FLAC volume gain with foobar2000
Reply #12 – 2013-02-11 19:25:06
Let's see if we can get this right at last: (Oppo: This answers more than what you ask, but you should find your answer as well. Also, find one last comment at the end). - Replaygain algorithm: Algorithm to find the perceived loudness of a signal (approximatedly). - Replaygain tag: A metadata written to a file that includes information of the loudness of the signal, as per Replaygain specification, which is set relative to 89dB SPL. (In the very beginning it was 83dB, but soon the standard become 89) - MP3Gain: A program that uses the replaygain algorithm to modify a part of an MP3 file so that its volume is altered according to the calculated loudness. The program allows to specify the target SPL. (Defaults to 89dB SPL, as per replaygain specification). This modification is reversible, and does not imply transcoding. - Replaygain aware player: Player that understands the replaygain tag, and applies the gain while playing. Some of these players allows to alter the target SPL of playback for replaygained (and some also for non-replaygained) files. foobar2000 is a replaygain aware player that allows setting the playback gain of files from the Playback option of the Preferences dialog. The player also has the ability to apply the gain directly to MP3 files, like MP3Gain does, which is found in the popup menu: Replaygain->Apply track/album gain to MP3 data. An option to change the target gain when doing so can be found in the Preferences dialog, in Advanced->Tools->Replaygain Scanner If using a replaygain aware player, it will play the MP3Gained file according to the tag, not according to altered MP3 volume, so it will sound at the same loudness than another file just tagged with replaygain. If using a non-replaygain aware player, the files altered with MP3Gain (or the equivalent foobar2000 popup menu) will play at the altered volume, which files tagged with replaygain will play at their original volume. Since MP3Gain can only be applied to MP3 (and AAC/MP4), other formats cannot use this technique, so they need to be modified prior to be encoded. Since the source is usually a WAVE file, wavegain can be used, or one can also use foobar2000 and its converter utility, which allows to apply replaygain while converting to the desired format (like FLAC). MP3Gain Replaygain Original: 94.5 94.5 MP3Gained: 92 89 ( -5.5) ReplAware: 89 89 (Or a different target if changed in the player, but both the same) NonReplAw: 92 94.5 @Oppo: Now, let me warn you that your setting is not a good choice. I don't know if you associate 96.2dB with the SNR of a CD audio, but that is plain wrong. MP3Gain, as i've said above, uses the replaygain algorithm to estimate the loudness. It is not a volume normalizer, so 96.2 does not mean "100%". It is true that nowadays there are songs with 98, 99 or even 100+ dB SPL according to the replaygain algorithm, so with 96.2 these files get attenuated, but I am sure that there are quite some other files in your collection that are below 96.2dB, which probably are already 100% normalized, and which you are clipping them more due to your setting. Sure, 89dB is too low for some genres, but anything above 94dB is probably too much for most genres, especially since the aim of replaygain is to have songs of different artists and albums to have the same loudness. As such, I recommend you to revisit your strategy. edit: Added further explanation.