Managing Large Music Libary

lewis

Alright folks, I`ve a hape of songs on my PC and the problem with them is the volume levels, some are to loud others to low, is there anything software wise, out there that would level them all at the same volume?

I`d like something free is it`s possible, simple and easy to use?

Cheers.

Johnboy1951

The operating system being used determines what is available.
There are some cross platform applications which will do this
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/normalize.html
but there are also many others and also different approaches.

I might use gnormalize to set all my files at equal volume, or maybe use AudioCompress which is a dynamic range compressor to keep audio output at a consistent volume.

Harry Palmr

winamp (or is that too old school?!) has loads of plugins for this sort of thing.

lewis

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

The operating system being used determines what is available.
There are some cross platform applications which will do this
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/normalize.html
but there are also many others and also different approaches.

I might use gnormalize to set all my files at equal volume, or maybe use AudioCompress which is a dynamic range compressor to keep audio output at a consistent volume.

I'll look into those, I just want something that works and will do ALL of my music, some software might limit the amount of songs.

lewis

Harry Palmr wrote: »

winamp (or is that too old school?!) has loads of plugins for this sort of thing.

I use Winamp, but didn't know there was a plugin..

ED E

Get foobar 2000. Setup leveling config. Profit.

lewis

ED E wrote: »

Get foobar 2000. Setup leveling config. Profit.

I used Foobar for a short time ages ago and found it tricky to get around from what I remember.

Harry Palmr

lewis wrote: »

I use Winamp, but didn't know there was a plugin..

try this

options > preferences > playback > Replay Gain > tick Use Replay Gain box then > amplification mode : normalize, untick : ask before writing Replay Gain to analysed files. Close

lewis

Harry Palmr wrote: »

try this

options > preferences > playback > Replay Gain > tick Use Replay Gain box then > amplification mode : normalize, untick : ask before writing Replay Gain to analysed files. Close

What will it do once that`s done..make new copies of the songs...replace them...

Digital Solitude

Media Monkey can do the same, Its my preference

Harry Palmr

lewis wrote: »

What will it do once that`s done..make new copies of the songs...replace them...

If you are simply playing back song files they'll be about the same volume, you might have to play about with the settings. Winamp won't remaster and rewrite/save the files.

beauf

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Media Monkey can do the same, Its my preference

Same here. Though I don't always like the effect of Volume Leveling.

lewis

I'll do a small selection of songs and see how the sound.

beauf

The volume effect in music monkey is averaged over how many tracks you pick. (I think)

Dravokivich

To be fair, I wouldn't expect something to do such a process in bulk, to get them all to fit right, individually.

(extreme examples used granted)

Songs that are produced dynamically, instead of loudly, will be impacted negatively by it. For example, Chinese Democracy by Guns N'Roses sounds relatively quiet, while Death Magnetic by Metallica is rather loud and harsh.

If you were to setup a process, so there's no perceived reduction in loudness between'em, it's result in other stuff being distorted.

What may be better would be to use a compressor plugin on Winamp, to handle things like this on the fly, instead of re-encoding your library.

https://winampheritage.com/plugin/audio-compressor-dsp/115820

This way you can set a threshold that'll reduce the loud music, but can also raise the queiter music, without affecting the manner in which it was produced.

Radio stations use a similar concept.

lewis

Dravokivich wrote: »

To be fair, I wouldn't expect something to do such a process in bulk, to get them all to fit right, individually.

(extreme examples used granted)

Songs that are produced dynamically, instead of loudly, will be impacted negatively by it. For example, Chinese Democracy by Guns N'Roses sounds relatively quiet, while Death Magnetic by Metallica is rather loud and harsh.

If you were to setup a process, so there's no perceived reduction in loudness between'em, it's result in other stuff being distorted.

What may be better would be to use a compressor plugin on Winamp, to handle things like this on the fly, instead of re-encoding your library.

https://winampheritage.com/plugin/audio-compressor-dsp/115820

This way you can set a threshold that'll reduce the loud music, but can also raise the queiter music, without affecting the manner in which it was produced.

Radio stations use a similar concept.

I'll give it a go, sounds like it might be the better option, I didn't like the idea of re-encoding thousands of songs.

beauf

That will work only where you you can use the plugin. I use my MP3 across many different devices. I wouldn't always have access to a plugin. If you do the plugin would be a better option.

lewis

Mainly the PC would be were I'd play them, I've got one playlist on my phone, only 600-700 songs on it I think, I might do them ones with one of the mentioned programs.