CD Ripping track volume problem

[Justin__W]

I am currently evaluating dBpoweramp to decide whether to buy it before I rip my large CD collection to FLAC. However, I have had problems with one of the first CDs I tried ripping.

The problem is that even when the tracks are ripped securely, the tracks won't play correctly. There seems to be some problem with the CD's volume. Volume analysis (using Media Monkey) of the ripped tracks indicates a Replay Gain of +64.8 dB and an album volume of +24.0 dB. When I attempt to play these tracks (whether ripped to FLAC or to MP3), the tracks appear to be treated as if they are full of silence, and simply skip to the end of the track in 1-2 seconds. I have tried ripping this CD with dBpa to both FLAC and MP3 formats, and both with and without the Replay Gain, Replay Gain (apply), and Volume Normalization DSP effects, but nothing seems to have worked so far.

The CD is not scratched, and similar issues have been found on a couple of other CDs also.

Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong?

Thanks.

[garym]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

very odd. I've ripped thousands of disks to FLAC without seeing this issue. You likely wouldn't want to use replaygain(apply) or volume normalization DSP (as these modify the actual audio). You'd want to use the REPLAY GAIN DSP when ripping. Although none of these options explain why you are getting these very large RG adjustments. Rip a FLAC file with only replaygain DSP, then try to play it in something like VLC or foobar2000. This is to exclude your current player as being the source of the problem.

[Spoon]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

The CD drive is giving silence, it could be doing this because you have c2 pointers checked which the cd drive does not support correctly.

[Justin__W]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

Thanks for the replies guys.

My drive does support C2 error checking, but I disabled it anyway as a test and still get problems.

Is it possible that the problem is that the disc has some sort of DRM that is causing the problem?

[garym]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

Thanks for the replies guys.

My drive does support C2 error checking, but I disabled it anyway as a test and still get problems.

Is it possible that the problem is that the disc has some sort of DRM that is causing the problem?

have you tried several different CDs.

[Justin__W]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

I used to use EAC to rip to MP3, and I ripped hundreds that way. Turns out this disc has similar problems when ripped with EAC. As do about 5 others out of 100+ CDs.

However, I can play the CD's tracks if I play the CDA files directly. If I can play the songs from the drive, why can't I listen to a track that was securely ripped using the same drive?

[garym]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

I used to use EAC to rip to MP3, and I ripped hundreds that way. Turns out this disc has similar problems when ripped with EAC. As do about 5 others out of 100+ CDs.

However, I can play the CD's tracks if I play the CDA files directly. If I can play the songs from the drive, why can't I listen to a track that was securely ripped using the same drive?

OK, so it sounds like these are disc problems and not issues with dbpa ripping (given that you have the same issues with EAC ripping same discs). Playing a CD is very different from ripping a CD, particularly if there is some sort of copy protection. Have you tried to rip CD with "defective by design" option?

edit: your original post seemed to suggest that you had this problem with lots of different CDs. Is this the case, or only this handful of problem CDs. Another way of saying this, is have you ripped any CDs with dbpa that work OK?

[Justin__W]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

Have you tried to rip CD with "defective by design" option?

No. What is that?

[garym]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

No. What is that?

CD Ripper options, under "ripping method". Try this on the problem CD. May or may not work.

[Justin__W]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

OK. Defective by Design didn't help at all.

And yes, I have ripped some CDs that turned out fine with dBpa. But I'm stumped as to why I would be able to play the CDA files but not rip them.

[Justin__W]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

And I guess the big question is this: If I am going to be ripping hundreds of CDs, and dBpa sometimes says tracks are "securely" ripped without errors even when they are unplayable, how can I know which ripped tracks are really OK, and which aren't other than by listening to them? With well over 250 hours of audio, manually listening for errors isn't a feasible means of up-front quality control.

[garym]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

OK. Defective by Design didn't help at all.

And yes, I have ripped some CDs that turned out fine with dBpa. But I'm stumped as to why I would be able to play the CDA files but not rip them.

that's the very nature of copy protected CDs. They can play just fine (after all, they were sold to be played in CD players), but can't be ripped. I don't personally understand the software engineering behind the various copy protection schemes.

[garym]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

And I guess the big question is this: If I am going to be ripping hundreds of CDs, and dBpa sometimes says tracks are "securely" ripped without errors even when they are unplayable, how can I know which ripped tracks are really OK, and which aren't other than by listening to them? With well over 250 hours of audio, manually listening for errors isn't a feasible means of up-front quality control.

That's a question for Spoon. Don't know. I can only say that I'm in the process of ripping about 10,000 CDs and find that dbpa and accuraterip is the best option I'm aware of for doing secure rips with good metadata sources. And I can say I've never found the issue you've noticed. But to my knowledge, I've never purchased a copy protected CD.

[Spoon]

Re: CD Ripping track volume problem

AccurateRip is the only way to know that a CD is ripped without errors, even with re-read and c2 pointers a CD drive can be self fooled.