ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

[a.wright]

I now have about 75% of my CDs all ripped to FLAC and despite some earlier conversion issues, everything has gone extremely well. I am learning more and more about dbpoweramp and it really is an excellent tool

I want to run the ReplayGain utility codec on all the FLAC files but when I did a dummy run, the dialogue box says:

Converting File x of x to [ReplayGain] RG DSP:RG
"Encoding" (filename)

I assume it does not really mean that it is re-encoding everything again and is just analysing and adding the tags?

Also I seem to able to tick both "Album" & "Track" gain whereas I thought you needed to pick one or the other? Can software/hardware players choose to use either or is ticking both at the same time asking for trouble?

Lastly, what level is RG working to? When doing MP3 files with MP3Gain I always use 92db and very rarely get any clipping. Judging by the gain adjustments in the tags written with the Utility Codec, I would guess that the target level is around 88db. Are we able to change the target?

It's been a bit of a journey so far, but the end is in sight (i.e. when I can start enjoying all my music again!)

[LtData]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

Correct, the file is not re-encoded, just analyzed and the tags added.

No, you are not able to change the RG target, the default value that RG has is used, which is believe is 88-89 or so.

[a.wright]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

Fair enough... I am sure I can live with 88db!

What about checking Album and Track gain though or should I just pick one or the other?

[garym]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

Choose both! The values are in two different tags. Most players (I suspect all) that read the replaygain tags can read either and give you options as to which you want to use. Foobar2000 can read either, I think winamp can, and I know that SqueezeCenter's system works in a really nifty way ("smartgain" automatically uses the album gain value when playing an entire album, but uses the track gain value when doing mixes of tracks from different albums).

What you may be thinking is of "applying" the replaygain values to the files (which permanently changes the file). In this case you have to use one or the other. But in my opinion, you don't want to do this anyhow. you want the replaygain tags (so players can read), but leave the underlying audio untouched.

Fair enough... I am sure I can live with 88db!

What about checking Album and Track gain though or should I just pick one or the other?

[a.wright]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

Ok, so I chose both and let dMC work through about 3,500 files in total. I used the Utility Codec and yet on checking the files, some only have Track Gain applied.

Why would this happen when every single file was processed in a huge batch with both Album & Track Gain ticked? It's obviously worked on some of the files because both Album Gain & Track Gain tags are there. So far it looks like a 50/50 split of files that have Album Gain and those that are missing. I told it to use Album Tag as the identifier for Albums.

Any ideas?

[LtData]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

Did the albums missing album gain have album tags and other files with the same album tag in the batch?

[a.wright]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

Did the albums missing album gain have album tags and other files with the same album tag in the batch?

Yes, every single album has unique album tags, written originally with CD Ripper, tweaked with with Tag & Rename and double checked with MP3Tag & Foobar. I have been very meticulous about my tagging!

dMC has clearly worked through every file. I picked one of the albums that it didn't write Album Gain to and ran it through again (using Album Tag as the identifier) and it added the correct tags. Very odd.

If I run the process again on files that already have Track Gain applied am I right in assuming that it will just overwrite that tag with the same information and won't try to recalculate things based on the tags that have been already been written? Or should I remove any Replay Gain tag first before re-running it?

[moley6knipe]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

I had the same problem a while ago with my Apple Lossless collection...

http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=17732

[a.wright]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

And unfortunately it seems there was never any real resolution to the problem which means to be sure I'll have to run every folder individually :( So match for batch processing them all and I thought I had just about finished all my ripping & tagging.. ready for my new Squeezebox which should be arriving in the next couple of days.

My issue seems even more random with the files that have/have not been tagged. It does not appear to have stopped at any one point and re-running a single folder (with Album Tag as identifier) works. It's mad!

I think in future I'll set ReplayGain when I rip and then remove those tags when converting to MP3 as I use MP3Gain to do the business for compatability will all devices but it would be good to know why this issue is happening.

[a.wright]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

If I run the process again on files that already have Track Gain applied am I right in assuming that it will just overwrite that tag with the same information and won't try to recalculate things based on the tags that have been already been written? Or should I remove any Replay Gain tag first before re-running it?

Sorry, it might be a daft question but before re-doing all the "missed" ones, can someone confirm my assumption above? I did test one album and it seemed to end up with the same Track Gain so presumably I can just add Album Gain and leave Track Gain unticked?

Thanks

[moley6knipe]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

Yes, if it's got one or other of the gain tags it leaves them anyway, but yes just leave track gain unticked.

It is a pain to do them manually, but you can right click folders and select Batch Convert, or do them from the batch convertor's file select window.

On the plus side, it's a job you just do once, and the SqueezeBox handles these gain tags so well you'll be glad you did!

BTW, adding RG tags as a DSP at time of rip doesn't work that well - you'll probably find that you need to do it manually after every rip anyway. eg for me RG running as a DSP when I dual rip to mp3 and alac missed the album gain tags.

But try it, you may be lucky!

[Teknojnky]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

I haven't encountered any issues with the replay gain dsp, either when used when ripping or via batch converted.

But I am only ever doing it on small batches of new/ripped files, not huge batches.

As far as I can tell, it ignores any existing RG tags and always calculates new values and updates any existing tags.

[a.wright]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

Well I redid the lot tonight! I was doing batches of circa 200-300 at a time and no problems.... until I did a batch of 398 when only the first 80 or so tracks had Album Gain added. I redid them again (about 320) and no problems.

Anyway, all done now :smile2:

[jbraveman]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

What is the easiest way to check if it did everything? I'm running it right now on a whole drive of flacs (25K).

I'm also not sure I'm doing it correctly. I used batch converter to select flac. In the conversion screen I selected test conversion and applied the RG dsp.

[Teknojnky]

Re: ReplayGain Utility Codec - A couple of questions

You don't need to use the test conversion, you can just convert directly to the replay gain dsp. It won't modify your files other than adding the RG tags.

As far as seeing what it did, to my knowledge dbpoweramp does not have any way to view or check a mass quantity of files like that.

You might have luck with some various music manager programs, I use mediamonkey and you can add the columns for track and album gain to the view and easily see if any tracks are missing them. And many other things.