Mp3Gain the house?

[JackTucky]

I have downloaded this but haven't read that much about it.  It's supposed to equalize the volume on your MP3 collection?

Anyone ran this on the whole collection?  Where you happy?

Art

[Dermbrian]

That wouldn't work for me, since my entire collection is my own LP's converted to MP3's.  One scratch or loud crackle in the middle of a track and normalizing doesn't necessarily fix stuff that is recorded too quietly the first time around. 

[SalmonKing]

I have downloaded this but haven't read that much about it.  It's supposed to equalize the volume on your MP3 collection?

Anyone ran this on the whole collection?  Where you happy?

Art

I have, and I am very happy with the results.  The thing I like about it is that the audio data remains untouched, unlike other normalization methods.

[JackTucky]

SK:

Care to share how you ran it?  Command line?

Thanks

[RacerX]

I ran it under Windows XP.  It has a GUI.  It's really simple to use.

[DrewKaree]

The thing I like about it is that the audio data remains untouched, unlike other normalization methods.

Untrue.  I'll find the reporting on it, and link back for you, but ReplayGain or something similar in name is the thing to use if you wish to do something like this.

Again, I'll find and link back.

Are you looking to normalize to create mix CD's?  That's about the only reason to use MP3Gain, because you can burn the normalized song set to CD, whereas with ReplayGain is limited to playback on your computer.

It'll depend on why you wish to normalize.....I suppose I should make a note of that....I sound like I'm arguing with myself, don't I?

[DrewKaree]

Alright.  It is called Replaygain.  The only problem is that it's only utilized by Foobar 2000 or a DSP plug-in for WinAmp.

Here's a link for you, they've done testing down to the byte level, and it does in fact make some changes which may or may not be reversible in certain instances.  Again, if you are looking to make a mix CD or don't wish to use WinAmp or Foobar 2000, MP3Gain is the way to go, however, it isn't lossless.

Take all this with a grain of salt, though.  I'm betting unless it's clipping, you probably aren't going to notice the difference in some dramatic way. 

I guess I'm saying 6 and a half-ish of one....not so much of the other.

Link 1

Link 2

[JackTucky]

I just want all of my songs on my jukebox to play at the same volume.  Most are OK, but occasionally some songs will be too loud.  It's not just the rap either 

Art

[DrewKaree]

ReplayGain with Foobar or Winamp, then.

I know your collection is large, so this suggestion might just be useless, but you could just MP#Gain the albums that are loud.  MP3Gain works well for its intended purpose and if you're REALLY careful about taking note of your changes to avoid clipping, but to use it on your ENTIRE collection is to me, asking for trouble somewhere, and it'll probably be one of those things where you won't notice the problem until you have a party and people are over, thereby making you look like a shmuck. 

I did it on a 21-disc audiobook (MP3Gain) and my daughter was listening to it after I did that, and came in to tell me something was wrong with the audio - replayed it for me...everything else seemed nomal, but there was a rather loud passage and it sounded like a bad cassette tape in that section.

I can only imagine the issues with your several-hundred-disc collection if you ran it on the entire thing at once!

[SalmonKing]

SK:

Care to share how you ran it?  Command line?

Thanks

Yeah, it comes with a GUI.  Add your directories that contain the MP3's in (it is a recursive search), then do an Album Gain of 89.  Works perfect for me!   

[SalmonKing]

ReplayGain with Foobar or Winamp, then.

I know your collection is large, so this suggestion might just be useless, but you could just MP#Gain the albums that are loud.  MP3Gain works well for its intended purpose and if you're REALLY careful about taking note of your changes to avoid clipping, but to use it on your ENTIRE collection is to me, asking for trouble somewhere, and it'll probably be one of those things where you won't notice the problem until you have a party and people are over, thereby making you look like a shmuck. 

I did it on a 21-disc audiobook (MP3Gain) and my daughter was listening to it after I did that, and came in to tell me something was wrong with the audio - replayed it for me...everything else seemed nomal, but there was a rather loud passage and it sounded like a bad cassette tape in that section.

I can only imagine the issues with your several-hundred-disc collection if you ran it on the entire thing at once!

I have over 25,000 songs over 1,700 albums, and have not heard one problem yet.  Album Gain of 89.0 applied across the board.  I'm not saying that there aren't issues, I'm just saying that if there are, I haven't come across them.

[DrewKaree]

  I'm not saying that there aren't issues, I'm just saying that if there are, I haven't come across them.

I totally understand, SK.  If I came across harshly, I apologize.  I know you're offering help, and it's appreciated.

[richms]

For playback here, I just put the dynamic range compression plugin from foobar into the playback chain. For party situations sound quality is of secondary concern AFAIC

[JackTucky]

I have a backup, so I may just go ahead and play around.

I'm  shopping for a bigger hard drive already for the Jukebox.  60 gig is full.  Best Buy has a 160 gig I think, $120 with $90 rebates.

It's sold out on the website, but says it's in stock at stores locally.  Have to go out and pick one up.

[RacerX]

http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

MP3Gain does not just do peak normalization, as many normalizers do. Instead, it does some statistical analysis to determine how loud the file actually sounds to the human ear.
Also, the changes MP3Gain makes are completely lossless. There is no quality lost in the change because the program adjusts the mp3 file directly, without decoding and re-encoding.

Drew, it's possible the problems with your mp3's existed before you ran them through MP3Gain.  MP3Gain does not do any encoding (in fact, it uses the ReplayGain algorithm!) so it could not have messed up the sound on certain sections of the files.