Adding ReplayGain tags

[d6jg]

I am looking for ideas on the best way to add ReplayGain (album & track) tags to a library of 30,000 mostly FLAC & 320kbps MP3 files.

I am aware that Foobar2000 has tools to do this but it seems to be a two stage process whereas I am looking for a point, click and leave solution.

EDIT Some files already have RG tags

[bakker_be]

I am looking for ideas on the best way to add ReplayGain (album & track) tags to a library of 30,000 mostly FLAC & 320kbps MP3 files.

I am aware that Foobar2000 has tools to do this but it seems to be a two stage process whereas I am looking for a point, click and leave solution.

EDIT Some files already have RG tags

I've had good results with Mediamonkey, but it still uses the "true" replaygain algorithm, whereas Foobar uses EDU R128 since several years already. If you're at all uncertain of the origin of your existing RG tags, I'd advise Foobar, as it gives you the option to just ignore what's in place and recalculate. The two stage process is actually rather simple and logical:

• It first calculates all values and shows them in a table, indicating possible anomalies.
• You then have the option to write all (or selected) values to the tags

Doing it this way will ensure all your RG tags are consistently calculated, not having mixed reference levels or algorithms.

[d6jg]

Thanks
I guess my next thought is whether Foobar can handle 30000 tracks at one go?

[Roland0]

I am looking for ideas on the best way to add ReplayGain (album & track) tags to a library of 30,000 mostly FLAC & 320kbps MP3 files.

You may want to have a look at rgain, specifically the collectiongain tool:

This program is designed to apply Replay Gain to whole music collections, plus the ability to simply add new files, run collectiongain and have it replay-gain those files without asking twice.

Note: I've never used this, so no idea how well it works...

[Jeff07971]

Thanks
I guess my next thought is whether Foobar can handle 30000 tracks at one go?

Funny you should ask today !
I was lying in the bath yesterday when I noticed a BIG difference in gain between albums so I set out to find out why. Replaygain was the answer (or rather lack of it)

I use EZ CD Convertor for ripping to FLAC (and then converting to VBR MP3s for the car)
I found that EZCD has the ability to scan down directories and then recalculate all replay gains.
23000 Tracks takes a few hours to recalculate and then a few hours to re save the files (at about 130MB/s)

EZ CD is not free though (30 Euros for "lifetime" subscription) but there is a 30 Day trial
I like it a lot and have used it for many years

Jeff

[garym]

Thanks
I guess my next thought is whether Foobar can handle 30000 tracks at one go?

Yes, I used it once on 50,000+ tracks, writing album/track RG values to my files.

[bakker_be]

Yes, I used it once on 50,000+ tracks, writing album/track RG values to my files.

Same here, on 100K+ tracks ...

[d6jg]

Yes, I used it once on 50,000+ tracks, writing album/track RG values to my files.

Same here, on 100K+ tracks ...

I my case Foobar2000 is on a W10Pro client machine (i5 with 8GB Ram) and the files are on a NAS - you still don't see any issue ?

[stereoptic]

I've used the batch converter in dbpoweramp to convert the files to a different directory and after the conversion I replace the old directory with the new.

[bakker_be]

I my case Foobar2000 is on a W10Pro client machine (i5 with 8GB Ram) and the files are on a NAS - you still don't see any issue ?

None at all, I'm running it on a similar machine.

[garym]

I my case Foobar2000 is on a W10Pro client machine (i5 with 8GB Ram) and the files are on a NAS - you still don't see any issue ?

It will take longer with files on NAS, but I see no issue.

[BJW]

with winamp, you can write all track AND album RG tags at once, unattended. u just have to set a few options in prefs first, but its very easy and reliable.

however, it uses the orig RG, not R128. eventually i will redo the tags for R128, but in no rush to do so.

[w3wilkes]

Do any of these RG tools give the ability to preserve file timestamps like MP3Tag?

[Wirrunna]

Do any of these RG tools give the ability to preserve file timestamps like MP3Tag?

You can use BulkFileChanger (https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bulk_file_changer.html) to save the "modified time" to "accessed time", then run dbPoweramp or your RG tool of choice, then restore the "modified time" by moving "accessed time" back to "modified time".

I would test first on one album. I also add 5 seconds to the modified time so that LMS picks it up in a "changed or new" scan.

The "accessed timestamp" has been disabled by default since Vista - https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/...s-performance/ - so you won't upset many programs, but as usual, test on a small batch of files first.

[w3wilkes]

You can use BulkFileChanger (https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bulk_file_changer.html) to save the "modified time" to "accessed time"...
The "accessed timestamp" has been disabled by default since Vista.

I know this is an old thread but I thought I'd add this info for anyone else wanting to do replaygain and preserve the modified timestamp.

Finally getting around to this. I'm on Windows 10 and found that "accessed time" is apparently enabled by default. Found I could disable it manually using an elevated command prompt with the following command;

fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 3

Now for the test folder!