Converting WAV to OGG via WaveGain?

2005-10-03 02:54:18

Hi all,

I'm a newby at this so please bear with me. I have about 1700 CDs and recently bought an iRiver H340. I want to be able to put a few thousand songs onto the iRiver and then have the option to play them randomly. Problem is, those from older CDs tend to be a lot softer (perceived loudness wise) than those from newer CDs. This means that I have to adjust the volume control quite often.

So, I got onto the internet to see if there was a way around this and came up with the following:

1) Convert CD files to .WAV files using EAC
2) Use WaveGain to adjust my .WAV files
3) Use oggenc to convert to .OGG files

Now, 1) is easy. Problems start with 2) and I have some questions that I'm hoping you good folk might be able to help me with:

1) When I applied Album Gain to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours it applied an album gain of -7.71 dB. Does this mean that there is a set dB level within WaveGain and that, in order to bring Rumours to that level, each song was adjusted by -7.71 dB, thus preserving the relative loudness of each song, but bringing the overall loudness down by 7.71 dB?

2) If there is a set level, or a benchmark dB, what is it (is it 92 dB? 89 dB?) and can I adjust it? In other words, what dB level will Rumours now be at after the -7.71 dB adjustment?

3) If I apply Album Gain to all my albums on an individual basis are they all adjusted to that same (inbuilt) predetermined level?

4) Does Radio Gain do the same thing with each individual track? ie. does it bring each track up/down to the same level (say 92 dB)?

5) If I choose to apply either album gain/radio gain to, say, 100 albums/songs now and then one month later do the same to another 100 albums/songs, will all 200 albums/songs have been adjusted to the same level (or average level for albums)? After all, I don't want to have to adjust all my songs songs on my iRiver every time I add a new album. I want to make the new album equivelant to the songs already on the iRiver.

6) Whenever i try to add a Directory with subfolders using Speeks WaveGain frontend, I get a popup message saying "Directory does no exist".

7) Is it better to use Speeks WaveGain frontend or type the command lines directly into the MS DOS prompt? If I type them in directly, can someone please show me an example, one for applying album gain to files, another to applying album gain to a directory with subdirectories.

When converting to OGG, is it better to use OGGDrop, Oggifier (Speek) or WinVorbis (which, although it has a button to add a Directory, doesn't seem to work properly)?

9) Finally (and a little unrelated) what do you think the best WAV editing tool is? Does it matter which one I use in terms of the quality of the final WAV file (prior to using WaveGain)?

I realise that I may be coming across as a twit here, but I can't seem to find a straight answer to any of these questions (well, except number 8 as I only just thought of that one)

Thanks,

Trev 

Converting WAV to OGG via WaveGain?

Reply #1 – 2005-10-03 09:23:19

1) Yes.
2) Yes, it will end up at 89 dB by default. You can adjust it by using the Wavegain --gain parameter.
3) Yes.
4) Yes.
5) Yes.
6) Don't know.
7) You're probably better off using Speek's front-end.
Don't know.
9) http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ is the best free audio editor. WAV is lossless, so for sound quality, it doesn't matter which editor you choose.

Converting WAV to OGG via WaveGain?

Reply #2 – 2005-10-03 10:45:18

Sounds like WACK may be of use to you.

This would let you do 1, 2 and 3 in one go - which, when you are doing 1700 CDs, will help a lot.

It may look slightly daunting, but once you have it set up you can do all CDs with no further hassle.

We can provide assistance with the INI file.

Converting WAV to OGG via WaveGain?

Reply #3 – 2005-10-04 13:35:21

Thanks for the replies guys. That helps a lot.

About to download WACK so may take you up on the INI offer.

Thanks again.

Trev