To normalize or not to normalize...that is the question!

PreacherPreacher Potomac, MD Icrontian
edited January 2004 in Internet & Media
I'm ripping my CD collection to MP3 using CDEX and the LAME encoder. I'm much more concerened about quality than speed or hard drive space. I think scouring the net I've got the setting right where I want them except for normalization. I know what it does basically, but is it recommended? Do I lose significant sound quality? Does it really make that much of a difference from album to album? I'm just looking to make it so I don't have to change the volume when I do a Winamp playlist. Thanks...

Comments

  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    I've ripped alot of cd's and I've hardly noticed (if ever) volume diffrence from each rip. I say leave it.
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited January 2004
    Each CD is recorded at different levels, so you may notice differences between songs from different CD's. Unlike VOE, I have noticed differences in rips from different discs in my collection.

    Since normalizing adjusts the waveform of the file so that the peaks fit within a specified range, audio "purists" would tell you not to do it. However, a "purist" would probably never use MP3's either, so take that for what it's worth ;) If you can adjust the amount of normalization, then keep it low, I have read that -0.5 dB is a good setting. If you can't adjust it, then you have to decide if your CD collection has enough variance in audio levels to bother doing it. Do you notice that some CD's seem louder than others? Do you plan to have those files in a playlist together? Then I say do it.

    If you ever plan to burn those files back to a compilation CD as audio files, then normalizing is a good idea, although most burning programs allow this during the burn process anyways.

    Dexter...
  • ginipigginipig OH, NOES
    edited January 2004
    Does Replay Gain work on mp3s? I've used it on most of my *.mpc (ape.v2 tagged) backups, and it's been sweet: No waveform tinkering + quick.

    Depending on your files' tagging/playback method, this may/maynot be a solution.

    Glad/Sorry I could/couldn't help.

    :)

    wait for it..

    :(
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Winamp does have plugins for normalizing. Maybe this would work...
  • PreacherPreacher Potomac, MD Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    All,
    First off, thanks for all the advice and help. BTW, if you are into MP3s and haven't discovered Tag & Rename (http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm), you are missing out. I've got over 3,000 albums and that little program has saved me a gang of time and effort.

    I think, after searching the web some more last night, I've found the answer. It's MP3Gain (http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/). According all the articles and message boards I're read, it has a great rep.

    Here's the gist:
    "Tired of reaching for your volume knob every time your mp3 player changes to a new song?
    MP3Gain analyzes and adjusts mp3 files so that they have the same volume.

    MP3Gain does not just do peak normalization, as many normalizers do. Instead, it does some statistical analysis to determine how loud the file actually sounds to the human ear. Also, the changes MP3Gain makes are completely lossless. There is no quality lost in the change because the program adjusts the mp3 file directly, without decoding and re-encoding."
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Sounds nice :D
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