Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

[playboysmoov]

I am in the process of archiving my music collection to FLAC and have a long way to go before its all said in done. My question is two fold I have ripped my files based on spoon's guide to setup dMC. I have the replaygain tags for both track and album in my FLAC files.

However, I play majority of my music on the go via my 160 GB iPod Classic which doesn't support FLAC nor ReplayGain. Which generally means that I have to use the batchconverter to convert from FLAC to MP3. I generally convert my files using Lame MP3 -vbr 2 setting. I have the ref version of the software which allows me to use all four cores of my CPU.

My questions is this, can someone walk me through the steps to use to ensure that my files have replaygain applied to them for my iPod? Currently the tags are there but the effect is not. I'm looking at redoing my entire library over which is about 19,000 songs right now and growing.

Should I be using the the batch converter and what setting should I use for the best sound quality on my device?

[Spoon]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

When converting to mp3 add the DSP effect 'Volume Normalize' and enable the replaygain option.

[rabrown]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

Spoon,

Can "Volume Normalize" be added to an already existing MP3 with replay gain tags or does everything need to be reconverted from FLAC? If so, how does one add it to existing MP3s on a batch basis with the reference version? Thanks in advance.

Richard

[Spoon]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

It must be reconverted

[playboysmoov]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

OK, so I followed your advice and only did a small batch of my files but now the program is hanging on the last file for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. There is no HDD activity or CPU usage of the program. I set the program to shutdown when finished. I am using version 13.3 Ref. My Specs are Core 2 Quad 9300, 8GB Ram, and whole bunch of HDD space, Win 7 Pro x64.

What should I do now? Have you seen this before?

[Spoon]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

Possibly it is the shutdown which is stalling it.

[playboysmoov]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

I figured it out. I had a file that was not complete and the program hung on that file. I deleted the file and everything is ok.

Sorry any confusion.

[playboysmoov]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

I have another question. How does this conversion compares to programs such as MP3Gain?

I understand that this process cannot be undone but have you compared the results of the two? Just curious because my buddy swears be the other program.

[Spoon]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

We calculate replaygain correctly and apply the gain correctly, not sure how it could be better

[playboysmoov]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

I actually tried the program. It sees that your tracks are consistently 89db across the board with need no for gain or decrease, where as the other program's tracks fluctuate from 88.0 or higher depending on the circumstances.


I am going to stick with DMC. Much simpler to use with batch converter GUI. Great job Spoon & Co! Thanks for the quick feedback.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

What is the difference between "Replay Gain" and "Volume Normalize"? Is one for FLAC and the other for MP3? It sounds like they are both non-destructive replay gain, is this correct?

I just converte 60,000+ flac to MP3 with "Replay Gain". May need to do this again with "Volume Normalize".

Thanks, Pete

[Spoon]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

Volume Normalize is applied to the audio, replaygain writes just the id tags for the player to adjust on playback (if it supports this it is preferable), noting that the replaygain under the Volume Normalize dsp effect applies to the audio, no tags are written for that one option.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Re: Flac to MP3 ReplayGain Question

Thanks. I thought that was the case, but wasn't sure.

I'll use the non-destructive one.