to the audio codec area from the control panel varies. Note that this will disable the MP3 capability of the Playcenter software. You can re-enable using the same steps or replace the Playcenter software.

1. Go to the Control Panel
2. Double click on "Sounds & Audio Devices"
3. Select the "Hardware" tab
4. Double-click on "Audio Codecs"
5. Select the "Properties" tab
6. Double-click on ctmp3.acm
7. Select "Do Not Use this Audio Codec"
8. Then click on the "Apply" button


Edit, a few years later:

Please note that there are a few posts online now from MicroSoft that might give you additional insight into this problem. Here are the links:

     answers.microsoft.com suggestion (June 2010)

     support.microsoft.com suggestion (September 2011)

Hopefully, between my own suggested solutions, and the comments that MicroSoft has brought forward, you'll be able to fix any issues that you might have.

Understanding Gain-Staging

If you don't understand what gain-staging is, it refers to the process that audio engineers and producers and DJ's deal with in order to ensure that when they're playing audio through a system with several different places to change the volume, that the final signal that comes out of the system is as clean and strong as possible, without exceeding the "maximum" 0 dB level that marks the beginning of distorted audio signal.

Putting this another way (from Wikipedia):  "Gain staging is the process of managing the relative levels in a series of gain stages to prevent introduction of noise and distortion.  Ideal gain staging occurs when each component in an audio signal flow is receiving and transmitting signal in the optimum region of its dynamic range."

The 0 dB level confuses many people.  That sounds like it should be a level with absolutely no signal, not a level with a high amount of signal.  Well, that's a long and complicated topic, so you'll just have to trust me on this for now.  Think of 0 dB as being the highest "good" signal strength, and signals that are weaker than that (or "quieter") have negative numbers going down as they get even quieter.  If you want a detailed explanation of that, and have some time, you can watch this video that I produced:

In some systems, moderate amount of distortion isn't bad.  A bit of warm distortion on a nice crunchy electric guitar can sound pretty good.  But in other situations, especially when dealing with a digital audio signal, distortion can sound bad almost immediately.

Imagine this situation that a DJ might face:
- Sound signal comes out of a piece of line level equipment such as a pitch-controlled CD player.  Or it might alternatively come out of a turntable, which will mean that the signal will need to be boosted by a pre-amp before being processed through a mixer or mixing console (usually, this is built into the console).
- Entering the "back" of the mixing console, the usual path for signal flow is "top to bottom" or "back to front" (although not always).
- The signal coming in from the equipment goes through a "gain" or "trim" knob on the channel strip.
- The signal then gets affected by the position of the Volume Fader on the channel strip.
- The signal then leaves the channel strip and goes to the Master Bus (often just called master).  The signal might get borrowed on the way by booth monitors, headphones, etc.
- On the master, the signal can be amplified (increased) or attenuated (decreased) by the master volume fader.
- The signal then leaves the mixer and often goes to an amplifier, which has another volume control.
- The signal leaves the amps and goes to the speakers.

Incidentally, sometimes the signal leaving the mixer will go straight to a speaker, because some speakers are called "powered speakers" and have their own amplifiers built right in to the speaker.

At any place that the signal is "low," there's a greater amount of background/system noise being introduced to the signal, RELATIVE to the overall strength of the signal.  This is called the Signal-To-Noise ratio.  Higher numbers are useful, because you want a greater amount of signal compared to the background noise level.

Of course, if the signal is too high and exceeds the 0 dB level, distortion can be introduced, so we try to avoid that.

Although different engineers and producers and DJ's and musicians will have different views on the matter, which can legitimately vary depending on the work that they're doing and the system they're using, a good general rule is that a signal should be moderately close to 0 dB at its peaks, but to still leave a gap.  This gap is called the Headroom.

If I'm producing music, I often try to have the smallest headroom gap (the peaks of the audio signal) to be several decibels (dB) below the 0 dB mark, but the valleys where the signal is weaker can be much lower than that.  So my average signal strength may end up being possibly at -12 dB or -10 dB. It varies.

If I'm DJ'ing and paying attention to the signal levels flowing through my system, the same approach is valid.  My peaks will be close to 0 dB (which is sometimes indicated by a red light on the VU level meters of the equipment).  My average will be a bit below that, but not too low.

As your signal passes through each of the various volume points in the system, it's great to have them all consistently treated roughly the same.  I'd rather see a lot of "strong but not too strong" signals at different points in the system, rather than some extremely weak (low/quiet) and some extremely strong (hot/high/loud).  The end result may be the same in both cases, but in the system which has a lot of "too weak" and "too strong," there's going to be more background noise AND more likelihood of distortion.  It's like Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  You don't want your porridge to be too hot or too cold ... you want it to be "just right."


Ok, now that you have a basic understanding, here are links to several pages which will give you more information:

  Sweetwater:
www.sweetwater.com/insync/gain-staging

  Sound On Sound:
www.soundonsound.com/techniques/gain-staging-your-daw-software

  Home Studio Center:
www.homestudiocenter.com/gain-staging

  Gearslutz:
www.gearslutz.com/board/rap-hip-hop-engineering-production/589213-proper-gain-staging-thread.html



And finally, here a video about Gain Staging that seems to have gotten a lot of positive comments:




Good luck with your DJ'ing, audio setups, and production projects.  If you'd like to find more information in my Understanding Sound tutorials, visit:

djbolivia.ca/sound

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

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