Author Topic: Volume Analysis Enhancements  (Read 7364 times)

Steven

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Steven: For Volume Analysis, that is true. However, it doesn't allow me to control how high/low I want the album's volume to be (the default on MP3Gain is 89.0 dB, but in most cases, I like my albums to be louder than that, about 92 to 94 dB). Also, it doesn't detect clipping either.

Also, I use MP3Tag since I can use its Extended Tags feature (similar to MB's Tag Inspector) to edit multiple tags at a time.

VX: Exactly.
not directly related to this thread, but i have enhanced the volume analysis function so that the calculated replaygain values can optionally be notched up or down, and also an option to alert if sound would be clipped using the calculated replaygain values (but my opinion is most songs these days are cranked up to max loudness with little dynamic range, so the replaygain adjustment is usually downwards anyway and clipping wouldnt apply so thats why i have never bothered with this in the past)

Maleko12

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Awesome! That would eliminate two issues: Having to use mp3Gain to do volume analysis (and sometimes has issues with AAC or non-Latin symbols) and having to send the files to mp3Gain. Can't wait to use it in action.

I do agree with how albums are blasted quite high (scary when the original release of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless is quieter than any of The Tallest Man on Earth's albums). However, 89 db is a tad too low.


Maleko12

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Hmmmm... it doesn't seem to be doing anything besides regressing it to that 89 db range.  I changed the replaygain to 93.0 on an album in mp3gain. But when I decided to increase it up a db in MB, instead of going up (or even remaining the same), it went DOWN back to 89. Strange.

Steven

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did you listen to the results?
run it with no adjustment and see the value of the replaygain tag in the properties tab of the tag editor. Then run it with the adjustment and you will see the replaygain tag is adjusted.
mp3Gain has its own set of APE tags that records various things so would ignore what MB did - other players will just look at the peak and replaygain value tags
Last Edit: December 07, 2011, 08:44:09 AM by Steven

Maleko12

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OK, testing an EP which has three tracks:

These are the results of Album Analysis (which only adds the tags into the file, and does not adjust the volume)
Track 1: 97.7 (Track Volume) 97.7 (Album Volume)
Track 2: 96.4 (Track Volume) 97.7 (Album Volume)
Track 3: 98.5 (Track Volume) 97.7 (Album Volume)

As predicted, it's pretty loud, and not in the intentional Sleigh Bells' Treats way.

So I simply did the MB equivalent to that (analyze leveling values and write replaygain tags, with both track and album boxes ticked). Volume is still the same loudness.

So now I did the "permanently adjust the volume of each file" (the EP is in MP3) with the "adjust calculated replaygain values" at 0db (I'm assuming that nothing will be altered)

Volume still sounds the same, but on mp3Gain, it has shifted to 88.7db.

But now I realize what's going on: MB is placing the values in the ID3v2 tags, while mp3Gain places the values in the APEv2 tags. Which would explain when I cleared the analysis in mp3Gain it still has the same loudness.


SOOOOOOO, my mistake, and not me looking at the tags more closely.

Maleko12

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OK... another issue with the analysis. It skips volume analysis with non-Latin characters (Korean, Japanese, Chinese languages that I have been able to test).

Steven

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if you are just calculating the replaygain values then there is absolutely no reason i can think of why it would skip anaylsis for non-ascii char filenames and it works fine for me.
if you are doing a permanent adjustment then mp3Gain is called and it may have such limitations
Are you sure the files were ticked when selected for volume analysis


Maleko12

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Yeah, I was doing permanent adjustment... and after looking around a bit, the latest stable version indeed has problems with non-ascii characters. I know there is a beta version that supposedly handles non-ascii characters, but having tried that, it only works for mp3 files, and only sometimes it recognizes those specific filenames. So yeah, I don't believe there is much more you can do at this point. Thanks for the improvements!!

Steven

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i dont have time to test this myself but this should work for permanent volume adjustment (still using mp3Gain) and non-ascii chars in filenames
http://www.mediafire.com/?cjl6hav9scjiscv

Maleko12

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Alrighties... I'll show you what's going on with this new version you've giving me.

MP3GAIN_UNDO: +000,+000,N
REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_GAIN: -8.690000 dB
REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_PEAK: 1.251947
REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN: -8.690000 dB
REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_PEAK: 1.251947

This is what MP3Gain gives for the album without any volume changes. The album's current db is 97.7. So I want to lower it down 5 db to 92.7. Since MP3Gain only works in 1.5 increments/decrements, it'll lower to 93.2. So, I lower it in MP3Gain, and get these results:

MP3GAIN_UNDO: +003,+003,N
REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_GAIN: -4.175000 dB
REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_PEAK: 0.744412
REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN: -4.175000 dB
REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_PEAK: 0.744412

So, after resetting the values back to its original values in MP3Gain, I decide to do the same lowering of 5 db in MB. It should match the values as above. Instead, I get these results:

MP3GAIN_UNDO: +006,+006,N
REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_GAIN: +0.340000 dB
REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_PEAK: 0.442630
REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN: +0.340000 dB
REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_PEAK: 0.442630

Even if I reset these values back to the original values and raise it by 5 db, I get the same results. And the volume quiets down to the 89.0 default (no matter what one does).

Sorry this is not working for my computer. I can do a debug version if you want. Alternatively, I can still use MP3Gain for my mp3 files and just manually adjust the volume for AAC files via the volume adjustment settings.

Last Edit: December 09, 2011, 05:57:52 AM by Maleko12

Steven

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if you are using permanent volume adjustment then the entire operation is what mp3Gain does and nothing to do with MB - all i changed was the ability to pass filenames with non-ascii chars. The only other think i could do is change the reference level if you use the adjust volume slider in the MB dialog.
if you are just calculating replaygain values then MB does not interoperate with mp3Gain - mp3Gain uses its own APE tags and MB uses ID3v2 tags. This does not matter as players only look at the replaygain tag values

edit:
this has the change:
http://www.mediafire.com/?yxi283g38kx05e0
Last Edit: December 09, 2011, 03:12:49 PM by Steven

Maleko12

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Still the same results I'm afraid. Doesn't matter what I position the slider, it'll go straight to that 89 db default. And the audio also sounds quieter as well. So it isn't just the tags being wrong, the audio also reflects what the values say. So, I'll just use mp3Gain, and manually adjust AAC files and non-ascii characters through MB.

Steven

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very strange. Consider using the option to just write replaygain tags unless you really need the sound permanently adjusted (the only reason i can think of is if the adjusted file is for a mp3 player that doesnt support replaygain tags).
But in any case i've spent as much time on this as i can