Volumes All Over The Place!
I've been having these problems for quite some time on my 5G.
Volumes are inconsistent, BUT not something that can be resolved with Sound Check (or the like), which I won't use anyway:
1) The originating CD's of many tracks were mastered at very low volumes --so even the highest 'Get Info' volume on iTunes is still not enough. These usually have to played at the max volume on the iPod.
2) Again, whether with Sound Check or not, there is a GREAT inconsistency between the output of the headphone jack and the output of the dock. So a track could actually sound super soft through the headphones, only for that very same track to be cranked when played though, say, my car stereo --and vice versa.
I am aware the headphone jack has a built-in amplifier, but that does not explain extremely opposite volumes for different tracks.
This also holds true for the tracks indicated in #1: as low as they are mastered, many may end up cranked in my car.
3) A new problem: I'm finding MANY tracks on the iPod not responding at all to the volume control until maybe half way --at which point there is a sudden drop (or increase, as the case maybe).
Thanks for any input on this.
[1265 byte] By [
sovrako] at [2007-11-11 21:34:54]
# 1 Re: Volumes All Over The Place!
Turn Sound Check off on your iPods and iTunes, it never really worked well. Download MP3Gain (http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/) for Windows or MacMP3Gain (http://homepage.mac.com/beryrinaldo/AudioTron/MacMP3Gain/) for a Mac. Set the target value to around 92db and run your mp3 collection through the Radio Gain setting. It should also be set to allow clipping, some will occur, but you will not notice it unless you get to carried away with the target value.
This will change the volume level of the mp3's rendering the Sound Check settings useless, but they don't work anyways. You will have to re-transfer your changed mp3s to the iPod.
This probably won't fix issue 3, this may require a Reset or Restore using iTunes. Restore will erase all content off the iPod.
# 2 Re: Volumes All Over The Place!
i second the recommendation of mp3gain.
john
# 3 Re: Volumes All Over The Place!
Thanks so much for the info, I'll try MacMP3Gain --but will this address my issue#2: the polar volume output inconsistency of some tracks between the headphone jack and the dock?
# 4 Re: Volumes All Over The Place!
Does mp3gain alter the files or tag them a certain way? I'd hate to permanently alter the volume of my tracks, especially if there might be clipping involved. Are there any programs that can alter the volume of songs already on the ipod?
# 5 Re: Volumes All Over The Place!
Does anyone know if the changes made by mp3gain can be undone? Anyone? I think I'm going to try this, but don't want to ruin my huge collection. Does it affect file size? :confused:
# 6 Re: Volumes All Over The Place!
Does anyone know if the changes made by mp3gain can be undone? Anyone? I think I'm going to try this, but don't want to ruin my huge collection. Does it affect file size? :confused:
Yes, it can be undone, and it doesn't affect file size. I was afraid to use a program like this for a long time because I thought it would actually re-encode the songs at a higher volume, and wouldn't be reversible. That's not how it works. It doesn't change the actual sound data at all; it just adds some kind of tag to the file telling the player to boost or cut the volume on this track by x number of decibels.
I use iGain because it works on AAC files, which is mostly what I have. It works on MP3 files too. (MP3Gain only works on MP3 files.) It does not work on files purchased from the iTunes store.
Processing a song file through iGain (or MP3Gain) does not make the iPod update the song, so iGain has the option to add something in the comment field. If you turn that option on, iTunes will re-download to the iPod any songs whose coments have changed.
It does take a long time though. On my computer, it only does a few songs a minute. I've only processed about 5,000 of my 8,000 songs so far because it takes so long. And the results are not perfect, but way better than iTunes/iPod Sound Check.
My videos have all different volumes too. I searched for a program that would do this kind of thing with video files and couldn't find anything. Just for fun, I told iGain to work on my "Music Videos" playlist to see what would happen. It worked pretty well. I don't think it's supposed to work on MP4 video files, but it did a pretty good job. I do have a few videos though (out of about 300), that after the iGain processing, have no audio on the iPod. But the sound is still there if I play them in iTunes. I have no idea why that happened. I haven't tried yet, but I'll see if I can reverse whatever iGain did. But if I need to delete and re-import those few, it's no big deal.
Good luck.
# 7 Re: Volumes All Over The Place!
Unfortunately, iGain will not work on Macs though.
# 8 Re: Volumes All Over The Place!
Found out problem #3 was being caused by the RF remote I was using.
# 9 Re: Volumes All Over The Place!
Can this MP3gain software be a possible sollution to us Brits that have the EU Vol cap issue?
# 10 Re: Volumes All Over The Place!
Can this MP3gain software be a possible sollution to us Brits that have the EU Vol cap issue?
You could always give it a try with a few tracks since the volume changes can be undone. But it would be my guess it will introduce distortion to the playback on the iPod. You would probably have to set the Target Value to the maximum 105db which may not be enough and/or will introduce too much "clipping" you will hear as pops, clicks and distortion.
# 11 Re: Volumes All Over The Place!
Unfortunately, iGain will not work on Macs though.
Amoeba Software's Fission is a great Mac-only product that will allow adjusting volume, cutting out unwanted pieces of a track, doing fade-outs, normalizing and so on. It works with MP3s, AACs, and WAV files, and does not affect the sound quality at all. Absolutely indispensible utility for Mac users with large music collections.
