Player setting to prevent clipping based on RG tags

[redwing]

Would be nice if there's a new tickable ReplayGain control setting "Prevent Clipping" under Controls menu that could auto-reduce pre-amp gain as much as required to prevent clipping by computing RG tag values of the playing track. This would work according to the selected RG setting: smart, album, or track gain setting.
If implemented, the user would no longer need to adjust volume slider during volume analysis to prevent clipping because MB would handle it better under whatever RG control setting. I understand Foobar has got this feature for a long time, preventing clipping without much involvement from the user.

Ideally it would be nice if there's an MB version of "Advanced Limiter" that limits only clipping parts by pre-analyzing buffered signal in real time, but that could be added later as a plugin.

[Anti]

Would this prevention happen during analysis?

So instead of prioritising volume levelling and allowing clipping, as currently, this option
would prioritise clipping prevention over volume levelling?

By the way Steven, thank you very much for improving the feedback in the volume analysis dialogue, telling us exactly which tracks are clipping and by how much. That makes it so much easier/clearer.

[redwing]

Would this prevention happen during analysis?

No, during playback of a track, using already tagged RG tag values.

[Steven]

i dont get the point of having an automated adjustment to prevent clipping as you are no longer leveling the volume. I really do think people need to listen to and see if the clipping is noticable - sometimes it can be such a tiny segment that clips you will not notice, but i also appreciate not everyone has the time to do that.
One strategy some people use is to adjust everything with the same negative adjustment so tracks are much less likely to clip with the computed rg value.
But if this request gets a number of +1's then i guess i will consider it.

[redwing]

I think there are several strategies to deal with clipping.

(1) Ignore it:
As Steven said, it's mostly tiny segments, so it would be better not to care much about it unless you actually hear some serious clipping. Actually this is what I'm doing now.

(2) Limit only clipped parts during playback using a hard limiter:
This is what Advanced Limiter does for foolbar. Personally I think this is the best solution, given the rarity of actual clipping as Steven explained. So there's no volume loss for certain tracks or albums, and no clipping either. The only price is some CPU overhead due to constant pre-analysis to preempt clipping.

(3) Auto-prevention of clipping during playback using RG tags:
This is what this post is requesting.

(4) Manual adjustment of RG tag values during volume analysis:
What's currently possible with MB.

(5) Lower target volume for all tracks as much as required to avoid clipping:
What some members are requesting. The drawback is that the tracks would become too quiet to playback normally in popular/cheap/low-powered players and machines. Also, you would have to do it all over again whenever you get a new clipping track, targeting an even lower volume, not to mention asking Steven for the support.
 
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So what I'm suggesting here is #3 would work better than #4 because it can be automated only for the better performance. That's all at the moment.

But ideally I'd like have the support for #2 in the future.

[boroda]

+1

[Antonski]

+1 vote vor #2 only

[hiccup]

(5) Lower target volume for all tracks as much as required to avoid clipping:
What some members are requesting. The drawback is that the tracks would become too quiet to playback normally in popular/cheap/low-powered players and machines. Also, you would have to do it all over again whenever you get a new clipping track, targeting an even lower volume, not to mention asking Steven for the support.

This.

Personally I am taking a lot of effort to prepare my collection tag-, art, and sound-wise, and would not need auto-adjustments or any kind of limiters afterwards.

If the slider could be have a max. attenuation of -9dB instead of current -6dB it would help users who care about their classical collection, and are willing to take the same effort.
With this available setting at least 99% of all albums would be covered. I don't believe Steven would be bothered for the remaining exceptional cases that can then be edited manually. (but in case he is, make it -15dB while at it)

Also don't forget that classical music is a whole different ballgame. Not only in tagging, but also in 'loudness'.

For a lot of classical music even -9dB album gain is not 'too quiet', but it's just correct, and necessary for well tuned audio equipment of good quality.