MP3Gain

[anjou2]

Is this the best freebie for equalizing all my music files, if so which is the best download please for Win 7

 

[file3456]

I have never used it. I just use WavePad for all my music editing.

 

[Barman58]

I have stopped using anything for actually changing the internal MP3 volume levels, Instead I use Mediamonkey on PC and Neutron or Poweramp player on android mobile devices, all of these allow you to do everything on the fly as being played,

Mediamonkey will fix the volume base for MP3 files if you wish both by album and by track but as each device has its own way of handling files and thus the output I prefer that the base levels are adapted at playback time

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Mediamonkey will fix the volume base for MP3 files if you wish both by album and by track but as each device has its own way of handling files and thus the output I prefer that the base levels are adapted at playback time

Curious. It doesn't work very well for me. VLC player's volume normalization works much better. The only time I use Media Monkey is at bedtime because it has a sleep timer that VLC lacks.

 

[anjou2]

Many thanks for the inputs. The current copy of Computeractive suggests MP3Gain to do the job.( the job being to equalize all track levels on selected music files prior to creating a new CD of these tracks) Have downloaded the file but am warned that Win 7 will need some additions to "bring it up to date". Am slightly suspicious of this and would prefer something that does not need tweaking?

 

[Barman58]

Curious. It doesn't work very well for me. VLC player's volume normalization works much better. The only time I use Media Monkey is at bedtime because it has a sleep timer that VLC lacks.

I've tweaked the basic settings and use the individual file matching for mobile usage and both Album and Track based and it appears to work well for me, the majority of the tracks are actually ripped using the Gold version of MM.

VLC is fine for Playback but when you are managing larger collections, Mine is currently 41½ Thousand Tracks plus a few hundred movies so organisation is important

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I've tweaked the basic settings and use the individual file matching for mobile usage and both Album and Track based and it appears to work well for me, the majority of the tracks are actually ripped using the Gold version of MM.

VLC is fine for Playback but when you are managing larger collections, Mine is currently 41½ Thousand Tracks plus a few hundred movies so organisation is important

I also have a large number of tracks; I'm guesstimating 10k (movies--over 600--are kept separate from my music and are handled separately although I also use VLC for playback). I organize my music by albums rather than by tracks so II agree that VLC has great playback but sucks at organization. My version of MM is also Gold and its organization options are far better than VLC

I don't even try to use VLC to organize my music. For playback, I make my own playlists (ironically, using VLC) and just click on the playlist I want to play from its own folder (VLC is set has the default playback for music files).

I use a Dragonfly Red DAC for my audio and, from what I've read, it can block volume normalization in various applications. It definitely blocks it in Realtec (ok, this is funny: my spell checker says Realtec should be spelled Rectal) and it's probably the reason I can't get it in MM (I've been becoming increasingly disenchanted with MM; 'tis a pity VLC doesn't have a native sleep timer).

I used to use MM for ripping my CDs but I've since had far better luck using EAC (Exact Audio Copy).

 

[Barman58]

All my music is organised by album, [in folders by alpha - Artist - Album ], and fully filled out with all relevant Metadata so I can organise By album, Artist, even year or genre or any of the many other fields or combination of them, The libraries are available across my LAN to so I can access from any system either from my main system or NAS I don't use the sleep timer in MM as all my end use devices have them built in - Home theatre systems, Computers, phones, tablets and a Bedside Media system - I have too much Tech

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

All my music is organised by album, [in folders by alpha - Artist - Album ], and fully filled out with all relevant Metadata so I can organise By album, Artist, even year or genre or any of the many other fields or combination of them, The libraries are available across my LAN to so I can access from any system either from my main system or NAS I don't use the sleep timer in MM as all my end use devices have them built in - Home theatre systems, Computers, phones, tablets and a Bedside Media system - I have too much Tech

What?! Are you out of your ever lovin' mind?! You can never have too much tech!

 

[anjou2]

OK. the "techie stuff" is enthralling but all I want to do is set up a tape to play in a sports car that doesn't have a disc player.
This involves copying some present mp3s to CD then transferring to tape. The present tape, produced in this way, has such sound fluctuation that I spend quite a lot of time turning the volume up or down whilst trying to keep the beast on the road!!

 

[Barman58]

I am assuming that the Tape is being made in some form of Tape recorder that takes in the output from a CD player with the CD made from the MP3 files

If this is the case, I would remove the Cd from the process, take the output from the PC/Laptop direct into the Tape recorder this removes one layer of possible degradation, though with a digital to digital transfer PC to CD this is usually minimal so your method is possible

You could use MP3Gain to set the volume of the MP3s to equal as individual tracks or as an album, (the album setting respects the differences in the volume levels between tracks that the Artist/Producer usually use so is best for accurate reproduction but not always for Car use).

The Track level setting levels the volumes to give all the same output, which is ideal for vehicle listening but is not always what the original recording is designed to produce.
The important stage in this type recording is to test the complete tape output folder, before you commit it to disk and then adjust the MP3Gain settings to give the results you need. After doing this for One Tape I would suggest that you record the tape and test it in the vehicle - If you need to you can re-run the MP3s to through MP3Gain to fine tune the results

Once you have your first tape you can if you wish run MP3Gain on your whole library so that any future Tapes should be quickly produced.

Of course to retain output quality of MP3 or CD music you could try connecting a SmartPhone / MP3Player / or Portable CD Player direct to the Tape unit - this could give you many more songs available (volume levelled as above)

Lots of Cheap adaptors available ...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=MP3+to+Tape+adaptor&ref=nb_sb_noss

 

[dg1261]

The current copy of Computeractive suggests MP3Gain to do the job.( the job being to equalize all track levels on selected music files prior to creating a new CD of these tracks) Have downloaded the file but am warned that Win 7 will need some additions to "bring it up to date". Am slightly suspicious of this and would prefer something that does not need tweaking?

I've never tried MP3Gain, but I do use Audacity for that purpose. There's even a portable version if you want to run it from a USB stick or try it out without having to install anything.

Open Audacity, drag-and-drop your MP3 into it, adjust the gain, and export as MP3. (Note: "Save" keeps it as an Audacity project file, so you have to use File->Export to save it back as a MP3.) You can adjust the gain manually with the Effect->Amplify menu option, or let Audacity choose your gain level with Effect->Normalize.

Note the LAME library is required to export as MP3. Due to licensing restrictions, older versions of Audacity didn't include LAME automatically. This FAQ says it's now built-in, but it doesn't appear to be in the portable version yet, so you may still need to go get it yourself.

 

[Barman58]

The stated advantage of MP3Gain is that it just changes the internal master value, without needing a re-encoding of the MP3 File with the potential degradation of the file that can result from Multiple repeat encodings

MP3Gain FAQ

I'm not certain of the algorithm used by Audacity but sounds as if it's not the ReplayGain Algorithm it could result in some file degradation each time a file is edited - Think multiple edits of a Jpeg File

 

[dg1261]

I'm not certain of the algorithm used by Audacity but sounds as if it's not the ReplayGain Algorithm it could result in some file degradation each time a file is edited - Think multiple edits of a Jpeg File

Yes, I think you're right.

Audacity is a full-fledged editor (cut, splice, gain, low-pass/hi-pass filtering, tempo/speed/pitch adjustments, etc), and it uses the same Export-to-MP3 no matter which task, so it's almost assuredly re-encoding.

 

[anjou2]

I was just a little put off installing MP3Gain because of the warning from Win7 that "things might be missing"

 

[anjou2]

Thanks Barman, have one of those adapters in my "junk box", never thought of using it!
Am still wondering about the bits Win says might be missing for MP3Gain to work with Win7??

 

[Barman58]

A lot of technical utilities such as MP3Gain rely on Dynamic Link Libraries related to things such as Microsoft Visual Basic, or C "libraries", or other Runtime Code

These libraries often evolve over the years and the runtime code is updated to match. although there is runtime code included with Windows 7 this code is contemporary with Windows 7 when released MP3Gain has been around for many years - It may have originated in the days of XP, and was definitely around for Windows 7, but I believe it has not been updated for a number of years whereas the library code has .

Due to the above the program will require an older Code Library to run - when you install and run MP3Gain windows will notice this issue and prompt to download and install the required libraries

 

[anjou2]

Thanks again

 

[ToughDiamond]

I was just a little put off installing MP3Gain because of the warning from Win7 that "things might be missing"

There's a full, portable version called MP3GainPortable_1.2.5.paf.exe that doesn't make you install anything, in case you're concerned about messing up your computer or wasting space and effort. It sounds like you got hold of a "light" version that didn't include the Visual Basic package.

Certainly it "installs" here, i.e. it unpacks to the drive of your choice, without issues. I've not tried using it for anything yet apart from verifying that the program opens, but having read about it, it looks like it offers the advantage of automatically levelling out the subjective volumes of a set of recordings, which seems like it would be quicker than using an audio editor. I'd make backup copies of my files before trying it if I were you, though it claims to be nondestructive. And I have heard that there's no automatic gain-levelling program that can get the levels absolutely right, as subjective volume is too - well - subjective for a machine to fully work out.

Incidentally, there's what looks like a new version of it, also portable, going by the filename wxMP3gainPortable_3.7.paf.exe. Again, it unpacks and seems to run fine as a standalone.

 

[ToughDiamond]

Update: I just tried using Mp3Gain Portable on a real job (a folder of mp3s of differing volumes) and it evened them out pretty well. It even alerted me to the fact that 2 of the original mp3s were already clipped, by listing them in red right from the start. It's pretty intuitive to use. I didn't use the "upgraded" wxMp3Gain because I can't see any useful difference. Download Portable MP3Gain 1.2.5