volume normalization

[jak220]

I need some help. I have a bunch of songs and some
of them play a lot more quiet than others. Is there a
simple way to get them all normalized to the same
volume reference?

[Spoons]

I think the best method is in the Powerpack. so when you rip from a cd you can select adaptive normalize.

but for your existing files you could load dmc file selector and select all your files and through the converting process select "DSP effects" then "volume normalize" which will then present you with further options on volume normalizing.

doing it this way may not acheive the desired results though. trial and error.

[jak220]

I did that, but it doesn't do what I expect.
I'd like the normalization to normalize to the
most extreme file, either lower all the files to
the lowest file or increase the volume of all
of the files to the highest file. How does
normalization work? What are the different
types of normalization and what do they do?

[Spoons]

I think Spoon can answer this better. but from memory I think it adapts to the highest volume file. but I could be wrong.

[Spoons]

I found the answer in the FAQ section.

look here:

http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12

[dsieber]

You also might want to try out Replay Gain, which is a methodology for normalizing audio files. Spoon says dBpowerAMP will be supporting it in the future (hurry up Spoon! :-), but for now you can get an app called MP3Gain (search Google). It will analyze MP3 files and adjust the volume up or down to the level you want or to a standard volume that you use for everything. It can also adjust all of the tracks from a CD and raise/lower all of them by the same level, so that quieter tracks remain quieter than the others. But for random play, I have it do each track individually.

It rewrites your MP3 files, so keep that in mind. It doesn't lose any quality, but the original volume level of the tracks will be gone of course. In MP3 files, the volume is encoded separately from the audio data, so adjusting it doesn't mess with the audio itself (except of course the volume :-).

I've had it refuse to process some files that it says are not true MP3, usually weird files I got off Napster. It has worked fine on everything that I've ripped myself.

[totalXSive]

You can pick up Mp3Gain from http://www.geocities.com/mp3gain/ - bear in mind that it is very slow (about 2 mins per MP3), so don't go normalising your entire collection in one go.