How to adjust levels when ripping

[bobmediaart]

I'm a big fan of DB Poweramp but its been a long while since I used it. I was listening to some music that I ripped using DB audio today and I noticed there were some missing tracks. SO, I fired up my old copy of R14 CD Ripper and ripped the missing tracks. Problem is track levels are way lower and not as dynamic. Now, I can't seem to figure out why this is happening. Does any one have any ideas how to get the levels higher and more dynamic to match my previous rip? Thanks,

[Spoon]

If you adjust up, normally you will clip, it could be you had replaygain tags and the older music was scaled up on playback.

[bobmediaart]

NOt sure what you mean here. Can you please provide me some step-by-step instructions on how to setup my R14 CD Ripper for maximum dynamic playback? How it is producing results are lackluster and I would like to optimize your great program to its potential. Thanks, b

[GBrown]

NOt sure what you mean here. Can you please provide me some step-by-step instructions on how to setup my R14 CD Ripper for maximum dynamic playback? How it is producing results are lackluster and I would like to optimize your great program to its potential. Thanks, b

CD Ripper and the AccurateRip feature ensures that you get a perfect rip from your CD's that are digitally identical to what you would here directly from the disc. These cannot be less dynamic or lower in volume in any way from the CD itself.

It is possible that in the past you have used a DSP effect when ripping to increase the levels of the rip. The Replaygain feature is done without impacting the original data, but requires a player that is capable of using the Replaygain information. This is a tag that is stored in the metadata. The other DSP effect is called Volme Normalize. This allows you to increase the overall volume of the track during ripping, but this is a permanent/destructive method. This is not reversible though, so use with caution.

[bobmediaart]

OK, thanks. That was clear. Although, I'm not sure what you mean by using Volume Normalize and that it's a permanent /destructive method. I mean, if it boosts the signal on the NEW rip who cares. Just as long as it doesn't affect the original source CD where the rip is coming from, right? Please inform me if I just destroyed my CD collection by using this method...

It would be even better if someone could give me the optimal settings to use when employing DSP effects such as Replaygain and Volume Normalize if these are the only two DSP effects that can boost the signal into a NEW rip.

[garym]

No, nothing you do in ripping is changing the actual PHYSICAL CD. Your CDs are untouched and unchanged. This discussion is all about the digital files you have created from ripping the CD. I don't use VOLUME NORMALIZE because all my playback systems recognize ReplayGain tag information and can adjust playback volume accordingly. Thus I only add ReplayGain tags to my metadata when ripping or converting.

in dbpoweramp, I use ReplayGain DSP when ripping (or converting a digital file from one format to another). Within the ReplayGain DSP settings, I use:

• Write Track and Album Gain
• Under Advanced Settings:
  • Albums identified by ALBUM ID TAG
  • Gain Calculation: EBU R128
  • -18 LUFS Target
  • Maximum gain 25db
  • Do NOT check 'disable clip prevention'
  • True Peak: 2x Oversample

[schmidj]

Regarding the "disable clip prevention", first understand that this has no effect on the actual ripped audio file, it only affects how dbpa calculates the replay gain. If you want to change the setting you don't have to rip anything again [as compared to using Volume Normalize or Replay Gain (apply) which pretty much irreversibly modify the stored audio files]. You just run the Music Converter or Batch converter that is included in the dbpa package of software, select "replay gain" as the "convert to" choice. The actual audio and all the other tags remain unchanged, only the replay gain tags are recalculated according to the new settings you have made.

As has been explained before, "replay gain" is a tag which works as a remote volume control on your player, as long as it supports replay gain (most, but not all players do support it, a big exception is some automotive "infotainment systems"). Basically the tag is just a number stored with each track telling the player to turn the player "volume" up or down by so many dB when playing the track to make it the same volume as all the other tracks with similarly calculated replay gain.

Now on to what that checkbox does. If unchecked dBpoweramp calculates a replay gain tag that won't turn up the volume during playback so far that the louder parts of the file are played so loud that they would digitally clip (distort) during playback. Absent anything else, this would be the correct choice, but becomes problematical with some material. If you have a file with a very large dynamic range, like much classical music, some jazz and unprocessed live recordings such as may have been personally recorded at a concert, they may play very softly, so softly that it may be hard to hear parts of the recording in a noisy environment, or just sound quieter compared to other music, as otherwise the loud parts - possibly a crescendo, audience applause, or just a momentary cymbal crash or loud noise - would clip/distort.

However, some players have an option to insert a "limiter" as a part of the player to keep the music from clipping/distorting if the loud parts would otherwise have been turned up above the clip point in the player by the stored replay gain tag value. The limiter will compress the dynamic range as necessary to avoid clipping, thereby making it possible for the softer parts to play louder, i.e. the limiter momentarily turns the player volume down only during the loud sound. The player I use in my phone (which is also the source I play via Bluetooth in my car), Poweramp (no relation to dBpoweramp) has such a repay gain choice, called "apply gain/prevent clipping according to..." Foobar 2000, the non-mobile device version has a DSP called "advanced limiter" that apparently works similarly. (I can't find this feature in the mobile version of Foobar2000, it would be useful there).

If your playback software includes such a function and you turn it on, you may well be happier if you check the box (in the advanced settings) for "disable clip prevention" as the softer parts of tracks with greater dynamic range will play with levels more similar to the other tracks without the louder parts/sounds distorting. BUT, if your playback software doesn't have the function, you'd be best to not check the box, to avoid playback clipping/distortion.

I know this can be very confusing, particularly if you are not quite familiar with digital audio and the way the replay gain tag is applied in your player. I hope you are not even more confused by this explanation.

[GBrown]

Although, I'm not sure what you mean by using Volume Normalize and that it's a permanent /destructive method. I mean, if it boosts the signal on the NEW rip who cares. Just as long as it doesn't affect the original source CD where the rip is coming from, right? Please inform me if I just destroyed my CD collection by using this method...

As garym has stated, you cannot change the actual CD itself, these are stamped and not rewritable. So your CD collection is not affected.

Typically when ripping CDs to a lossless digital format, the intention is to do so in a "bit perfect" manner that is essentially an identical master of that disc. If you rewrite this to a CD-R it should sound exactly the same. This is where dbPoweramp and AccurateRip stands out against most other ripping applications.

Using the Volume Normalize DSP allows you to adjust the volume levels of the ripped tracks up or down. But this is a permanent change with no mechanism to restore the digital file back to "perfect" without re-ripping from the original CD. Thus the term destructive. All players will play these files at the new level you have set.

Ideally it is recommended instead to use Replaygain as this does not affect the ripped digital detail. Instead it analyses the track and determines the amount of cut or boost necessary to achieve the target levels you want. This is stored as a tag, similar to how the artist, album, and track names are stored. When a player that supports Replaygain plays this file, it applies the level adjustment automatically. Meanwhile since the audio of the file itself has not been changed, a perfect disc copy can still be made. If your player doesn't support RG then this information is ignored and there won't be a change to the output levels.

If you are only ripping a few discs, it may be easy to just rip them again if you change your mind in the future. But if you are handling 100's or even 1000's of discs you may want to seriously consider these options before you get started.