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flloyd
From List of recommended MPC settings
QUOTE
Decoding switches / MPC to WAV (i.e. with the MPC Batch Encoder frontend + mppdec.exe):

For albums: --gain 1 --prev
(or --gain 3 --prev)
For compilations: --gain 0 --prev
(or --gain 2 --prev)


It's a good idea to apply ReplayGain first (see above and further below). Explanations of the switches:

--prev: Activate clipping prevention.
(Clipping occurs when the amplitude of a sound is above the maximum allowed level,
i.e. when it is too loud to be recorded/reproduced. Clipping causes sound to distort.)

--gain 0:
No usage of replaygain. Together with --prev: Title-based clipping prevention.
The loudness of each song is reduced individually to the point where no song is clipping.

--gain 1:
No usage of replaygain. Together with --prev: Album-based clipping prevention.
Each song of an album is attenuated by the same amount and no song has clipping.

--gain 2:
Title-based replaygain, rest like 0.

--gain 3:
Album-based replaygain, rest like 1.


Is the following sysnopsis of the uses for each decode switch correct? If not please correct them for me.

--gain 0 --prev: A CD with songs from various albums. Each song is decoded so that it plays at the loudest level possible without clipping.

--gain 1 --prev: A CD with songs from the same album. Each song of an album is attenuated by the same amount and no song has clipping. The files are attenuated by the same volume necessary so that the loudest song does not clip. Some songs are louder than others.

--gain 2 --prev: A CD with songs from various albums. Each song has track replaygain and track clipping protection so that they all do not clip and also play at 89dB (the default gain level). They all have equal loudness.

--gain 3 --prev: A CD with songs from the same album. Each song of an album is attenuated by the same amount and no song has clipping. The files are attenuated by the same volume necessary so that the loudest song plays at 89dB. All of your CDs burnt this way have fairly similar loudnesses. The loudest song in each of your burnt CDs is equally loud.

So are these the four ways that we would want to decode our MPCs to make CDs? Are there any other ways we would ever want to do it? Please make any corrections as necessary.

Thanks
Gecko
Minor correction on the first one:

--gain 0 --prev will not decode the music as loud as possible. The decoded music will have the same volume as the original it was encoded from unless there is clipping, where the volume is reduced until no clipping occurs. Quiet pieces will still be quiet after decoding.

If you want to decode your music as loud as possible (without clipping) then you must use: --scale 99 --prev

--gain 3 --prev AFAIK the overall average volume of your whole album will be 89db. The loudest track may still be louder than 89db. Album clipping prevention/replaygain operates on the music of an album, as if it was one huge file.
flloyd
Since no one else has responded can I assume that this information is correct?
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