recording MP3 level problems

I am using Windows 7 home premium SP1
I recorded several MP3s to a memory stick and when I play them they are at
different levels.
Is there a program, hopefully free, that will normalize the levels so they
all play about the same volume?
I didn't know where to ask this so here I am.
Thank you for any help
John

On 28/01/2014 16:33, john wrote:
I am using Windows 7 home premium SP1
I recorded several MP3s to a memory stick and when I play them they are at
different levels.
Is there a program, hopefully free, that will normalize the levels so they
all play about the same volume?
I didn't know where to ask this so here I am.
Thank you for any help
John

Yes, the free version of WavePad will do that.
--
Cheers,
Roger
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On 1/28/2014, john posted:
I am using Windows 7 home premium SP1
I recorded several MP3s to a memory stick and when I play them they
are at different levels.
Is there a program, hopefully free, that will normalize the levels so
they all play about the same volume?
I didn't know where to ask this so here I am.
Thank you for any help
John

Also Audacity, another free program will do it.

It's a fairly complicated program to use, but its Effects menu has an
entry among the many effects called Normalize.

I'm not familiar with Roger's suggestion, WavePad, but if it's easier
to use, go for it!

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On 28/01/2014 16:33, john wrote:
I am using Windows 7 home premium SP1
I recorded several MP3s to a memory stick and when I play them they are at
different levels.
Is there a program, hopefully free, that will normalize the levels so they
all play about the same volume?
I didn't know where to ask this so here I am.
Thank you for any help
John


The one I use is the freeware program mp3gain, available at
http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

Nothing fancy about it, but it does its primary job very well.

In article , jwelles339
@gmail.com says...

I am using Windows 7 home premium SP1
I recorded several MP3s to a memory stick and when I play them they are at
different levels.
Is there a program, hopefully free, that will normalize the levels so they
all play about the same volume?
I didn't know where to ask this so here I am.
Thank you for any help
John

If the software that you use to rip the music with has a "Normalize
option use it. For the ones you?ve already done, open them in some audio
editor and Normalize them then resave them. Note : normalize to ?Peak?
value so nothing gets ?changed? as it?s kinda like adding ?x? to every
number idea.

This will not solve ALL issues. Take Stairway To Heaven with quiet and
loud passages, if loud is too loud and quiet too quiet there?s no choice
but to do your own ?remix? in some audio editor.

On 1/28/2014, pjp posted:
In article ,
jwelles339 @gmail.com says...

I am using Windows 7 home premium SP1
I recorded several MP3s to a memory stick and when I play them they
are at different levels.
Is there a program, hopefully free, that will normalize the levels
so they all play about the same volume?
I didn't know where to ask this so here I am.
Thank you for any help
John

If the software that you use to rip the music with has a "Normalize
option use it. For the ones you?ve already done, open them in some
audio editor and Normalize them then resave them. Note : normalize
to ?Peak? value so nothing gets ?changed? as it?s kinda like adding
?x? to every number idea.

This will not solve ALL issues. Take Stairway To Heaven with quiet
and loud passages, if loud is too loud and quiet too quiet there?s
no choice but to do your own ?remix? in some audio editor.

There is audio compression. It means raising low volume levels and
lowering high volume levels, not making a Zip or MP# file :-)

It also has other names.

One of the effects in Audacity is called Compressor, and another is
called Leveler. I'm guessing that the first is what is called for here,
but the second might be the one. I don't actually know, so here's the
required grain of salt: [NaCl].

No, I'm wrong. Compressor, though similar, just helps prevent overflow.
Leveler is used for "reducing the dynamic range of audio", according to
the Help file (which is local, so I have no link). But that's
Audacity's terminology. A different audio editor might have its own
names for these tools.

I'm curious about why your punctuation characters are showing up as
'?'.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Tue, 28 Jan 2014 19:55:17 +0000 "Ted" wrote in
article

On 28/01/2014 16:33, john wrote:
I am using Windows 7 home premium SP1
I recorded several MP3s to a memory stick and when I play them they are at
different levels.
Is there a program, hopefully free, that will normalize the levels so they
all play about the same volume?
I didn't know where to ask this so here I am.
Thank you for any help
John


The one I use is the freeware program mp3gain, available at
http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

Nothing fancy about it, but it does its primary job very well.

+1

On 28 Jan 2014, john wrote in
alt.windows7.general:

I am using Windows 7 home premium SP1
I recorded several MP3s to a memory stick and when I play them
they are at different levels.
Is there a program, hopefully free, that will normalize the levels
so they all play about the same volume?
I didn't know where to ask this so here I am.

You have a few things to consider...

When you made the MP3, you compromised the sound quality of the music
for the sake of small file size. In order to make the files small so
you can fit lots of them on your media, much of the sound information
is permanently discarded. If the MP3 was done well and properly, the
reduction in quality should be inaudible under most listening
conditions.

If you want to change something about the MP3 you have a few choices,
depending on what you want to do and what you're willing to give up.

1) You can use an audio editor such as Audacity. You can use it to cut
out parts of the song, change the tone of the song, change the volume
level of any part of, or the whole song. Audacity is very versatile.
However, when editing the file, it decompresses the MP3, and when you
save your changes, it re-compresses it to MP3. Now, remember that lots
of audio data was already permanently discarded. Every time you
decompress and re-compress the file, you will keep throwing out more of
the sound data. You might be able to ignore the sound quality loss
after one round of this, but it will get a lot worse fast. An audio
editor can do complex edits, but is more appropriate for editing
uncompress, full-fidelity audio files, not MP3s.

2) If you only want to change the volume of the MP3, nothing fancier,
you have a couple of choices that work on the file without
decompressing it. Somebody mentioned mp3gain
(http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/) - I haven't used it, but it claims to
do just that. Basically, it tells the file to present the song to the
player at a higher or lower volume. I like to use mp3DirectCut
(http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html) - it can also do some cut-editing
and fades, all without decompressing the MP3. These programs are
limited in what they can do, but they will preserve the MP3's audio
quality.

3) Another possibility is something called "Replay Gain". When you use
this system, it will scan a batch of MP3s, compare their volumes
relative to each other, then stamp each one with instructions on how
loud to make each one so they all play at a similar, consistent volume.
The actual volume level in the file is not changed, but the audio
player read that information and it does the volume control. So, the
audio player has to support Replay Gain for it to work.

My choice would be #3 if my player could read and use Replay Gain
information. I think it's the least likely to mess up the MP3's sound,
and I know from experience that it works pretty well as advertised. #2
would be my second choice. I would avoid #1 unless I was desperate - it
will almost always make the MP3 sound significantly worse.

On Tue, 28 Jan 2014 16:33:48 GMT, john wrote:

I am using Windows 7 home premium SP1
I recorded several MP3s to a memory stick and when I play them they are at
different levels.
Is there a program, hopefully free, that will normalize the levels so they
all play about the same volume?

mp3gain is freeware and has that exact option

youtube search for:

Tutorial Normalizing MP3 volume levels with MP3Gain

I didn't know where to ask this so here I am.

alt.comp.freeware
[]'s
--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012

On Tue, 28 Jan 2014 18:22:18 -0500, Nil
wrote:

On 28 Jan 2014, john wrote in
alt.windows7.general:

I am using Windows 7 home premium SP1
I recorded several MP3s to a memory stick and when I play them
they are at different levels.
Is there a program, hopefully free, that will normalize the levels
so they all play about the same volume?
I didn't know where to ask this so here I am.

You have a few things to consider...

When you made the MP3, you compromised the sound quality of the music
for the sake of small file size. In order to make the files small so
you can fit lots of them on your media, much of the sound information
is permanently discarded. If the MP3 was done well and properly, the
reduction in quality should be inaudible under most listening
conditions.

If you want to change something about the MP3 you have a few choices,
depending on what you want to do and what you're willing to give up.

1) You can use an audio editor such as Audacity. You can use it to cut
out parts of the song, change the tone of the song, change the volume
level of any part of, or the whole song. Audacity is very versatile.
However, when editing the file, it decompresses the MP3, and when you
save your changes, it re-compresses it to MP3. Now, remember that lots
of audio data was already permanently discarded. Every time you
decompress and re-compress the file, you will keep throwing out more of
the sound data. You might be able to ignore the sound quality loss
after one round of this, but it will get a lot worse fast. An audio
editor can do complex edits, but is more appropriate for editing
uncompress, full-fidelity audio files, not MP3s.

2) If you only want to change the volume of the MP3, nothing fancier,
you have a couple of choices that work on the file without
decompressing it. Somebody mentioned mp3gain
(http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/) - I haven't used it, but it claims to
do just that. Basically, it tells the file to present the song to the
player at a higher or lower volume. I like to use mp3DirectCut
(http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html) - it can also do some cut-editing
and fades, all without decompressing the MP3. These programs are
limited in what they can do, but they will preserve the MP3's audio
quality.

3) Another possibility is something called "Replay Gain". When you use
this system, it will scan a batch of MP3s, compare their volumes
relative to each other, then stamp each one with instructions on how
loud to make each one so they all play at a similar, consistent volume.
The actual volume level in the file is not changed, but the audio
player read that information and it does the volume control. So, the
audio player has to support Replay Gain for it to work.

My choice would be #3 if my player could read and use Replay Gain
information. I think it's the least likely to mess up the MP3's sound,
and I know from experience that it works pretty well as advertised. #2
would be my second choice. I would avoid #1 unless I was desperate - it
will almost always make the MP3 sound significantly worse.

I agree with this post. Well said, Nil.

--

Char Jackson

On Tue, 28 Jan 2014 19:55:17 +0000, Ted wrote:

On 28/01/2014 16:33, john wrote:
I am using Windows 7 home premium SP1
I recorded several MP3s to a memory stick and when I play them they are at
different levels.
Is there a program, hopefully free, that will normalize the levels so they
all play about the same volume?
I didn't know where to ask this so here I am.
Thank you for any help
John


The one I use is the freeware program mp3gain, available at
http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

Nothing fancy about it, but it does its primary job very well.



Yes. I've been using this for years. Fast and easy.

Some playback programs are also capable of doing this on play without
actually modifying the file on the disk. One would be Foobar2000
(foobar2000.org).

-dan z-



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Tutorial Normalizing MP3 volume levels with MP3Gain
Thank you all for the help.
MP3Gain is doing what I needed. Thank you all for the quick and accurate
answers.