Hi,
I am very confused by this process - I want to use mp3gain to have all my albums generally the same volume but I want them also to have the lows and highs as they were recorded (hopefully this makes sense). I have read the MP3gain faq on this board - and I don't understand the information from Shadow RD 9 or from several others who say to maximize using noclip gain (it contradicts what the mp3gain help which says - "
'Maxmizing' or nomalizing the maximum amplitude of sound files is not a good way to make them the same volume."
The information on this faq is also old since the interface for the program has changed. (I am using the most current version out 9.5/1.2.2)
I am familiar with all the terms and what the program does I am just not sure the best way to proceed (Mainly - I don't want to screw up 10,000 mp3s )
What I think I need to do is have load all my files and do an album analysis (when it does this is the program smart enough to analyze each album indivdually in a list or do I have to do them all separate? I am pretty sure that it is but it doesn't hurt to ask) and then just click album gain (can it really be this simple?) - I am fine with the default setting of 89 for now (I will mess around with this later).
But I am not sure if I need to worry about max no clip gain for each file or max no clip gain for album?
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I want to use mp3gain to have all my albums generally the same volume but I want them also to have the lows and highs as they were recorded (hopefully this makes sense).
It sure does. MP3Gain doesn't change the dynamics of the MP3 files - any volume differences inside one file will be preserved.
What I think I need to do is have load all my files and do an album analysis ...
Yes.
(when it does this is the program smart enough to analyze each album indivdually in a list or do I have to do them all separate? ...)
As long as you have
Options -> Each folder is album checked, yes.
... and then just click album gain (can it really be this simple?)
Well, you should perform an album analysis first and save the results to a CSV file. That way, if something goes wrong when applying the gain changes, you don't have to go through the long analysis again.
But I am not sure if I need to worry about max no clip gain for each file or max no clip gain for album?
All this feature does is to make the volume of the file or album as loud as possible without it clipping. It's not intended for equalling out volumes of different files. So no, you don't have to worry about those features.
Go with the default 89dB album gain, and you'll be fine.
BTW: Glen will be releasing MP3Gain 0.96 very shortly:
Okay, this really is the last one before the official 1.0 release.
Someone just ran over nine thousand files through the program, and less than
ten had any problems. I fixed those problems, so now I really think the
program is as "stable" as it can be.
Since you're talking about similar amounts of files, I'd wait for this. Glen will make the binaries public on Monday.
HTH
Dominic
Thanks for your help. I certainly will wait for the next version.
it's just personal taste, but i wouldn't load ALL of my music in and then procede with album gain (unless mp3gain is 'smart' enough to figure out which albums belong in albums together. i haven't really used the program that much, and my mp3s aren't really sorted so well). for me, it was exactly those differences you're trying to keep that i wanted to get rid of. i.e. i wanted all the songs to be the same volume, since it's a pain to have to keep adjusting the volume with each song. within a particular album i might like to keep the relative volume differences between the songs, but that's about the extent to it. as i understand it, that's supposed to be the extent of it. also... it likes to bitch about "not mpeg I layer III stream," so i tended to do it in small batches to make sure that all my mp3s were really mp3s. which they were, despite the reported 3-4% reported error rate ...
unless mp3gain is 'smart' enough to figure out which albums belong in albums together.
As I said above, if you have "Options -> Each folder is album" checked, it will treat each folder as an album.
for me, it was exactly those differences you're trying to keep that i wanted to get rid of. i.e. i wanted all the songs to be the same volume, since it's a pain to have to keep adjusting the volume with each song. within a particular album i might like to keep the relative volume differences between the songs, but that's about the extent to it.
You are talking about exactly the same thing as bronco30 was. Album Gain treats all MP3 files of an album as one big file and corrects the volume thereof. That means, all dynamics in the album are preserved.
it likes to bitch about "not mpeg I layer III stream," so i tended to do it in small batches to make sure that all my mp3s were really mp3s.
You can disable that check by selecting "Options -> No check for Layer I/II". I guess in most cases you can be certain that your MP3s actually are MP3s, even if you downloaded a lot of stuff via the net.
But I agree, throwing 1000+ MP3s at MP3Gain in one go isn't really a good idea.
CU
Dominic
But I agree, throwing 1000+ MP3s at MP3Gain in one go isn't really a good idea.
I'd l definitely recommend just doing a few albums at once until you're sure you're getting the results you want.
And yes, if you're doing large numbers of files at once you'll definitely want to wait until 0.9.6 is out (I'm sending it to the mirror sites on Monday, so it should be up by Tuesday). For one thing, simply loading the list of files in 0.9.5 is really slow. I fixed the bad code that caused the slowdown.
Also, the error handling is modified; if you're processing a large batch of files and have an Error Log file identified, it will pop up a single message after
all the files are done, saying, "There were 11 errors during processing. Would you like to see the Log file now?"
And if you do
not have an Error Log file defined, then as each error pops up it will say, "The following error occurred while processing file
xxx.mp3:
(error message). Would you like to choose an Error Log file right now so you can skip the rest of these error messages until all the processing is finished?" (or something like that, I'm on a different computer right now, so I can't check the actual message).
-Glen