ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mean?

[Max Dread]

Hi all

I'm a bit unsure about that the "Disable Clip-Prevention" option in the RG Codec means, and what it does. Would someone mind spelling it out for me please?

Cheers

PS - While on the subject of ReplayGain, can I ask a bit of an OT question please? Is the following statement true:

No matter what program is being used (ripper, converter, etc.), whenever ReplayGain is applied as a DSP, it is calculated on the source material, but whenever ReplayGain is applied using the RG Codec, it is calculated on the newly encoded material [I guess there is no source when RG is the codec].

[Spoon]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

If you disable this option, then the player should work out that the values for replaygain would clip the audio and scale back the gain values, not all will so there is this option to do it.

[Max Dread]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

Thanks Spoon, that makes it a bit clearer, but to be honest I've got a bit of mental blockage on this one and I think I need it explained to me as though I was 5 years old! If anyone's got the time to that, I'd hugely appreciate it.

At the same time, perhaps it might help if I asked some specific questions.

1. Up until now I've been using RG v3 which I don't think had this option. So what was happening with RG v3?

2. In my specific case, what would be the best option (although would still be nice to understand it fully)? I use Foobar for playback on my PC, and an iPod for music on the go.

3. I am applying RG to some Mp3s I have. Up until now all I've done is used the DSP when ripping, so there have never been peak values above 1. But now that I am using the codec for RG on the Mp3s, I am seeing peaks well above 1. I understand why that is - the DSP calculates on the source while the codec calculates on the file itself, which in the case of Mp3s does mean peak values of +1. But I still don't get what bearing that has on whether I should have the Disable box ticked or not.

Many thanks for your help and patience

[mville]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

If you disable this option, then the player should work out that the values for replaygain would clip the audio and scale back the gain values, not all will so there is this option to do it.

Please can you confirm how the user disables this option, tick or un-tick the Disable Clip-Prevention box?

[Spoon]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

You would click it to disable.

[Max Dread]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

Any thoughts on my post/questions Spoon (the ones in *3)?

Cheers

[Spoon]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

It does not have a bearing on the Disable box.

[Max Dread]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

I'm still not getting it I'm afraid...

It does not have a bearing on the Disable box.

OK, so with that in mind:

2. In my specific case, what would be the best option (although would still be nice to understand it fully)? I use Foobar for playback on my PC, and an iPod for music on the go.

And also:

1. Up until now I've been using RG v3 which I don't think had this option. So what was happening with RG v3?

Sorry to keep labouring the point, but I want to understand this so that i can get it right when I RG my Mp3 collection.

Many thanks

[Max Dread]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

I've been thinking about this some more, as well as reading about it and experimenting, and I'm wondering if I can now answer my own question(s) to save anyone else having to do so!...

A) In v3/R3 of ReplayGain, there was no "Disable Clip-Prevention" box. It acted as though it was UNTICKED, and therefore any tracks that needed clip prevention were automatically given it.

B) This is why you sometimes got a "Warning: Normalisation gain would have resulted in clipping, gain has been reduced to prevent this....." in the log. So the warning told you that Clip_Prevention had been used, as well as giving you the figures.

Have I got it? Is that right or am I just digging a deeper hole f misunderstanding?

Cheers

[garym]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

I've been thinking about this some more, as well as reading about it and experimenting, and I'm wondering if I can now answer my own question(s) to save anyone else having to do so!...

A) In v3/R3 of ReplayGain, there was no "Disable Clip-Prevention" box. It acted as though it was UNTICKED, and therefore any tracks that needed clip prevention were automatically given it.

B) This is why you sometimes got a "Warning: Normalisation gain would have resulted in clipping, gain has been reduced to prevent this....." in the log. So the warning told you that Clip_Prevention had been used, as well as giving you the figures.

Have I got it? Is that right or am I just digging a deeper hole f misunderstanding?

Cheers

yes, you have it correct. some people wanted the option to have or not have clipping prevention.

[Max Dread]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

yes, you have it correct. some people wanted the option to have or not have clipping prevention.

Eureka! Got there at last!

Now let's see if I can go one further...

Foobar has the option in preferences > playback > processing to choose between "apply gain" and "apply gain and prevent clipping according to peak". It has been on my to do list to figure out what that means and which I should select. So would I be right in saying that this goes hand in hand with the "Disable Clip-Prevention" option in DBPA. So:

- If "Disable Clip-Prevention" is unticked, DBPA does the necessary reductions to prevent clipping and so in foobar I would select "apply gain"

- If "Disable Clip-Prevention" is ticked, DBPA does not do any reductions, and so in foobar I would select "apply gain and prevent clipping according to peak"

[garym]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

Eureka! Got there at last!

Now let's see if I can go one further...

Foobar has the option in preferences > playback > processing to choose between "apply gain" and "apply gain and prevent clipping according to peak". It has been on my to do list to figure out what that means and which I should select. So would I be right in saying that this goes hand in hand with the "Disable Clip-Prevention" option in DBPA. So:

- If "Disable Clip-Prevention" is unticked, DBPA does the necessary reductions to prevent clipping and so in foobar I would select "apply gain"

- If "Disable Clip-Prevention" is ticked, DBPA does not do any reductions, and so in foobar I would select "apply gain and prevent clipping according to peak"

I'll just tell you what I do. I don't tick "disable clip prevention" in dbpa. In foobar2000 I have settings to "apply gain" with the "playback order" option. Bottom line is that clipping is an issue with probably way less than 1% of my 100,000 tracks. So all this is really not that relevant.

[Max Dread]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

Hi garym

Seems we will have similar strategies then, although I'm not sure what you mean about the "playback order" option???

With regards the amount of clipping, I did a test run on 375 mp3 tracks and of those 28 had to be reduced to prevent clipping; which is 7.5% so a fair bit higher than you. To be fair, a lot had adjustments under +/-1dB. The most I saw was around +/-3dB

[garym]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

Hi garym

Seems we will have similar strategies then, although I'm not sure what you mean about the "playback order" option???

With regards the amount of clipping, I did a test run on 375 mp3 tracks and of those 28 had to be reduced to prevent clipping; which is 7.5% so a fair bit higher than you. To be fair, a lot had adjustments under +/-1dB. The most I saw was around +/-3dB

Playback order is one of the options on applying gain in foobar2000. Same option page where you select apply gain. You need a relatively new version of foobar2000. It automatically uses album gain if the adjacent songs are from same album or track gain if adjacent songs are from different albums. Squeezebox/LMS does this (called SmartGain). Roon has something similar.

[Max Dread]

Re: ReplayGain Codec "Disable Clip-Prevention" option. What exactly does this do/mea

Aha - just updated form v1.3.13 to v1.3.14 and now it's there Cheers!