Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

[Howldog]

Is there a built in capability in CD Ripper to limit levels if a rip is distorting? I Ripped many CDs over a period of time recently - and while most sound great, some CDs ripped tracks that have obvious distortion caused by too high levels in various frequencies, usually low or mids -

I could re=rip these - is there a capability in CD ripper to limit distorted overloaded tracks?

[mville]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

1. What format are the rips?

2. Do you use any DSPs, when ripping?

3. Are the ripped CDs with distortion, AccurateRips?

4. Does the original CD have the same distortion, on playback?

[Howldog]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

thanks for your quick reply!

1. ripping to flac, level 7 - is that enough info?
2. no DSPs that I am aware of. I mean, I did not set any.
3. Yes they were all shown as "accurate"
4. No the CDs alone sounded fine. The flac rips had distortion. I have no idea why.

[Howldog]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

I'm now re-ripping one of the offending CDs using a DSP for replay gain, leaving the "disable clip prevention" unchecked - so that hopefully the clipping will be prevented.

I read a little about dbPowerAmp and replay gain and I thought it said replay gain info was automatically encoded during a standard rip, but when using my android player, no replay gain number was displayed - does this mean that I have to use the above method when ripping, if I want replay gain to be applied to a flac and then read by the player?

[garym]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

does this mean that I have to use the above method when ripping, if I want replay gain to be applied to a flac and then read by the player?

yes. ReplayGain tags are not added during ripping unless you add the ReplayGain DSP to the ripping workflow. (which I always do)

[Howldog]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

well, that worked - rats, I wish I would have figured that out earlier.

Using the replay gain DSP and leaving that box unchecked, ripped a great sounding flac file with no clipping visible in the EQ anywhere. Now I have to rip my CDs all over again!

Oh well.

[garym]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

well, that worked - rats, I wish I would have figured that out earlier.

Using the replay gain DSP and leaving that box unchecked, ripped a great sounding flac file with no clipping visible in the EQ anywhere. Now I have to rip my CDs all over again!

Oh well.

no. You do not need to rerip. ReplayGain tag is just metadata. Just use batch converter to add ReplayGain tags to all your rips. Easy.

[Howldog]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

no. You do not need to rerip. ReplayGain tag is just metadata. Just use batch converter to add ReplayGain tags to all your rips. Easy.

thanks, but what if the tracks have obvious clipping?

will the replay gain fix that?

or does replay gain only tell the player to play at a lower volume so the offending clipping frequencies wont clip? Anyway I can try it, thanks!

[garym]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

thanks, but what if the tracks have obvious clipping?

will the replay gain fix that?

or does replay gain only tell the player to play at a lower volume so the offending clipping frequencies wont clip? Anyway I can try it, thanks!

I apologize if I'm misinterpreting your understanding of ReplayGain (RG). In terms of ripping, if you're getting AccurateRip matched rips from your CDs, RG has nothing to do with this one way or the other. The AccurateRip matched rips are bitperfect copies of the CD (well, technically, there could be a one in a million, or one in 10 million chance that this is not true, but lets assume bitperfect rip). The RG metadata tag field just provides information to a RG-aware player to lower or raise the volume of a track to match the AR benchmark (-18 if using dbpoweramp defaults, which I believe is about 89db). And the clipping option tells the RG DSP to not create a RG value that would cause clipping (unless one disables this by ticking the box).

But to your last question: yes, the RG tells the player to not play at a volume that causes clipping.

[GBrown]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

I'm now re-ripping one of the offending CDs using a DSP for replay gain, leaving the "disable clip prevention" unchecked - so that hopefully the clipping will be prevented.

I read a little about dbPowerAmp and replay gain and I thought it said replay gain info was automatically encoded during a standard rip, but when using my android player, no replay gain number was displayed - does this mean that I have to use the above method when ripping, if I want replay gain to be applied to a flac and then read by the player?

What player are you using on your Android device? Is it possible it has a gain level set when playing, and for songs without RG information it is adding a boost? If your original rips were confirmed as accurate, it is unlikely there should be any unintended distortion.

[Howldog]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

...snip -

But to your last question: yes, the RG tells the player to not play at a volume that causes clipping.

I tried it and I'm glad to report it worked! YAY! No re-ripping at all needed.

all files sound great now. This dbPowerAmp is the bomb!

thanks to all who offered assistance

[garym]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

I tried it and I'm glad to report it worked! YAY! No re-ripping at all needed.

all files sound great now. This dbPowerAmp is the bomb!

thanks to all who offered assistance

Good to hear. I'm sure the files were fine as ripped, but as @GBrown suggests, perhaps your player was over-adjusting volume for tracks that did NOT have any RG tags, thus causing clipping/distortion.

[mville]

Re: Distortion in Flac files when using CD ripper

thanks for your quick reply!

1. ripping to flac, level 7 - is that enough info?
2. no DSPs that I am aware of. I mean, I did not set any.
3. Yes they were all shown as "accurate"
4. No the CDs alone sounded fine. The flac rips had distortion. I have no idea why.

... and, as has been suggested in the previous posts here, based on these answers, the files are fine and the issue (distortion) is with your playback software.