Hi Dane. I'd have to disagree with you on this one. I've used a number of rippers and used normalisation with each of them but for a long time was still disappointed as I could still hear noticeable differences in volumes of tracks taken from different albums. Only MP3GAIN gives me the desired results of all of my tracks sounding at the same volume level.
I've pasted some details from the MP3GAIN help files that explain the difference between normalisation and setting the volume of MP3 files to be the same that makes those few seconds to use MP3GAIN more than worth it. Concepts Concepts Peak Normalization Most programs that "normalize" sound files do so by adjusting all the samples so that the loudest single sample is at some specified value. This is not a good way to make all the files actually have the same loudness. First of all, the human ear does not hear the loudness of single samples. It averages out sounds over time. Secondly, today's popular music CDs are heavily compressed. The sound engineers making the CD raise the average level so that it sounds much louder, while compressing the loudest parts so that they don't distort. A typical uncompressed sound file might look like this: A typical compressed sound file might look like this: Both of these files have a peak sample at about 100%, but the compressed file has a much louder average level. It sounds much louder when played back. So to do actual loudness normalization instead of peak normalization, we need to calculate how loud the file actually sounds. MP3Gain uses the Replay Gain algorithm to calculate this loudness. Lossless Gain Adjustment The bad news: MP3Gain can only adjust the volume of your mp3 files in steps of 1.5 dB. The good news: 1.5 dB is a small enough step for most practical purposes. Most humans can just barely hear a volume change of 1 dB. The other good news is that this volume adjustment is completely lossless. In other words, if you adjust an mp3 by -6 dB and then change your mind, you can adjust it again by +6 dB and it will be exactly the same as it was before you made the first adjustment. Here's the technical reason why it's lossless, and also why the smallest change possible is 1.5 dB: The mp3 format stores the sound information in small chunks called "frames". Each frame represents a fraction of a second of sound. In each frame there is a "global gain" field. This field is an 8-bit integer (so its value can be a whole number from 0 to 255). When an mp3 player decodes the sound in the frame, it uses the global gain field to multiply the decoded sound samples by 2(gain / 4). So if you add 1 to this gain field in all the frames in the mp3, you effectively multiply the amplitude of the whole file by 2(1/4) = 119% = +1.5 dB. Likewise, if you subtract 1 from the global gain, you multiply the amplitude by 2(-1/4) = 84% = -1.5 dB. Kevin E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dane Trethowan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "PC audio discussion list. " <Pc-audio@pc-audio.org> Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 3:29 AM Subject: Re: Normalising .mp3's > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Yeah, well, rather than use that extra programme (if you're ripping from CD) > then why not get the CD ripper to do the job (either that or LAMe if you're > using it as the MP3 encoder). Any CD ripping programme worth its salt will > have a normalise function (I know that EAC and Easy CD DA Extractor certainly > do). > > At 20:21 13/02/2005 -0700, Raul A. Gallegos wrote: > > - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > There is a program called mp3-gain which you can google for. It allows > you to pick at what db value to raise or lower your mp3s and it does it > for you without losing quality. A good setting for some is 92 db and > for other 9it's 95 db. Most cds made in the 80's are recorded at 89 db > and so if you listen to one from that time and then pop in a cd which > came out in the last few years you definitely notice a difference. > mp3-gain is great for this reason. > > - - -- > We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. > -- Oscar Wilde > - - -- Raul A. Gallegos - http://www.asmodean.net > - - -- Public GPG Key - http://asmodean.net/raul-pgp.asc > - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) > > iD8DBQFCEBkxas0vKmIuNMcRAvuMAJ0UpvDPDT2iBpxS/k2Q9vW4zrnQbgCePWHH > 0UYLDUXgDnZ0/rV7sAwUahY= > =gfvx > - -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > _______________________________________________ > PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > - -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.8.7 - Release Date: 10/02/2005 > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: PGP 8.1 > Comment: A Member Of The TFT BBS Digital Security Initiative > > iQA/AwUBQhAa9SlBPqY64aUBEQL3ZgCgmyxO/cq/pxjLRojL0ZWV10X6wD0AoL1v > jVmKe4wqEr1qK4g1rYfBiZki > =rFjt > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > Dane Trethowan > http://www.tft-bbs.com/grtdane/ > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.8.7 - Release Date: 10/02/2005 > > > > _______________________________________________ > PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
