Burning and Ripping CDs

[sanpedro72]

One of the confusing parts of MM is the keeping the sound levels true to the original. Like when I rip a disc at .wav or .flac lossless, I want to be certain that the original volume is maintained. Then if I want to burn a copy for the car, I want to know HOW to keep the output and quality exactly as the original.

Does analyzing change the original output, say if I choose to burn or play on a different media player?

WHAT db level does the burn/rip have to be at to keep the rips and burns sounding = to the original?

Thank you for your help. Jacob

[rovingcowboy]

you should use the 97 or 98 percent level for burning to cd's this will keep it almost as loud as the orignal and still keep some chance of the cliping from occuring.

when you rip you get the full sound but if you anaylize then monkey will adjust his library code to play the song back at the percent level you have set in the options for playback.

if you level the volume instead of just anaylize it then monkey will change the song file to the level of percent you have for the base percentage.

it is best to just anaylize them so it can set the library's playback level. but if you take that song to another player it will be played at the level percentage of that players settings.



me personaly i rip to wav. then go in to a wav editor and pump up the volume to as much as the file can hold. with out getting clipping of the high or low notes. in the wav editor that is watched for by making sure the spikes on each channel don't touch the other channel's spikes.
then you have it as loud as the file can handle.

doing that saves the cpu from having to pump it up as it is played.
and makes for a better sound when you play them back because you can then keep the volume level lower and save the speakers. more power on the file makes for less power needed in the speakers. thus saving them from getting too hot from the higher power going in to them. they get the same power for the song but the powered speakers don't have to amp it up as much that way.

if you get the free version of jet audio it has an option to normalize the volume on the cdroms when you burn them.
i use it and set the volume to 8 or 9 depending on what the songs are loud pipe organs i use 7 cause the bass will rattle the car speakers apart..( i got to remember to get new speakers in the truck, they rattle something bad now.)

maybe that option can be done in media monkey in a future version?

[Big_Berny]

rc is not completely right here! Just don't use any volume levelling at all and the final result will be exactly the same as the original CD!
Analyzing the volume in MediaMonkey is no problem because it simply adds a information about how loud the songs are. Then the volume gets adjusted directly when you play them in MM - the files itself don't get changed.

So when burning the cd just don't enable the volume levelling option and you're fine.

@rovingcowboy as he rips the music directly to WAV/FLAC they are converted lossless - the volume stays the same. There also won't be any additional clipping. And if there really is clipping, it's already on the CD and then also reducing the level won't help to restore the clipped information.

[Scooter]

There is an extraordinary range of volumes in any commercial CD.

Nickleback, by example, is so loud that clipping is present.

I got a Pablo Cruise CD this week that one could barely hear.

Cowboy said:
"me personaly i rip to wav. then go in to a wav editor and pump up the volume to as much as the file can hold. with out getting clipping of the high or low notes. in the wav editor that is watched for by making sure the spikes on each channel don't touch the other channel's spikes.
then you have it as loud as the file can handle."

This is exactly what I do as well, and every CD that is ripped is adjusted up or down to a consistent volume level using a wave editor.

[sanpedro72]

Hey all, thank you so much for your thoughtful responses. Now, in MM's properties... the playback settings are all PRESET at 89 DB including "burning". What should burning be at in order to remain OUTPUT faithful to the original? Does anyone get this? Thank you for your replies. Jacob.

PS. In fact, I'd like change ALL the target levels to the most "faithful" number. Any takers?

[nohitter151]

Hey all, thank you so much for your thoughtful responses. Now, in MM's properties... the playback settings are all PRESET at 89 DB including "burning". What should burning be at in order to remain OUTPUT faithful to the original? Does anyone get this? Thank you for your replies. Jacob.

PS. In fact, I'd like change ALL the target levels to the most "faithful" number. Any takers?

Just don't enable volume leveling at all if you want it faithful to the original.

[sanpedro72]

Thank you but that doesn't completely answer my question. It still want to keep audio output for playback "level" as most as I can get. BUT, I want it proper level based on the "average" original.

I don't get the 89 db default really. Can I get this customized so the burning is based on the original sound but my library can be "balanced". Can you help?

[nohitter151]

Thank you but that doesn't completely answer my question. It still want to keep audio output for playback "level" as most as I can get. BUT, I want it proper level based on the "average" original.

I don't get the 89 db default really. Can I get this customized so the burning is based on the original sound but my library can be "balanced". Can you help?

I'm not really sure what you mean then. You said that you want the volume leveling to be the exact same as the original album but you still want volume leveling. That can't really be done.

I also don't really see what the 89 db has to do with what you're asking, thats just a default volume that is usually used for volume leveling because at that volume clipping is usually prevented.

[sanpedro72]

if i knew how to screen shot, i'd show you... see, i am forced to decide the db for burning and i don't want to have to decide. there should be a default somewhere... so if there isn't, is there what is the closed "db" to the actual copy?

[rovingcowboy]

100%

[sanpedro72]

so you're saying 100 db = 100%??

[nohitter151]

so you're saying 100 db = 100%??

No. There is no one dB level that matches all CD's. Each CD is set at its own level.

[rovingcowboy]

as nohitter151 has already said there is different volumes on different cdroms.

but setting the number to 100 will make it even to what the cdrom has on it.
wheather or not the volume of the cd is at 100 or 50 db's.
the setting of 100 should get you everything on the cdrom.
89 will cut it down to keep the clipping from occuring it might still happen but not as likely when at 89, i use 95 on all my settings but that is cause i go in to the songs and adjust the volume on the file in the wav editor.

[sanpedro72]

Wow, this is all interesting, baffling information. Thank you.

Still I am a bit confused, if I rip a CD and copies at its natural playback level and then want to turn around and burn at copy, I am still not certain which db level to set it out without clipping, EVEN with "clipping prevention" checked.

See I backed up my entire CD collection in .wav and then downloaded torrents in .flac. One I convert the flac to wav the biggest issue is that when I rip a copy, for say the car, I want to ensure it will be a carbon copy of the original. This is why I thought 100% (now this is MM Gold we are talking about here) was 100 db, and the sound must surely be a 100% replica of the original and with clicking prevention "checked" there shouldn't be a problem, right?

I will also check out this Jet Audio program. I had it before but it wasn't as user friendly as MM.

Continued feedback encouraged

[Big_Berny]

Sorry, but what has been written here is not true! As me and nohitter said, you just have to NOT use any volume levelling feature and the CD wil be like the original one and not clipped! At least not more than the original CD was!

Setting the volume to 100 dB will increase the volume of most songs! Also with clipping-protection enabled the volume will be higher than the original one - it just will look that it doesn't increase it too much to prevent from clipping. But anyway the burned CD will not be a perfect copy from the original one!

So: If you want a bit-perfect copy - just don't use any volume levelling when burning your FLACs!