![]() | #46 |
Senior - BHPian ![]() | ![]() Anything similar for Mac users ? |
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![]() | #47 |
BHPian Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Chennai
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| ![]() Guys, A simple solution: 1. Open your browser, google for audacity 2. While on audacity homepage, check out LAME MP3 encoder Audacity comes as a standalone and may or maynot install with the LAME encoder. Without the LAME encoder, you can't open/save mp3 files. 3.Install both these files that you downloaded in step2 on your computer/laptop. 4. Open the file of your choice... a. Press Ctrl + A b. Go to Effects - > Normalize. c.Save the file. That's all. Simple and everyone's happy. This is the most simplest Normalizing a process wherein the audio is boosted such that it lies well within the clipping range. This is normally indicated by meters (on all softwares). In Audacity too you have meters to show you the amplitude of the waveform. If these meters hit RED, then you know you've clipped. Remember though, certian mp3,wma may never get normalized as the maximum amplitude floor would have already been touched. There's also another simpler way, and you don't need to use any separate software too. But the only downside to this is that you'll end up making a CD. This option is found in Nero Audio CD tab. You get an option in the Filters category where you can have EQ,Normalize,Effects,Gain etc added to these files before they're written to a CD. Always, as a good measure don't clip signals. It's bad for the amps/speakers and our ears. Regards, VJ |
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![]() | #48 |
BHPian ![]() Join Date: May 2008 Location: maximum city
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| ![]() guys any suggestions on how to normalize songs in itunes on a macbook. i have tried searching but cant seem to find a way. i intend to play back the normalised song through a usb drive on to the HU. pls help. cheers |
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![]() | #49 |
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Bangalore
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| ![]() iTunes does automatically IF you have checked that setting. Does it in the background, so you have keep iTunes running till it runs through all the songs. Last edited by DerAlte : 16th November 2011 at 10:50. |
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![]() | #50 |
BHPian ![]() Join Date: May 2008 Location: maximum city
Posts: 63
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thanks DerAlte. u mean i have to run the entire library (which will take around 6 days!) for the normalisation to happen on all the tracks? then again will this apply to the songs that i copy from the itunes library onto the usb for further playback in my car? i am sure there will be an easier way to render the effect with out the full run through. pls help. |
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![]() | #51 |
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Bangalore
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| ![]() I am not sure of the time taken by, or rather the songs/hour rate of, iTunes, but usually I have seen it finish in a day. If you shut down the machine, it restarts wherever it left off. I also don't think it modifies the song files - it must be maintaining auxiliary information in its library against each item. It definitely executes normalization incrementally on the songs added to its library. But, if it is doing normalization like that (easy to experiment and check), the songs on the USB will be the originals, since you are not playing back through iTunes. Unless you install iTunes on a CarPC - not seen that being done, since packages like Centrafuse dominate in that world. Anyhow, it is better to use the method described in this thread, even if it sounds like, well, some amount of work. |
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![]() | #52 |
BHPian Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: bangalore
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| ![]() Hi, I used the procedure described by GTO but when I click on iGain I get a comment - Fatal error. Please restart iTunes and try again. File.\ITunesAPI.cpp,Line66,result-2147319779' Any thoughts on what am I doing wrong? Rgds |
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![]() | #53 |
BHPian Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Mumbai
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| ![]() This is a great thread! It's great to see that I'm not the only one picky about normalizing the volume in my music collection. I use mp3Gain. Everytime I rip something or get it from friends, I have a 3-step process before adding it to my music collection:
There's an added benefit to normalising your volume. Some of you may have noticed (especially in rock/metal tracks) that when the volume goes high, the track starts clipping, i.e. it makes a harsher sound and it sounds muddy. The best way to describe it is that it sounds "muddy", maybe. This is due to overamplification of sound in MP3. There are a couple of points to consider while using mp3Gain, from my experience:
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![]() | #54 |
BHPian ![]() Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore
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| ![]() I'm on a Mac and tried iVolume first. Lovely clean interface that gets the job done really easily. Problem was the trial version has a nag screen every 1 minute and is limited to 1000 songs. I was about to pay Rs 1500 for the full version, but the tags written by iVolume are only supported on Apple devices. I then used Mac Mp3gain. The UI is nowhere compared to iVolume but it does a good job, and is free! Best of all, the normalization can be read by any mp3 device and is reversible. But definitely make a point of backing up your music before using this software. I found 89db too low especially when hooking my iPod to the car stereo. 92db worked out well for me. It's a real pleasure hearing the music without over amplification and volume variations! No real clipping issues so far. |
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![]() | #55 |
BHPian ![]() Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore
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| ![]() Edit: After a few more hours of listening to various songs from different sources, I've settled for 90db. While 91 is almost perfect, it does clip around 5% of the time, and 92db gets outright shrill with a lot of low frequencies taking up too much of the song spectrum. At 90db I can turn the sound all the way up and enjoy crystal clear sound! |
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![]() | #56 |
Senior - BHPian ![]() | ![]() Guys, Now if I normalise the library in my itunes and then connect the ipod and sync - normally only the newer songs in the library are added to the ipod. Does this mean that I will have to empty the ipod and re-sync after normalisation ? |
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![]() | #57 | |
BHPian Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 185
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| ![]() Quote:
I use Audacity and or Reaper (both free) to normalize the tracks, however the thumb rule in anytthin audio is to get the source right, fix the source before anything, I would not go downloading a track if it is not 320kbps if mp3 or only would download lossless formats. Now the above only takes care of the quality, volumes of tracks are generally determined by its genre, some songs are maximized some not so much. By maximized I mean a track when hits the 0db mark, is at its peak of clipping, so these tracks are lowered to -3 to -5db, and a max ceiling is applied, that pushes the track to get louder but still stay below -3db so as to not clip. Adding gain to a track may help resolve "reaching out for the volume control" issue, however will distort a lot of frequencies and will not sound as intended. If you really like to have all track volume levels to be even across albums, use the limiter plugins in Reaper, I use the limiter 6 with great results. I have a little home studio, I score background music in short films and cut my own tracks, and these help a lot. You need to let your track breathe so your high end stereo gets the frequencies at the right levels and projects them in a pleasant way through the speakers, adding gain only adds more of everything and kills the track in my opinion. | |
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![]() | #58 | |
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Gurgaon
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| ![]() Quote:
a. Play music on drives and in parties perfectly. b. Help my RWA play morning walk bhajans at the right volume!! c. Now it helps me attune my son's YouTube video soundtracks the right way, because he speaks with varying pitch at times ![]() | |
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![]() | #59 |
BHPian ![]() Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: DEL, IXC, ATQ
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| ![]() Hello BHPians, Spotify provides audio normalisation inside its app itself. They also explicitly declare that ‘Normal’ and ‘Quiet’ mode have no effect on audio quality. If experts on this forum could let us know how true is this notion of normalisation without change in audio quality, it would be great. FYI, I’ve downloaded entire collection of Spotify audio in ‘Very High Quality’ (Internet tells me this quality = 320kbps) format. ![]() |
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