MP3 Normalisation

[Geoff P.]

I've taken to copying some of my old CDs onto a USB stick for use in the car, and I'm feeling quite pleased with myself ! ( I'm 70 in May ! ).
Used WMP to rip the CDs, photographed the covers, cropped them in Photo Gallery, resized them in Paint and tagged them as Album Art using MP3Tag.

My only gripe is the variation in sound levels between various albums, meaning regular adjustments when playing on random ( shuffle ? ). It would seem that the freeware MP3Gain would sort it out, but I have some reservations before putting it on my PC.

1. Being quite old software, is it still up to running on Windows 11 ?
2. I've seen something about VB runtime files not being in Win 11, so rather than the normal download would I need the 'full' download ( which apparently includes them )?
3. If I did so, and for some reason I already had those runtime files, would there be any conflict ?

Hopefully, someone out there will have some experience of these matters, and could give us some pointers. ( Be gentle - I'm no computer whizz ! ).
Thanks.
Geoff P.

 

[Vincent Kars]

Almost any media player (Musicbee, Foobar) can do this.
Looks like WMP can do it too: https://www.windows-media-player.com/set-up-the-same-volume-level/

 

[Geoff P.]

Almost any media player (Musicbee, Foobar) can do this.
Looks like WMP can do it too: https://www.windows-media-player.com/set-up-the-same-volume-level/

Thanks for that, Vincent.

I may be wrong, but I'm lead to believe that a lot of these levellers simply apply a cut-off threshold, whereas MP3Gain does an analysis of each track to maintain the song's dynamics, then alters the average sound level to a fixed number.

This would seem to be a better solution for music being played in the car, where a fairly consistent sound level might be preferable.

The WMP solution looks interesting, so I'll investigate that with some trial tracks ( loud, medium and quiet ) on a USB stick.

Any more opinions on MP3Gain or any others would be much appreciated.
GP

 

[Vincent Kars]

I'm lead to believe that a lot of these levellers simply apply a cut-off threshold

No, that is what is called a (peak)limiter.
To the best of my knowledge, Musicbee & Co simply analyse the entire audio file. In the end a value is calculated e.g. lower the volume with 5 dB. Pretty much like we use volume control.
In your case, you need it at track level (not album level).

ReplayGain is a standard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReplayGain
It is a bit dated. Today often R128 is used but again a standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBU_R_128

 

[Geoff P.]

Quick update for anyone who's still listening ! :

MP3Gain runs just fine on Windows 11 PC ( I did the full download, with VB files, from the official site ).

It might be long in the tooth, but it was easy to use for an old codger like me - just find an online tutorial.

Trialled the default 89db setting but found it a bit quiet when switching from an FM station, so I used a 92db setting at track level to even things up.

Happy Days !