Volume adjustment issues in SS 6.5?

[eschurr]

Mark,
thanks again for all your help. I look forward to more replies when you're on you're other PC.

I did tell MP3Tag to tell me what types of tags were in the file and it only show ID3v2.3 tags. so it's weird -- Foobar200 and MP3Tag don't seem to agree.

I can't find any Option in MPeGain that indicates what type of tags it should write or delete. I thought i saw something like this before, but i can't find it now.

If i understand correctly, info like song name, artist, etc is written in ID3 tags, but the replay gain info is in APEv2 tags -- right? are you thinking there may be some ID3v1 tags that are conflicting with the APEv2 tags?

[Mark Lanctot]

OK, just for you eschurr, I'm back at my regular PC.

To see what tag types exist in a file in Mp3tag's main window, right-click on a column header at the top. Select Customize Columns...Press the "paper with a star" icon (New Configuration) button. In the Name field, type "Current Tag" without the quotes. In the Value field, type "%_tag_read%" without the quotes.

Make a second New Configuration, calling this one "Tags In File" and putting "%_tag%" in the Value field, all without quotes.

This will now show where the current tag info is coming from (Current Tag) as well as the tag types that exist in the file (Tags In File). You should have ID3v2.3 in Current Tag and ID3v2.3 APEv2 in Tags In File.

Note if you click on a column it will sort by that column, so for example your ID3v1 tags will get sorted to the top all together, or your tags without APEv2 tags will get sorted to the top all together. Those are the ones you want to analyze with MP3Gain. You can then click the first one and shift + click the last one to apply changes like changing the tag type to ID3v2.3 or removing ID3v1.

A handy thing is to go to Tools - Options - Tools. Click the "paper with a star" icon (New configuration). Name it "MP3Gain Analyze". In the Path field, click on the folder icon on the right. Point to the mp3gain.exe file, on my PC it's "C:\Program Files\MP3Gain\mp3gain.exe". In the Parameter field type "/c /s r "%_path%"" including the quotes around the "%_path%". Select the "for all selected files" checkbox.

Now when you want to apply MP3Gain, just right-click the file or group of files and select Tools - Mp3Gain Analyze. Or double-click the file(s).

For the below section, this won't necessarily fix your problem, but it will blow away any data written to, say, ID3v1 tags. If the RG data is contained here, that may be confusing things.

To remove ID3v1 and write ID3v2 go to Tools - Options - Tags - MPEG and make sure ID3v2 is the only checkbox in the Write section. Below that I'm using "ID3v2.3 ISO-8859-1".

Below that, make sure ID3v1 is the only checkbox in the Remove section.

Now sort the list so all your ID3v1 tags are sorted at the top. Select the first, shift + click the last. Press the save button. Note your Current Tag and Tags in File should all read ID3v2.3 for these files. If there are still any old ID3v1 tags in Tags In File, select the first, shift + click the last and press the red "X" button to remove them.

Try this behaviour out on one or two test files first because it will delete your tags if you haven't set the Tools - Options - Tag - MPEG - Remove section right.

[Mark Lanctot]

Originally Posted by eschurr

I did tell MP3Tag to tell me what types of tags were in the file and it only show ID3v2.3 tags. so it's weird -- Foobar200 and MP3Tag don't seem to agree.

I don't use foobar2000 for tagging as I find it mucks up things too much. I use Mp3tag.

If i understand correctly, info like song name, artist, etc is written in ID3 tags, but the replay gain info is in APEv2 tags -- right?

Yes.

are you thinking there may be some ID3v1 tags that are conflicting with the APEv2 tags?

Yes, that's what I suspect. I think either iTunes or foobar wrote the RG data in an ID3v1 tag or merged it into the ID3v2.3 tags and there's a conflict or it's in a place where SlimServer isn't looking for it.

Here's what I *know* works with SlimServer 6.5:

- ID3v2.3 tags containing artist/title/album/genre etc.
- APEv2 tags written by MP3Gain containing ReplayGain data

You have some stuff to work with now. I'm going back downstairs to have supper. :-)

[eschurr]

Mark,
thanks for all your help. Your messages are clear and precise. I've got everything working except the part where MP3Tag talks to MP3Gain -- i get a command line window message saying something like "r can not read r." I think i'm mis-entering your command string.

Anyway, that is not my main problem. Weird things are still happening.

I took a test file and used your process to strip the ID3v1 tags from it.

MP3Tag says there are only ID3v2.3 tags in it.

Slimserver, however reports a volume adjustment vlaue of -14.97!

Then i used foobar to put a specific value (+2) in the Track Gain tag.

MP3Tag confirmed that there was now a APEV2 tag also in the file.

i rescanned with slimserver -- and it says the volume adjustment value is -5!

this file has NEVER been brought into iTunes (although the original from which it was copied was).

ARGH!

My next test is to rip a file from a CD and see what i get with it.

Any ideas are VERY welcome...

[Mark Lanctot]

Originally Posted by eschurr

I've got everything working except the part where MP3Tag talks to MP3Gain -- i get a command line window message saying something like "r can not read r." I think i'm mis-entering your command string.

Yeah, it was hard with the quotes inside of quotes like that. Should be:

/c /s r "%_path%"

including the quotes.

Regarding your persisting problems, I'm running out of ideas. Are you using track gain, album gain or "smart" gain in SlimServer? Do your files show differences between track gain and album gain?

[Mark Lanctot]

Originally Posted by Mark Lanctot

/c /s r "%_path%"

BTW I should mention that this analyzes track gain only, ignoring clipping.

[eschurr]

I am using Track Gain only.

[barcar]

Does mp3tag show any iTunNorm tags in the extended properties (Alt+T)? This seems to be where iTunes sticks Sound Check information.

See this thread http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=28524 for a similar discussion.

BarCar.

[eschurr]

1. There is either a bug in SS 6.5.1 or an undesireable (and uncontrollable?) change in volume adjustment behavior from 6.2.1.

I have two PCS, with identical copies of my music libary. On one i have loaded SS 6.2.1, and for a particular song it shows a volume adjustment value of -4.54 db. On the other computer, where i have SS 6.5 loaded, it shows a volume adjustment value of -13.91. this is the case for many files. SS 6.5 SHOWS DIFFERENT VOLUME ADJUSTMENT VALUES THAN 6.2.1

2. Yes, MP3Tag shows this value for iTunNorm in the file above:

000012D1 000012BB 0000A6D6 0000922D 0002811F 0002811F 000084F7 000084C0 0001FE82 0001E16D

I don't know how to interpret it.

DEAN: Are you listening? HELP, please. the playback of my songs in 6.5 is terrible!

[SteveEast]

Originally Posted by eschurr

1. There is either a bug in SS 6.5.1 or an undesireable (and uncontrollable?) change in volume adjustment behavior from 6.2.1.

I have two PCS, with identical copies of my music libary. On one i have loaded SS 6.2.1, and for a particular song it shows a volume adjustment value of -4.54 db. On the other computer, where i have SS 6.5 loaded, it shows a volume adjustment value of -13.91. this is the case for many files. SS 6.5 SHOWS DIFFERENT VOLUME ADJUSTMENT VALUES THAN 6.2.1

2. Yes, MP3Tag shows this value for iTunNorm in the file above:

000012D1 000012BB 0000A6D6 0000922D 0002811F 0002811F 000084F7 000084C0 0001FE82 0001E16D

I don't know how to interpret it.

DEAN: Are you listening? HELP, please. the playback of my songs in 6.5 is terrible!

Try deleting that tag and see if 6.5 then agrees with 6.2.1. I don't think 6.2.1 looks at iTunNorm.

Steve.