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Topic: Should I use mp3 gain? (Read 6518 times) previous topic - next topic
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Should I use mp3 gain?

I have lots of music from different sources, some I have ripped my self.  I have noticed that lots of songs even some from the same album have a varying volume.  But mostly just lots of songs that are 20% as loud as my others causing me to blow my ears out on my iTouch.  Should I use Mp3 gain?  If it messes up the quality at all I don't want to use it.  And would it make some softer 'quieter'  songs in some albums too loud?  While I'm at it should I update to Id3 tags in Itunes.

Should I use mp3 gain?

Reply #1 –
Quote from: tospace on
Should I use Mp3 gain?


Depending whether you want to reach for the volume knob when the volume changes.

Quote from: tospace on
If it messes up the quality at all I don't want to use it.


No, it does not mess with the quality.

Quote from: tospace on
And would it make some softer 'quieter'  songs in some albums too loud?


No.

mp3gain is an implementation  of Replaygain. You can read up on it here:

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Replaygain

Should I use mp3 gain?

Reply #2 –
Quote from: tospace on
...  Should I use Mp3 gain?...


I use mp3 gain and have no complains. I suggest you to use "album gain mode" to preserve the dynamic range among songs of the same album. MP3 gain is reversible just in case you change your mind.

Should I use mp3 gain?

Reply #3 –
Quote from: cpchan on
Quote from: tospace on
And would it make some softer 'quieter'  songs in some albums too loud?

No.

With respect to other songs, if you use track gain, then the answer is actually yes; quieter songs can indeed be too loud.

Now if the guy is just cobbling together tracks from various sources (read: masterings) to make an album then using album gain might not work very well either.

Should I use mp3 gain?

Reply #4 –
Quote from: greynol on
With respect to other songs, if you use track gain, then the answer is actually yes; quieter songs can indeed be too loud.


You are correct in an album context. This is why I use album gain when I listen to an album and track gain when I have a shuffled playlist (I use vorbisgain). Unfortunately, it seems like you can't have both with mp3gain.

Should I use mp3 gain?

Reply #5 –
I am one of those people who believes that a quiet song in the context of an album still ought to be a quiet song in the context of a compilation or shuffled playlist.  There have been many times that I have listened to a quiet intro on one album segue into some other totally unrelated track and thought it sounded marvelous while at the same time thinking just how horrible it would have been had I used track gain.

Can you have both at the same time?  If you have an iPod then the answer is yes.  Apply album gain (or scale prior to encoding - I ditched mp3gain a while back ) and then convert the RG track gains to Sound Check values and turn Sound Check on when you want to use them.  EDIT: Actually, you can do this with anything that allows you to turn on and off Replaygain as well.  Wait a second, I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know here.  To incorporate the whole thing with mp3gain using mp3s you either copy the RG data over to ID3v2 tags, or simply scan with an application that will write them to ID3v2 (eg: foobar2000) after they've been adjusted with mp3gain.  I haven't given much thought to the mechanics involved when using aacgain with aac files.

Should I use mp3 gain?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: tospace on
And would it make some softer 'quieter'  songs in some albums too loud?

Matters if its something like a movie score or game soundtrack, etc., where the volume isn't all jacked up to begin with.

With some of those even using the default of 89.0 dB it will sometimes cause clipping, or be at or very near the "Max Noclip Gain" level, on such things I don't raise the volume.
 

Should I use mp3 gain?

Reply #7 –
Quote from: greynol on
Wait a second, I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know here.  To incorporate the whole thing with mp3gain using mp3s you either copy the RG data over to ID3v2 tags, or simply scan with an application that will write them to ID3v2 (eg: foobar2000) after they've been adjusted with mp3gain.  I haven't given much thought to the mechanics involved when using aacgain with aac files.


True, you can do it this way, but it is convoluted and time consuming (just think about doing it on a huge library). With vorbisgain I can apply both album and track gain recursively with a one liner.

Should I use mp3 gain?

Reply #9 –
Quote from: greynol on
Sure, but I don't see how vorbisgain is going to be of any use for what the OP is asking here.  Foobar2000 or metamp3 (the other example) will, OTOH.


True. All I am saying it that it would be nice if mp3gain can do that. FWIW, I have just submitted a feature request at sourceforge for tag based Replaygain and recursion.

Should I use mp3 gain?

Reply #12 –
Thanks for all the help guys.

I converted all my songs to ID3 tag 2.4 in iTunes, I don't know why though.

I'm running album gain in Mp3Gain right now as most most of my albums are from 1 place and not just random songs.  I was surprised to see some of my songs ware up to 100db, most of them were around 83db though.

Can some one explain the differences in Volume, Track Gain, Album Volume, and Album Gain. 

for example under track gain it will have like a -1.5dB.

Should I use mp3 gain?

Reply #13 –
Quote from: tospace on
Can some one explain the differences in Volume, Track Gain, Album Volume, and Album Gain.


Volume is the loudness level of a given track.

Track Gain is the adjustment required by MP3Gain to match the desired loudness (default is 89dB). The adjustments can only be applied in +/- 1.5dB steps.

Album Volume is the average loudness of a given album (per "album" tag).

Album Gain is the adjustment required by MP3Gain to match the desired average album loudness (default is 89dB). The adjustments can only be applied in +/- 1.5 steps.

Track mode is where ALL THE TRACKS SELECTED will be matched to a specified loudness level. That means that quieter songs will be as loud as louder ones.

Album mode is where ALL THE TRACKS THAT SHARE THE SAME ALBUM TAG will receive the same adjustment by MP3Gain, thus preserving the difference in loudness between them. In other words: quiet songs remain quiet, in relation to the louder ones in any given album.

Hope this is clear enough.

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