lifehacker.com — If you've been playing the MP3 game for more than a few years, you've probably amassed a library that's both sizable and eclectic. It's probably a bit messy, too, with inconsistent volume levels, missing or incorrect album art and messed-up metadata. Fortunately, these problems aren't difficult to correct. Let's start with volume leveling.
Jan 22, 2007 View in Crawl 4
phlavorJan 22, 2007
Wrong.Whip your MP3 library into shape, Part I TAG YOUR DAMNED FILES.1. Fill in everything. Everything. Yes, that too. I don't care if you think it's relevant. Do it.2. Use smart folders for organization. You don't have smart folders? It's 2007. Use a program with smart folders.3. Add artwork. Album artwork is cool.
bdbrJan 22, 2007
"this is the same as turning up the brightness all the way on your monitor"No its not. No one is recommending that you set your gain at the max - in fact, the default gain that the page uses is lower than most CD rips (which is around 92). You also wouldn't change the brightness on your monitor everytime you had a webpage that is way too bright or way too dark, which is similar to what you'll end up doing without mp3gain (changing your volume to deal with loud/quiet songs). mp3gain will take mp3s that are too loud or too quiet, and level them to match the rest of your music.A warning: if you use the default 89db setting, the resulting music will be quieter than most CD rips. That means you'll have to use mp3gain on EVERY mp3 you have, or they'll be too loud. I find it a better use of my time to only run mp3gain on the songs that are too loud or quiet. I set it at 92, which is close to the average CD rip. This can result in a little more clipping than 89, but no more than what you'd hear in the average rip.
regeyaJan 23, 2007
Uh-huh...yeah. I always love it when I put on some tunes, and walk away. Maybe a King Crimson track comes up on the player, and maybe it's a nice soft track. I run to the kitchen to get something done, maybe a more recent CD comes up in the playlist, and before I can get back to the living room, the neighbors are bitching about Metallica blaring too loud. No, thanks.And now a little off the subject...I swear to God that audiophiles are the Linux 00b3r-l33t k1d5 of the music world. They have no clue that the reason their tube amp sounds "warmer" is because the upper frequencies are getting rolled off, yet they complain if you don't have frickin' $10,000 heavy-gauge solid-gold cables running from the ultra-expensive turntable (again, compressed frequency range, added noise, but they don't frickin' have a clue) to their ultra-expensive tube amp. Then they have to have speakers set up in a way so that they can "identify the source" becuase "if the speakers are transparent, the signal is colored." Um, DUH, you're playing frickin' RECORDS THROUGH A TUBE AMP, DUMBASS. "But it's good 'coz it sounds pretty!" Yeah, I'll hook you up with the 13-year-old kid down the street who just HAS to have Beryl. Dumbasses.Why the rant about audiophiles? Because I guess I get my "panties" in a bunch every time I see someone bemoaning solid-state electronics, the evils of lossy audio compression, the horrors of using onboard computer audio, the godawful sound of Audio CDs (I love that argument--"sounds grainy") and the evils of playing music in the background while one does other things. Look, not everyone has or wants to take the time (or money) to set up an acoustically perfect room, and sit in the chair that has minimal impact on the acoustic environment while one enjoys listening to a scratchy-and-poppy John Coltrane record playin through a frickin TUBE AMP.I want my tracks leveled so they can be listened to while other things are going on. Like sitting at work. Or at home with the terrible-twos-toddler having a temper tantrum. Or in the car. If I had to wait for my opportunity to get transparent equipment and an optimal listening environment, well, I guess my family can take out a loan so one can be installed in my coffin, I guess.For now, leveled MP3s on crappy multimedia speakers, please! :-P
shertzerjJan 23, 2007
@GopherAwesome, I've been looking for a Windows utility to populate the BPM field. Unfortunately I did all the rest of the tagging by hand... would've been nice to have some of these utilities around then. :-/
homeagain1Mar 2, 2007
For most music I don't think it's a good idea and will probably introduce clipping. Remember, the target db isn't to set the peak of volume, but the overall loudness. So if you have a track with some loud parts and some quieter (dynamic range) the loud parts will become clipped if you raise the target db to 95.
sarahmaddelsonMay 11, 2007
Wonderful! Almost all people think so
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dmitriyvozJun 25, 2007
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