Track Gain Vs Constant Gain
An audio fade is analogous to a video transition. For a crossfade, you add an audio transition between two adjacent audio clips on the same track. To fade in or fade out, you add a crossfade transition to either end of a single clip. Premiere Pro includes three types of crossfade: Constant Gain, Constant Power, and Exponential Fade. Thus began the history of Mp3Gain: trying to find a solution to this problem of the ups and downs jumps and falls in volume gains. But the solution proposed by Mp3Gain was very limited: just trying to give a few blows to gain volume slider, but that was not at all efficient.
I realize that when using MP3Gain to get all the tracks on an album to be at the same volume, I am to use the “Album Gain” function. But sometimes, when making compilation CDS (say a “Best Of “ CD by a particular artist), I run into the problem of some of the tracks not being in the 88.2 to 89.8 dB range in which most of my mp3s lie. Some of my tracks, after running them through MP3Gain, seem to be stuck at the 83 to 85 dB range; and, no matter what I do, I can’t get the values any higher without clipping them. But when I run these same tracks through MP3Gain using the “Album Gain” function (instead of the “Track Gain” function, which I’m supposed to use), I'm able to get all of the tracks at the same acceptable volume. I guess my question is this: Can I use “Album Gain” on a collection of tracks that aren’t all from the same album (instead of using 'Track Gain') if it’s the only way to get the desired volume for all the tracks? And, most importantly, will it work?
Last edit: plutosun 2015-06-12Most of us have a huge collection of digital music that we call our own. Usually, albums and songs have been added irregularly over the year from many, many different sources. You may have digitized your existing record, MC and CD collections, while most of us exchange music with friends and family.
I’m sure you’ll agree that the one annoying thing when enjoying a random mix of your favorite tunes is the change in quality, especially in the volume. Since our music originates from so many different sources, quality is never the same, but variations in the volume are most unpleasant.
While it’s difficult to fix the overall quality, it’s rather easy to normalize MP3 volume levels with the right tool. That’s where MP3Gain comes in.
MP3Gain, does statistical analysis to determine how loud a file sounds to the human ear. Most other normalizers work with peak normalization, normalizing a song’s value based on its loudest passage. Furthermore, you will love to hear that normalizing your MP3s with MP3Gain has no effect on the quality, as no decoding or encoding takes place.
Track Gain Vs Constant Gain Chart
The program was primarily written for Windows. However, there is a Linux GUI and a MacMP3Gain version available.
So how does it work? It’s pretty simple. You add files or folders and set the target volume. The default is 89,0 dB. In other tools, you will find up to 92,0 dB as a default volume for normalization. However, I would always go with the default of the respective tool, unless you know what you’re doing when changing this.
Track Gain Vs Constant Gain Rate
When you have added all files you wish to normalize, click the Analysis button. From there, you can select either Track or Album analysis in the pull-down menu. MP3Gain now analyzes each file to check the current volume and whether the file has clipping issues. The Track Gain indicates the increase or decrease in volume required to match the target volume. You can clear the results by selecting Clear Analysis from the Analysis button pull-down menu.
Once the analysis process is completed, you can click the Gain button to initiate the suggested changes. Note that there is also a drop-down menu for this button from which you can select Track, Album or Constant, depending on what type of adjustments you prefer. The included help file does a very good job of explaining what the differences are.
Should you realize that you’ve made the wrong selection, you can cancel anytime and undo all changes MP3Gain made. Simply add all of the edited files that were previously modified and select >Modify Gain >Undo Gain changes from the menu.
MP3Gain should solve the issue of varying volume levels in any MP3 collection easily!
Are you aware of any better app that can be used to normalize mp3 volume levels? Let us know in comments!
We have previously covered tools to enhance your mp3 collection:
Stefan covered 4 Easy Ways Fix Music Tags & Organize Music Library4 Easy Ways Fix Music Tags & Organize Music Library4 Easy Ways Fix Music Tags & Organize Music LibraryRead More and Mahendra wrote about How To Convert Audio Cassettes & LPs to MP3 in 5 Easy StepsHow To Convert Audio Cassettes & LPs to MP3 in 5 Easy StepsHow To Convert Audio Cassettes & LPs to MP3 in 5 Easy StepsRead More.
What else would you like to know? We appreciate your feedback and requests!
Track Gain Vs Constant Gain Rate
Image credits: fangol
Explore more about: Audio Editor, MP3.
This actually answered my problem, thanks!
This is great! I have some songs that pop on and are really loud they make me jump.
It's also a good way to boost the volume of your tunes if your player is somewhat low-volume. I set mine to 97 dB as the default and don't have to crank up the car or portable player so loud. Most files show 'clipping,' but I've never been able to hear anything at all wrong with them. You can change the gain for a file as many times as you want. Great program. Mp3tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html) is another good free program for mp3 (for editing tags).
Wow. This is quite a useful tool. One thing one needs to remember that once the track gain is applied to the song file(s), it is permanent. So you may want to create a backup copy of your song first just in case things go wrong.
Chickenwuss,
I thought I had written this more clearly, but apparently I have not. All changes MP3Gain makes are reversible per default because the mp3 files are not re-encoded.
This is different in other tools, for example MP3Gain Pro (formerly known as MP3Doctor), which is NOT affiliated with MP3Gain at all.
great tool that I use since a few years. It is completly free and works perfectly.
Now this is a tool I've been looking for for awhile now (my radio show deals with free and legal music; sadly, not every album I play is equal, quality-wise)! Thanks!!!