Author Topic: How does MusicBee apply Replay Gain to .flac files?  (Read 6837 times)

ultrarunner2018

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Hi;
I have been experimenting with Replay Gain both in MusicBee and in Foobar2000. I am a bit confused as to what MusicBee is doing when you perform the "Analyze Volume" operation.
I select a number of tracks I want to work with, un-tick the "on album basis" so that I have correct analysys by track, slide the "adjust calculated replaygain values:" slider up to +6db to make the songs louder, and finally hit the Proceed button.

Once the process has completed, I notice that playing the songs I applied the replaygain +6db to are louder. But when I open the same files in Foobar, I see that the replaygain has not changed. This leads me to assume that adding the 6db in MusicBee does not actually change the replaygain tag values but only sets a flag to tell MusicBee to apply the gain while playing the song. So the same files will sound more quiet in another player, such as Foobar.

Is my thinking correct, or is something else going on here?

Thanks for your help

Ultrarunner2018

redwing

  • Guest
You should check, using either tag editor or tag inspector, if track gain tag value in your file changes when you analyze volume. Using tag inspector, you can also change the value manually. So you could test if foobar reads the tag correctly after changing the value. All is working fine for me.

frankz

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To add 6db gain to everything you should ReplayGain at 0 like normal and then use a preamp in your players set to add 6db gain on playback.  Both MusicBee and Foobar have preamp functions.

Will MB even write values that will potentially clip?

ReplayGain is meant to be a normalized standard.  It works best when used that way.

If you really want to do it this way, MP3Gain will permanently make your tracks louder.  Then ReplayGain to get them to match everything else.

ultrarunner2018

  • Jr. Member
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  • Posts: 42
Hey guys;
I did some "inspecting" and experimenting, and here is what I found:
Note: For these tests I ripped a track from a CD using EAC.

When I rip a track(s) with EAC into .flac format, then look at tags in MB Tag Inspector, I see that ReplayGain has been set. I do not see anywhere in EAC where this option can be set or reset, but I assume that EAC is setting the tag.

If I run "Restore Original Volume" on the track(s), the ReplayGain tag disappears in MB Tag Inspector, but scanning with Foobar still shows the same value as when it was first ripped.

I am returning all files that I used the gain slider on to their original volume and will make the adjustment in my music player with ReplayGain turned on.

FWIW: Using MB "Auto-Tag" is useless. It does not always retrieve the correct info.


frankz

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Just so you know, you can set playback volume adjustment in MusicBee for each individual file by right-clicking the file, selecting "Edit," and then "Settings."  Adjustments run from -100% to +100%.  If you have a handful of files that are too low, this is probably a better option than the global preamp setting I suggested earlier.

If you want to add 6db of gain to all of your files on playback, then the preamp suggestion is the better option.

Hope this helps.