Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

[moley6knipe]

Hi. I'm using Ref 13.1 Batch convertor to add replayGain tags to all my files, but the album gain tags are giving me trouble...

I right-click one of my library folders (contains c. 8k tracks, mixture of dBpoweramp/iTunes ripped ALAC, some iTunes+, lots of mp3 of varying bitrates, all arranged Artist/Album/tracks) and hit batch convert.

All I'm using is the replayGain DSP. If I tick "track gain" and "album gain" and use "Album ID" and Convert, not all of them files get album gain tags, but they all get track gain tags.

I can't see any pattern to it, ie it's not one particular type of file that fails, it doesn't seem to matter what ripped it and what tags the file contains.

I can, without exception, perform the same procedure on individual folders using "All files in batch same album" rather than "Album ID" and it works every time.

Any pointers please? Thanks

[LtData]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

Are you re-encoding your tracks and applying the ReplayGain DSP effect, or are you using the [Replay Gain] utility codec, which applies ReplayGain without needing re-encoding?

[moley6knipe]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

Apologies, I'm using the replaygain utility, no other encoding is happening

[moley6knipe]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

Now that's really weird. Looking at all the files in question in mp3tag, album gain tags are missing from all files until M:\Music\SqueezeCenter\+NEW RIPS\Public Enemy\Fear Of A Black Planet\02-Brothers Gonna Work It Out.m4a onwards, at which point (bar the odd one or two) they're all present.

So the 273 folders from ABBA to Propellerheads didn't get tagged! Yet they all, without exception, only contain files that were ripped to ALAC by either dBpoweramp or iTunes, and they've had a tag tidy-up in exactly the same way using mp3tag.

Strange! I really don't want to do 273 folders the hard way!!

It's release 2 of the RG codec.

[moley6knipe]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

Right, I've moved all the offending dirs into a temp directory, and I'm running Batch Convert > RG Utility Codec to just write Album Gain set to match by "Album ID".

Am I right in thinking dB won't write the tags until it's scanned the whole lot? I'll post back when it's finished - only an hour to go!!

[moley6knipe]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

This is maddening. same thing's just happened - nothing got an album gain tag until the folder M:\Music\SqueezeCenter\+NEW RIPS\+++TEMP\Mercury Rev, after which everything else in the +++TEMP folder got tagged!

Can it only do so many files at once? What's it got against the beginning of the alphabet?!

[Spoon]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

I do not think it is the number or the letters, as a test try selecting all albums beginning with just 'A' and 'B' then see if that works or not.

[moley6knipe]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

So, upon testing it's doing the RG calculations and tagging in reverse order, and then falling over a few folders in.

I split the folders that didn't get tagged into 5 subfolders to speed things up.

Here's the tree of one of them...

+---Brave Captain
| \---Go With Yourself
+---Breeders
| +---Last Splash
| \---Mountain Battles
+---Brendan Benson
| \---Lapalco
+---Bryan Adams
| +---Bryan Adams Anthology [Disc 1]
| \---Bryan Adams Anthology [Disc 2]
+---Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music
| \---More Than This; The Best Of Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music
+---Built To Spill
| \---Perfect From Now On
+---Byrds
| +---Notorious Byrd Brothers
| \---Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
+---Carole King
| \---Tapestry
+---Cat Power
| \---What Would The Community Think
+---Cat Scratch Fever
| \---Death Western
+---Cha Cha Cohen
| \---Cha Cha Cohen
+---Charlatans
| +---Tellin' Stories
| \---Wonderland
+---Chemical Brothers
| +---Dig Your Own Hole
| \---Surrender
+---Chris Farlowe
| +---Out Of Time [Disc 1]
| \---Out Of Time [Disc 2]
+---Cinerama
| \---Va Va Voom
+---Clash
| \---Clash - Singles
+---Clinic
| \---Walking With Thee
+---Clinton
| \---Disco And The Halfway To Discontent
+---Coldplay
| +---A Rush Of Blood To The Head
| \---Parachutes
+---Come
| \---Gently Down The Stream
+---COMPS
| +---12__80's_ Pop [Disc 1]
| +---12__80's_ Pop [Disc 2]
| +---12__80's_ Pop [Disc 3]
| +---Alternative Eighties [Disc 1]
| +---Alternative Eighties [Disc 2]
| +---An Apple A Day; More Pop Psych Sounds From The Apple Era 1968-1970
| +---Electric Level 2 [Disc 1]
| +---Electric Level 2 [Disc 2]
| +---Electric [Disc 1]
| +---Electric [Disc 2]
| +---Everything Is Nice; Matador Records 10th Anniversary Anthology [Disc 1]
| +---Everything Is Nice; Matador Records 10th Anniversary Anthology [Disc 2]
| +---Everything Is Nice; Matador Records 10th Anniversary Anthology [Disc 3]
| +---Global-A-Go-Go!
| +---Help
| +---Hip Hop Sessions [Disc 1]
| +---Hip Hop Sessions [Disc 2]
| +---Hits Of The Decades; 1980s
| +---Interstellar Overdrive
| +---Kerrang! 'Remastered'
| +---Kerrang! Best Of 2003
| +---Kerrang! Maiden Heaven
| +---Legends Of Rock
| +---Long Time Gone
| +---Melody Maker Presents Born To Do It Better
| +---Ocean's Eleven
| +---Ooh-La-La - Rock 'n' Roll In The Spirit Of The Faces
| +---Piece Of Cake; 20 Years Of Ryko
| +---Radio 1 Established 1967 [Disc 1]
| +---Radio 1 Established 1967 [Disc 2]
| +---Roll With It; 16 Songs About Drinking, Dope And Disorderly Conduct
| +---Soul Brother
| +---Total Def Jam
| +---Uncut - September 2000
| \---Uncut - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
+---Coral
| \---Magic And Medicine
+---Cornershop
| +---Handcream For A Generation
| \---When I Was Born For The 7th Time
+---Creation
| \---How Does It Feel To Feel
+---Crowded House
| +---Recurring Dream; The Very Best Of Crowded House
| +---Together Alone
| \---Woodface
+---Cure
| +---Cure Greatest Hits
| \---Disintegration
+---Curiosity Killed the Cat
| \---Keep Your Distance
+---Curtis Stigers
| \---Baby Plays Around
+---Daft Punk
| \---Homework
+---Dakota Suite
| \---Songs For A Barbed Wire Fence
+---Damien Rice
| +---9
| \---O
+---Darkness
| \---One Way Ticket To Hell ...and Back
+---David Bowie
| +---Aladdin Sane [Disc 1]
| +---Aladdin Sane [Disc 2]
| +---Bowie - Iselect
| +---Diamond Dogs [Disc 1]
| +---Diamond Dogs [Disc 2]
| +---Heathen
| +---Jump They Say
| +---Man Who Sold The World
| +---Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars [Disc 1]
| \---Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars [Disc 2]
+---David Crosby
| \---If I Could Only Remember My Name
+---David Holmes
| \---Let's Get Killed
+---Def Leppard
| +---Adrenalize
| +---Best Of Def Leppard
| +---Breathe A Sigh
| +---Euphoria
| +---High 'n' Dry
| +---Hysteria [Disc 1]
| +---Hysteria [Disc 2]
| +---Pyromania
| +---Retro Active
| +---Slang
| +---Work It Out
| +---X
| \---Yeah!
+---Del Shannon
| \---Home & Away
+---Delicatessen
| \---Hustle Into Bed
+---Denim
| \---Back In Denim
+---DeVotchKa
| \---A Mad And Faithful Telling
+---Dido
| \---No Angel
+---Dilated Peoples
| \---Platform
+---DJ Shadow
| +---Endtroducing
| \---Private Press
+---Don McLean
| \---Very Best Of Don McLean
+---Doris Troy
| \---Doris Troy
+---Doves
| \---Last Broadcast
+---Duane Eddy
| \---Mr Twangy Guitar
+---Duke Spirit
| +---Cuts Across The Land
| \---Souvenirs
+---Duncan Browne
| \---Give Me Take You
\---Duran Duran
\---Decade

...the last track to get a RG album gain tag was (bearing in mind it's doing these in reverse folder and track number order) M:\Music\SqueezeCenter\+NEW RIPS\+AWAITING GAIN\+2\David Bowie\Heathen\10-Everyone Says 'hi'.m4a.

Thereafter no RG Album tags, depsite the machine sitting there with both cores pegged at 90-100% for about an hour!!

Repeatable behaviour on all subfolders, all have roughly 1.2k files in them.

[moley6knipe]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

Sorry to bang on about it, but I still can't get this to work as I'd expect. Any pointers on what I can do to diagnose the fault please?

Thanks.

[Spoon]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

It maybe a silly question, do all the tracks listed have a valid album tag?

[moley6knipe]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

Not silly! Yup, checked that. If I right-click the files contained within one album's folder, and select Properties > ID Tag, the album name is displayed correctly, obviously if they differed it would say <different>

One other thing I've noticed; I tagged any files by an artist (e.g. Bruce Springsteen, Carole King etc) with a tag called "PERFORMERSORTORDER" using version 2.41 of mp3tag (sorts them by last name in iTunes). Now any files that I ran a Replaygain batch convert on have lost that tag (it's not one that shows up on the dBpoweramp pop-up when you hover the cursor over the file).

The only other batch operation I've done on my whole library recently has been using mp3tag, to do a batch Tag>Filename operation. But I don't think that stripped the PERFORMERSORTORDER tags, as my mirror library of mp3's was subjected to the same batch tag, and they retain the PERFORMERSORTORDER tag, whilst the Apple Lossless files don't.

Strange!

[Spoon]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

Out of interest, a mp3 file with the Perfomersortorder, rigth click edit tag and add a new tag, any element and value, is Perfomersortorder still present?

[moley6knipe]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

No! Just tried it on a few mp3's ripped by dB (Lame 3.98 V2) and adding a value in the Comment field (as per the method you described) wipes the Performersortorder tag!

[Spoon]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

I will note as a bug to look at next time I am in the DSP 'area'.

[moley6knipe]

Re: Batch Convertor ReplayGain problem

Thanks! Any thoughts on why I might be having problems with my batch RG runs using the RG utility codec - is there anything I can look for to find where the problem lies?

I've had this problem with files that don't have this PERFORMERSORTORDER tag too, y'see.

Thanks!