Why do garageband exports sound so "tinny"?

[zBernie]

Using garageband 10.1.0, if I import a song from itunes, then export the track as an .mp3, the .mp3 always sounds "tinny" or hollow. Forget about recordings! This is on a macbook pro retina. I've tried a lot of suggestions already, like keeping the volume levels so they don't register into the yellow or red. I also tried disabling the "export at full loudness" option.

So I guess the questions really is, how do I export an .mp3 and make it sound good? Or is this as good as it gets?

 

[Lifeisabeach]

So I guess the questions really is, how do I export an .mp3 and make it sound good?

You don't. You are converting from a lossy format to an inferior lossy format. You WILL lose some fidelity and there's nothing to be done about that. Ideally, you should convert from a lossless format (flac, alac, or directly from a CD) to the lossy format to minimize the loss of fidelity.

You could, for laughs, try a different encoder. X Lossless Decoder is, hands down, the best there is for OS X, and it's free!
X Lossless Decoder for Mac | MacUpdate

 

[zBernie]

I tried exporting the same song using the same export settings on my iMac, and the resultant mp3 sounds fine. Again, all I did was add a song to my GarageBand project from iTunes, then export it as an mp3 with the highest settings. When I export the same song from iTunes on my Macbook, it sounds very "tinny". I'm not sure what the difference is, except on the iMac my output is two Behringer MS16 speakers connected to the audio line out, and the output on my Macbook are the small Macbook speakers. But the mp3 exported on my Macbook even sounds crappy when playing it on my iMac.