Anyone use ReplayGain?

Foebane72

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This is a method of analysing MP3s and applying non-lossy code to the files that tells players to play files at a certain volume, so that all the files are at the same percieved loudness so there's no need to reach for the volume control after every track or album.

I can use a program like MP3Gain to do so, but there would be extra work required to get it to work with Foobar2000, Rockbox and Android Music Player. What's more it would probably take a whole day to process the nearly 3000 files I have.

The thing is, do any of you use it and do you think it's worth it?
 
I use Foobar2000 to set it on both MP3 & FLAC for my Squeezebox library. It's great if you regularly build playlists or use random play. If your files are correctly tagged then Foobar2000 can batch process the entire library using the album tags.
 
1. I get the impression that if I wanted to use my MP3s on those applications, I'd have to convert all my tags to APE from ID3v2 so that it would work fine with Foobar2000.

2. I understand that MP3Gain can process the volume information in the MP3 tags so that it would work with any player, but would the ID3v2 tags be intact?

3. What does clipping sound like? Is there a way to avoid it?
 
I use it when ripping from CD with DBPoweramp. Its applied as a DSP effect when I rip to FLAC and MP3.
Its just a computed value placed in the tags. It can be calculated for individual tracks or the whole album. My player has something called smart gain and it it plays using whichever gain is present in the tags.

I haven't bothered to check how effective it is. I just use it and it seems to work without issue.
 
No need to convert tags.

Replay Gain is just another (extended) tag field. It doesn't interfere with anything else.

Can't help with software players. I only use Foobar2000 to add the Replay Gain. Never experienced an clipping in my Squeezebox system.
 
Will an MP3 processed with MP3Gain work on a player (like Android Music Player) that doesn't support RG? I wouldn't think so, but I read somewhere that MP3Gain actually changes the volume information in the file itself, so it wouldn't matter.
 
No need to convert tags.

Replay Gain is just another (extended) tag field. It doesn't interfere with anything else.

Can't help with software players. I only use Foobar2000 to add the Replay Gain. Never experienced an clipping in my Squeezebox system.


I am also using it with Squeezebox player. It works fine. I use MP3tag to display the tags. There is ablum and track gain and also track and album peak.
 
I would recommend you only scan the files not apply gain. Then you use a music player which supports replaygain. I've been using replaygain for years. It's dead simple, scanning 3000 would probably take an hour or so.
 
I wouldn't alter the original files in anyway. Just apply the gain in the tags.
 
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I would recommend you only scan the files not apply gain. Then you use a music player which supports replaygain. I've been using replaygain for years. It's dead simple, scanning 3000 would probably take an hour or so.

About four hours, actually. And it's exactly 2696 files, I checked.

Yes, I ran MP3Gain and applied the gain on the files themselves last night, track mode. It sounds much more even now, although background noise is elevated for very quiet tracks and quiet instruments, but frankly, I want to be able to hear it in the street or on the bus.

It's also reversible, as MP3Gain adds an APE tag that tells the software what the volume change was so that it can be reverted quickly.

I am now going to enjoy my collection all over again, to see how it goes with constant (or near constant volume).

I have plenty of backups of the original files in case the reversion doesn't work or whatever, so it's no loss.
 
If they're albums should have applied with album mode, track mode will screw up album track by track.

Foobar, scan selection as albums
 
If they're albums should have applied with album mode, track mode will screw up album track by track.

Foobar, scan selection as albums

Yes, I thought of album mode, but some albums I've created out of files I've collected individually over the years, they all have different volume levels and so it wouldn't have affected them, they would've remained the same.

But yes, there are problems with track mode, as I mentioned. I guess it's choosing the lesser of two evils.

As I said, if I have problems or I'm not happy I can always delete the modified collection and copy from backup, as I've done many times before when I've experimented with the files.
 
If you scanned in album mode, it still keeps track gain, you just select track mode in the music player.
 
Maybe, but I would like consistent results across all media players. The problem is, I LOVE the standard stock Android Music Player app that comes free with the Samsung Galaxy and Android in general, but I can't stand PowerAmp, but unfortunately, ReplayGain only comes with the latter.

It seems people here don't realise just HOW MP3Gain works. It doesn't just normalise waveforms - I've done that to every single file I've created, and believe me, the volumes still fluctuate wildly - but it actually examines them, second by second, to get a much more accurate reading of the file's "loudness" and change volume accordingly. I think that's the reason it took about four hours to do my collection, and whether it applied simple tags or physically changed the frame information wouldn't have made much difference.

In any case, this is my first day of playing around with ReplayGain, and I guess I still have a lot of experimentation to do.
 
here
 

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Thanks, Stephen, but that's the point, that menu option wasn't showing up at all.

However, I found out that I needed to "activate" it in the Preferences > Context Menu settings.

It's all sorted now.
 

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