Please explain the 'leveling' concept and its implications.

[gpzbc]

I agree, MM apparently reads the value because the field is populated. I guess I was wondering if MM is capable of processing the value if I have told MM to "Level Playback Volume" in MM Options. The HydrogenAudio wiki from sept. 2009 says that no player is capable of processing LAME's replaygain value during playback.

[Teknojnky]

if it shows up in the track volume column as valid track gain info, then yes MM uses it for Play > level playback volume.

I imagine if MM reads it, any replay gain compatible player will. Try it with foobar and see if it shows up there as track gain info. All replay gain tags should be pretty standard and work with any player that is, mm will read tags generated by foobar and vice versa.

MM will still rescan the track volumes to calculate album gain if enabled and triggered to do so.

[gpzbc]

It sounds like the hydrogenaudio wiki needs to be updated accordingly.
You have all been quite helpful in helping to understand this better. Thank you.

[davidbspalding]

...According to Hydrogenaudio Wiki page for ReplayGain, LAME automatically adds ReplayGain values to the tag during the encoding process. The wiki claims that it is only on a per track basis, rather than per album. And they claim that no player currently supports the reading of this value.
Here is a link to the HydrogenAudio Wiki page for ReplayGain.

So I wonder if this wiki is outdated? Does MediaMonkey actually read and process the ReplayGain value which LAME wrote to the tag during the encoding process? Or is it just a useless value as far as MM is concerned?

HHAHA, yes, I'd say it's out of date, that note dates back to 2005 and has hardly changed since.

Check the MM help on Volume Leveling, I think MM's support will become clear. IIRC, MM supports a track and album ReplayGain level, but players (like my iPods) only support ReplayGain for tracks. You can analyze Volume Level manually (not the same as Leveling Volume, which is "destructive," that is rewrites the file) and see the results in the detail view if you enable the two Gain colums.

[gpzbc]

Thanks

[re-analyzer]

hello,

sorry for warmung up this, but i have an additional question: i analyzed all my files (25.000+) per album, but now i decided, to analyze per track (because the volume still jumps between the tracks).

the problem
for sad analysing of 25.000+ files via wlan on a nas-server (network attached harddisk), takes approximately 2 days or more!
when i use "only analyze tracks with unknown volume level adjustment" off, then mediamonkey doesn't re-analyze tracks, that were analyzed via "per album"-method. - i have no effect. when i switch the option off, it takes too much time as i wrote above.

is there a possibility to "reset" the flag or to let mediamonkey forget, that the track was analyzed?

thanks in advance for answers,

greets, ra

[nohitter151]

Already answered in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32761#p195279

[davidbspalding]

... i analyzed all my files (25.000+) per album, but now i decided, to analyze per track (because the volume still jumps between the tracks)...

The volume jumping ... does it occur during playback with MediaMonkey, or another device. I ask because I found that iPods only support ReplayGain values per track, so that volume levels still change from track to track during iPod playback.

On the iPod this can be prevented by turning off SoundCheck on the device. No more re-analyzing required.

[bandit72]

hey all, this has been an incredibly informative and helpful thread. I'm wondering if I can get some advice from some of you - lots of incredibly knowledgeable people here.

I've been using Media Monkey on my laptop to DJ at a club for a few weeks. I've been very unhappy with the sound - it seems very odd and pitchy and compressed at times. I used the volume leveling function and leveled all my mp3s (which are all at 192 or higher) at 97. I get distortion when I try the playback leveling, so i turn it off. There definitely seems to be a degradation in sound - not just loudness - when i physically level the mp3 files.

Luckily i have all of my files on a separate hard drive, so i can wipe the slate clean on my laptop and redo all the tracks for my gigs.

What do you suggest for 1) keeping the tracks generally even, and 2) making sure there is zero degradation in sound quality?

From reading through this thread, it seems like the solution would be to change the playback target to about 92 instead of 97, analyze the volume rather than level, and since i'm using MM for playing the sets, just turn on the level playback option. Thoughts on this?

I thought that physically leveling the files would give me a more consistently volume - my prior experience has been with iTunes, and the Soundcheck function didn't really seem to work very well. I love MM's overall functionality, but I've definitely noticed some changes for the worse in the files that i've leveled.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, and if anybody out there used Media Monkey to DJ with mp3 files i'd love to hear any suggestions you may have. Feel free to email me: cmg1972@gmail.com

[Lowlander]

If you're using MediaMonkey for playback I'd suggest to only Analyze Volume and leave the value at it's default 89dB. The more you increase this number the more chance of audio artifacts being introduced.

[bandit72]

If you're using MediaMonkey for playback I'd suggest to only Analyze Volume and leave the value at it's default 89dB. The more you increase this number the more chance of audio artifacts being introduced.

Lowlander - thanks for the suggestion!

Do you think the high dB value of 97 - and the fact that the files were physically altered - is the likely culprit for the sound issues i've been having? I thought it was my new laptop - but then I downloaded a file from amazon last night and played it fresh without leveling, and I noticed that it didn't seem to have the same issues i've been having.

[Lowlander]

Yes, 95dB seems the maximum for most to prevent artifacts. I'd still go with 89dB, unless you need to increase the volume for some reason.

[bandit72]

Yes, 95dB seems the maximum for most to prevent artifacts. I'd still go with 89dB, unless you need to increase the volume for some reason.

excellent - thanks for the advice. I will go with your suggestion. It didn't occur to me that the leveling might be the source of the issues i've been having until i heard that track fresh last night with no alteration.

[bandit72]

I followed the suggestions here - I re-imported the music, analyzed it, set the default at 89db, and turned on the "level as you play" option - and it sounds MUCH MUCH MUCH better.

Thanks again for the input!

[johs]

I already found a lot of info on volume leveling, and most of my questions answered, in particular in this post and the first reply by nohitter151: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32761&hilit=volume+levelling

But I still have a few additional questions:

I once set / enabled all options under Tools - Player - Volume Leveling, but only later realized this might also affect the quality. However, from nohitter's reply I understand that volume leveling in MM is not possible on flac files (unless you rip/convert albums and have set "Target Volume Level for Ripping Audio CDs"). I have only downloaded flac albums in my MM library, so can I assume that the original quality of these files will not have been affected despite having all options under Tools - Player - Volume Leveling enabled/set?

Also, if I ever want to rip CD's myself, how do I disable volume leveling? Under Tools - Player - Volume Leveling, you can only set the Target Volume Level for Ripping Audio CDs (in dB). You cannot enable/discable this option with a tick box. Should I set the value in the dB box to zero, or will this still level the volume when ripping CDs (to zero)? How can I then disable this option?

When I only want to play-back in MM at the same level, do I understand correctly that I should enable all options under Tools - Player - Volume Leveling - General, and enable "Target volume level for Playback"? This will not change anything to the audio-files itself?

Finally, what is the exact meaning of the option "When analyzing Track volume, also analyze Album volume"? Why would I want to enable this or not?

Thanks for clarifying!