From: Chris Holt <amiga2k_at_cox.net>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:56:56 -0400

On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 18:36:04 +0100, mrlipring wrote:
> Yeah, i understand, but this still involved editing the file, if not
> reencoding the audio. This means that to listen to the song in its
> original volume, and to listen to it normalised without transferring it
> again would require two copies of the file to be present on the archos.

Well, the Archos does have a volume control.

I really must be missing your point. The only reasons I can think of for
concern with regards to changing the gain of an MP3 file are clipping,
which is avoidable, and the gain of the track relative to other tracks.

In a playlist of mixed songs the common use would be to make all songs
sound approximately as loud as each other, avoiding constant volume
control fiddling.

In the scenario of playing a complete album, we would have concern about
the relative loudness of each song the same as it was mastered. As we
pointed out, MP3Gain can handle this.

Other than that, I can't really see what you mean by "listen to the song
in it's original volume" because taken individually, you set each songs
volume level with the volume control.

Perhaps put another way: I personally only have one album where I am
concerned about the gain of all songs relative to each other. I
MP3Gain'ed the album (in album mode) with a gain setting just below
clipping. Now I know when I listen to that album, I can get the maximum
volume out of the device that I'm using to listen, but still have the
quieter tracks quieter. I don't see why anyone should care what the gain
of the mastered album was, as long as all tracks are the same, relative to
each other.

The rest of my music gets MP3Gain'ed as a whole, but in track mode,
because I want to be able to listen to music at a constant perceived
volume across tracks. I cannot come up with any reason why I should care
at all what the engineer set the gain levels to when he made the master.
Unless, of course, he clipped the thing.

The bigger problem is the heinous amounts of dynamic range compression
they use to sound louder on the radio. It's pretty much impossible to get
that back.

Chris
Received on 2003-09-30