wvgain.exe: is there a possibility of a lossy normalization mode also?, [TOS #5] From “wvgain converts ID3v1 tags…keep them as ID3?” TID:90293 Options

[wilhelmm]

Maybe it's a bit bold to come back to this topic again, and to make a request..
However, since WavPack has a lossy mode in addition to the normal lossless mode, would such a lossy mode not be a good option for WvGain, too? To let the user decide whether he/she wants a truely lossless increase of the sound volume or accepts a slight degradation of the audio data?

The background of my question is that some of my audio CDs (in particular classical music) have very weak sound volumes. The most CD rippers offer a "normalization" but not in album mode. And that's the problem, because you do not want the titles belonging to a classical work to be equal in volume. Only album mode makes sense with such music.

Presently, I must rip this music to wav files, then use wavegain in album mode to increase the volume and then convert the files with WavPack. I think that's a very inconvenient procedure.

[bryant]

Presently, I must rip this music to wav files, then use wavegain in album mode to increase the volume and then convert the files with WavPack. I think that's a very inconvenient procedure.

You're right, I can see how that would be inconvenient.

However, it would be pretty much the same thing if WavPack could do it natively. You would still have to have the whole album ripped in WAV files and WavPack would scan the whole album to determine the gain, and then use that information during the compression pass. There would not be that much gained (just the single write of the WAV data would be saved).

If the inconvenience is having to wait for the whole thing to complete, I would suggest perhaps creating some sort of batch file to automate it.

Unfortunately, I feel that if I added yet another way for WavPack to produce lossy files, it would just further confuse beginning WavPack users.

Regards,
David