How does the new ReplayGain feature in 0.31 work for MP3 files? I scanned a file in foobar, it applied a gain, altered my file somehow (caused the date/time stamp to change), but when I rescanned the file in MP3Gain, it was still at the original volume. Does FB2k replaygain feature work similar to VorbisGain or something like that where information is stored in tags, within the file itself, or some other file, and only FB2K applies the gain when used? Hope I'm asking this right. I'm obviously confused how FB2K changed the volume on my MP3 files without applying the gain like MP3gain does. I didn't think that was possible with MP3.

Daffy

fb2k doesn't modify mp3 frames, it stores vorbisgain-style fields in apev2 tags.

OK, I've got something new to learn. I don't know what apev2 tags are. Can this information be deleted somehow within foobar if I don't like the applied gain? Or is there a way to remove this tag from the MP3 using some other software. I'll go do some research.....

Also, thanks for the quick reply. And keep up the good work.....

Daffy

Yes, this is something I'd like to see in foobar, a way to remove the gain applied, say a 'gain 0' option from the drop-down menu?

Good Idea, suckass idea? ^^^

"remove replaygain info" command is already implemented in current internal.

Is it possible to implement mass albumgain calculation based on album tag, e.g if bunch of albums selected in playlist -> rightclick option to scan them and apply gain per album (per group of tracks with same %album% values)?

i guess it can be done, would be somewhat hacky though, but i get the idea (useful for mass-scanning and just leaving the computer running for hours), noted

I'm sorry, but I'm too stupid to figure this quote out. Foobar is foobarring my MP3s by adding these tags, and I can't seem to get rid of them.

When I right click on a file and select "show file info", my MP3 has this in the technical info area:

replaygain_track_gain = -7.439999

How the hell do I get that out and prevent foobar from even applying this tag in the first place?

I want to use MP3gain instead of apev2 tags. I don't want both frame adjustments and tag settings.

Forgive my ignorance....

ehem, scanning currently played file is disabled by default, you shouldn't have enabled it first.
"remove replaygain info" command is in current INTERNAL build, which exists only on my computer so far, you will have to wait till tomorrow or so for 0.32 to come out.

Doh! >_<.....slowly moves away from computer to wipe egg off face....

Hey. That's what makes a forum great. Thanks again for helping me out.

Well until you get the option from Foobar 2k, you could use:

tag.exe --ape2 -t "REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN=+0.0000 dB" *.mp3

you can get Tag.exe from Case's website

that command line would reset the gains to 0 db ..

OK, I still don't understand exactly what Foobar does during playback.

First, what does the 6dB hard limiter exactly do?

Second, what does the replaygain do when default options selected (album gain, skip scanning files (...) enabled)?

6 dB hard limiting kicks in when a signal is over -6 dB in volume.
It turns it's volume down to -6 dB.

<edit>
Of course it can destroy dynamics, but it's better than clipping anyway.
</edit>

If youre files have a replaygain tag, the dB value displayed in the 'show file info' -> 'technical info' will be applied.

If youre files have no replaygain tag, it will do nothing.

Wow, Peter... Working on Christmas for us? You'd better be getting overtime, or I'd be mad if I were you.

6dB hard limiter actually compresses signal above -6dB volume, which is um.. less annoying than clipping, but still has problems (*cough* udial.wav).
0.32 will have volume control applied before hardlimiter/downsampling by default, so handling of clipping will be even better.

I've gained my MP3 files using mp3Gain. Should I get some info from this? I don't see any...

So when is the album gain enabled as set up in playback settings? I currently disabled it, because it suggests that replaygain (album) is used during playback (and possibly written to the files). I still think it's quite unclear what does what...

mp3gain doesn't use replaygain tags, so you won't see anything.
mp3gained mp3s can still be replaygained, but rg values will be within +/- 1.5dB because mp3gain is only accurate to 1.5dB

um...I'm sorry, but 0.31c keeps adding the apev2 tag even when I've got everything disabled. It seems to be doing so upon completing the playing of a file. While the file is playing, the show file info box shows no rg info in the technical info section. Upon completion of playing the file, the rg info is now embedded in the file as an apev2 tag. Tag.exe confirms this tag. Don't know why this is happening. In the foobar settings, I've got replaygain mode on disabled, and both check boxes under that "unchecked". Foobar insists on adding the apev2 tag when I don't want it. Is this a bug, or am I an idiot?

Anybody? Even the latest 0.32 version is writing the apeV2 tag automatically, even if all the settings are set to prevent it. What am I doing wrong? Or is this going to be a standard feature of foobar, where it automatically adds apeV2 tags whether we want them or not?

Can somebody else confirm this?

Damn', that scares me a lot. I don't want foobar to alter my files this way!

well that's wierd, doesn't matter to me, I like the foobar replaygain implementation.

I do have it disabled. And it's still adding the apeV2 tag. I've tried every possible setting, and the end result is a apeV2 tag. I must be doing something wrong.

I'm going back to WA2.81 until I figure this out. I don't want any tags in my files.

Have you tried if deleting old config file helps?

short question to Peter:
how "safe" is the replaygain algorithm you use?
don't want to sound pesky and I like the idea of the ape v2 tags, just wanna know a bit more before I let that loose on my collection

thanks

Yes. Doesn't work. Try it yourself.

1. Rip/encode sample mp3
2. Open in foobar and check file info - no replaygain values should show up
3. Make sure replaygain is disabled in settings
4. Skip scanning files that already have replaygain info
5. Start playing file - check info again - no rg values
6. Wait til file is done playing and then check file info - rg values added
7. Confirm apeV2 tag with tag.exe

Yep, the same thing happens to me too. 0.32 Unicode version, playing MP3s.

It almost looks as if "Automatically calculate track gain for played files" is always getting selected if Replaygain mode is set to "disabled".

In the mean time keep "use track gain" switched on, as a workaround.

Foobar 2000 is not exhibiting this behaviour on my system (Windows XP, with foobar 2000 v0.32 for WinNT), but I did leave "Skip scanning..." unchecked. I wasn't worried about it, since allowing the player to calculate the replaygain info shouldn't have any affect upon performance or speed, and since the info would always be wiped as soon as the player closed. Here's how I have those "Playback" options configured:

Use 6dB hard limiter: unchecked
Replaygain mode: disabled
Skip scanning files that already have replaygain info: unchecked
Automatically calculate track gain for played files: unchecked

Like this, foobar 2000 does still calculate replaygain info when none is detected, but it is not writing that info to the files themselves... at least, not on my computer. I used a hex-editor to confirm this, and a binary comparison of two copies of the same file (one archived after creation, and the other played in fb2k with the configurations described above) showed that no data of any sort had been appended, prepended, suspended or subpoenaed. Still, if there is a danger of foobar 2000 making any unwanted changes to someone's files, it should be noted. Perhaps you could implement a global "Do not allow foobar 2000 to write metadata" switch for us paranoiacs, Peter?

- M.

blah ?
replaygain info is NOT scanned when playing if proper option in config is disabled, for fucks sake.
i'll add more metadata-writing options in 0.33 or something.

Please PP, replaygain info is getting scanned, what's more, it's being written. (At least in my case.)

Poorly phrased on my part, I guess. What I meant by my earlier ramble was that when the options are set as I described, in my system foobar 2000 0.32-NT is still showing replaygain values in the file info after playing the files, when they weren't there before.

- M.

played some files with everything reset to deafault settings, RG info definitely NOT there.

Could you try once more, with 'Replaygain mode' set to 'disabled', and everything else at default settings, please?

Disabling Replaygain seems to trigger this 'bug' in my case.

fixed for 0.32a, thanks for info.

Well, something's not working on my end, then. A few minutes ago I loaded a test track into foobar 2000 0.32-NT and clicked on the file info before playing... there was no replaygain info. But after playing the following had been added (not written to the file, just added to the temp memory in the player so that it shows up as part of the file info):

replaygain_track_gain = +0.7900 dB
replaygain_track_peak = 0.5104

- M.

EDIT: Nevermind. Looks like you all got it sorted out while I was running a test. Thanks, Peter.