Diffrent level on flacfiles

[Ryssen]

My flac files on TS109Pro have so different level that i have to run and adjust the levels almost on every album...Puhh.
Is there a way to fix this?

[m1abrams]

My flac files on TS109Pro have so different level that i have to run and adjust the levels almost on every album...Puhh.
Is there a way to fix this?

Search for replaygain.

[Ryssen]

That only works on mp3 files and the softaware (Sqeezecenter) have to support it.Anyone else have this problem?

[Robin Bowes]

Ryssen wrote:
> That only works on mp3 files

No it doesn't.

http://projects.robinbowes.com/apply_replaygain

> and the softaware (Sqeezecenter) have to support it.

It does.

R.

[Moonbase]

I guess we all have this problem.

Fortunately, something like
metaflac --add-replay-gain filename.flac
usually helps ;-)

And rest assured, SC can handle the Replay Gain tags quite well.

[Uluen]

I've used RG on FLACs with SC a long time, no problems at all.

I'm using foobar2000 to RG scan new rips.

[teeitup]

I also get frustrated sometimes with this issue. The "smart gain" setting in SC does help but it's not perfect.

To those of you that have applied ReplayGain to your flac library I'm interested in your experiences and ideas.

Did you apply it one album at a time?

Could it be applied from the very top level so that all albums(folders) are adjusted equally?

What about new albums you rip?

Is ReplayGain calculated based on some type of base or does it do a compare with other music being adjusted? I've never been sure about this aspect. The different switches/settings lead one to believe that the latter is true.

I've put so much time into ripping and tagging that I'm a little nervous of doing something to the entire collection.

I know...back it up before doing anything. The library is just getting so large and mine is relatively small compared to some I've seen described on this forum.

Thanks,

[Moonbase]

A. One album at a time; I usually do it immediately using Mp3tag and some batch file export (even before Picard gets a hand on the files to store them away in the final folder structure).

B. Tools like metamp3, metaflac and vorbisgain just take what you give them and assume that to be »an album«, for the sake of calculating the »album gain«. So this just cries for some automation, especially if you have scattered files from VA albums all over the disc (under the artists folders, that is, in my case).

C. Replay Gain was originally based on 83 dB SPL which broadcasting and TV studios have long used as a standard »comfortable overall loudness«. Due to market pressure (and more people listening to Pop and Rock music nowadays), this has in the meantime changed to 89 dB SPL. So, yes, there is kinda »reference loudness«.

D. If you use a good tagger and have tagged your collection wisely, even larger collections can be RG'ed without problems: I recently let my Mp3tag/Batch loose on my ~24,000 track collection (mixed FLAC, MP3, OGG) and what can I say? Took some days but not one glitch.

E. The Mp3tag Export file I use is not really »fit for publishing«, has lots of »hard-coded« references to folders on my machine, and the resultant text file needs to be converted and handled by another batch process (mainly type it into another file to get rid of Unicode/charset issues, and execute the resulting batch file), but to give you an idea, here it is:

$filename('C:\Programme\Mp3tag\Process-Data.txt',utf-16)@ECHO OFF
REM Remove old and calculate new Track (=Radio) and Album (=Audiophile) Replay Gain for all files marked.
REM Uses Tycho''s "metamp3.exe" v0.92 beta 5, vorbisgain v0.34, metaflac 1.2.1
REM Will only operate on .mp3 files with ID3v2.3 tags in ISO-8859-1 encoding! (No UTF support yet.)
REM Will also operate on .ogg (Vorbis Type I) and .flac files.
REM At least '%artist%, %title% and %album%' must be set for Album Gain to function correctly!
$loop($if2(%albumartistsort%,%artist%) - $if2(%album%,'['unknown']'))
ECHO.
ECHO ALBUM: "$replace($if2(%albumartistsort%,%artist%) - $if2(%album%,'['unknown']'),'%','%%')"
$loop($num(%track%,2) %title%.%_extension%)$puts(fm,$get(fm)$if($eql($lo wer(%_extension%),'mp3'), "$replace(%_path%,'%','%%')",))$puts(fo,$get(fo)$if($eql($lower(%_extension%), 'ogg'), "$replace(%_path%,'%','%%')",))$puts(ff,$get(ff)$if($eql($lower(%_extension%), 'flac'), "$replace(%_path%,'%','%%')",))$loopend()$iflonger($get(fm),0,
ECHO Calculating MP3 Replay Gain...
"C:\Programme\Tools\metamp3.exe" --2 --remove TXXX'[replaygain_*]'$get(fm)
"C:\Programme\Tools\metamp3.exe" --2 --replay-gain$get(fm),)$puts(fm,)$iflonger($get(fo),0,
ECHO Calculating OGG Vorbis Replay Gain...
"C:\Programme\Tools\vorbisgain.exe" --quiet --clean$get(fo)
"C:\Programme\Tools\vorbisgain.exe" --quiet --album$get(fo),)$puts(fo,)$iflonger($get(ff),0,
ECHO Calculating FLAC Replay Gain...
"C:\Programme\Tools\metaflac.exe" --remove-replay-gain$get(ff)
"C:\Programme\Tools\metaflac.exe" --add-replay-gain$get(ff),)$puts(ff,)
$loopend()

Needs to be saved as something like »Batch - ReplayGain force new calculation (Album+Track).mte« in Mp3tag’s »exports« folder, and to be changed according to your setup. Be aware that every line break, blank, comma, and parenthesis is important … so maybe just for those strong of heart :-)

Also, this will only be able to calculate correct album gain if all tracks of an album are actually included in Mp3tag's selection. So best use it either on a single album, or on the whole collection. (Backup, no guarantee, etc. …)

Here’s the »Process.bat« I use to process whatever kind of batch stuff I let Mp3tag generate (linked to a button on the Quick Launch Bar for easy access):

@echo off
type Process-Data.txt > Process-Data.bat
call Process-Data.bat
del Process-Data.bat

(You might need to cmd /u /c Process-Data.bat instead of the call Process-Data.bat if working in a pure Unicode filename environment!)

F. If you’re not as married to Mp3tag as I am, foobar2000 is actually also a great way to do Replay-Gaining :-)

[teeitup]

Thanks for the input.

I think I'll run some tests and see if it's worth it.

I have a George Thorogood rip that is extra load. Silk Degrees by Boz Scaggs is almost a whisper. These should serve as good samples to see if the output can be better equalized.

[Ryssen]

""The "smart gain" setting in SC does help but it's not perfect.""

How do I enable this for a start?

[radish]

""The "smart gain" setting in SC does help but it's not perfect.""

How do I enable this for a start?

Settings/Player/Audio/Volume Adjustment

[Ryssen]

Iám doing RG with foobar now.So SC7 recognizes this automatic then?

[teeitup]

I ran "apply_replaygain" against the two folders I mentioned earlier. I heard no difference. I didn't think I'd need to rescan for it to pick up the settings. I was wrong. After rescanning the volume levels were much much better.

I took the plunge last night and applied Replay Gain to my entire FLAC collection. It took about 8 hours for it to complete. I rescanned overnight. I spent all afternoon listening and I have to say it was well worth it. The equalization made the listening experience even better.

Thanks for the links and input.

[moley6knipe]

For extra points, there are two bits to replay gain, both of which SC can use. Worth adding both if you play lots of odd tracks from different albums.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replay_Gain

[Ryssen]

"
I took the plunge last night and applied Replay Gain to my entire FLAC collection. It took about 8 hours for it to complete. I rescanned overnight. I spent all afternoon listening and I have to say it was well worth it. The equalization made the listening experience even better."

Did the same,it´s working great now..

[tedfroop]

Of course the thread would never be complete without mentioning the you can add replay gain/album gain to your tracks as you rip them with dbPoweramp.

[Moonbase]

… or EAC+REACT, or EAC+Mp3tag, or … ;-)