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MP3Gain by Glen Sawyer |
This simple multimedia utility will take you choice of MP3's from your collection and change the volume of each one to a similar level. No more fumbling for that volume control! |
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630k HERE |
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MP3Gain by Glen Sawyer There's
nothing more annoying than listening to your favorite MP3's and
having the volume on one of your songs to be so low that you have
a hard time keeping the beat on your personal player or home
multimedia system. MP3Gain will take your choice of those sound
files and adjust their volume, WITHOUT affecting the quality of
that file, so that you can do that 'two step' the right way.
Here, take a peek: I really can't find any documentation anywhere as to what version of Windows will run this however, I am running MP3Gain on my XP Pro. I will assume that it will run on just about any 32 bit system. There is also a version for the Mac and Unix may be coming. Web Site......... The web site is basically text based with little or no clipart with the home page giving you an oh so brief description of the program along with a history of it directly below. The icons along the top take you to the different area of the site including downloading, FAQ's, Translations, and News. Text is standard Arial with little color. The topics are boxed which makes sorting the different bits of information a bit easier. Downloading........ The file page gives you a nice selection of downloads to choose from including compressed versions (.zip) and self install versions (.exe) which may included or exclude the Windows visual basic files. Plus, if you feel bold and daring, you can download their beta version which may or may not give you fits of pain! For those sassy ones, you can choose to download the command line version only, which is included with every other version. Same program just without the interface. Size Downloaded: Zip is 631k, .exe file is 1.9 megs. Size Installed: Just over a meg in it's directory. Installation........ MP3Gain uses the Nullsoft installation engine to effectively insert itself into your computer. It's does the standard routine of choices and that's it. Done! Help Files........ The help files for MP3Gain are standard Windows help docs giving you important help choices including Overview, Concepts, Interface, a How Do I section plus more. The documentation comes complete with excellent graphs helping you understand the dynamics behind the program. Take a look at these:
These help files contain EXCELLENT information on the subject of cd sound and are worth reading twice! You'll get full explanations on just about every aspect of MP3Gain's usage including icon description and menu description . Interface & Features........ The interface of this program is rather plain and basic, expect for the nicely designed icons along the top which are configurable to large, small or not at all. Here's a pic:
These icons are the workhorses of the program. Below the icons is the 'Target “Normal” Volume' fill box which is where you set your target decibel level to adjust all your mp3s to. This box defaults at 89.0 dB. As you can see, the window is categorized into topics which deal with the information for each file, depending on which method you use to change your files. Below the window, the progress bars give you the progress of each file and the total package. The options menu gives you many ways to change some of the features of MP3Gain. As you can see, items such as Always On Top, Preserve file date/time, preventing Layer I or II checking, Tags adjustment, adjustments to the file windows and more are available. The 'Tags' feature takes bits of information and inserts them into the MP3 file to allow for adjustments and removal of changes done to that file. You can choose to ignore tags when changing files, recalculate the tags, or completely remove all tags. Here's a pic of the options menu opened up:
MP3Gain changes the volume in two modes, Track and Album. Track changes the volume of an unassociated bunch of files to almost the same dB level and Album is to change files that are associated with each other to the preset level, in relation to others in the collection. This will allow some songs to be quieter than others in the related collection, just as they are on a cd. The graphs in the help pic above give a good explanation of the difference between the two. The 'Track Analysis' icon will give you the information on each mp3 as the human ear would be hearing it before changes are made. This will NOT make any changes to the files but allows you to see what will be done to each one. This function is automatically performed when you do a Track or Album gain if you haven't ran the Track Analysis yet. For instance, the below pic shows my selection of mp3s from my collection and the results after hitting the 'Track Analysis' icon:
As you can see, some have to be increased and a few decreased, some a bit and some a lot! Now since these songs are not related, I hit the 'Track Gain' and the program did it's duty, changes all the files and showing the results on the fly. It takes a bit of time to do the changes, depending on how many are in the list, but the wait is well worth it. After all is done, I'm left with a collection of songs that have had their volume adjusted. Here's a pic of the finished product:
Notice that the changes are not precise to the 100.0 dB level that I set, but are close enough to make no difference in the collection. The absolutely best news about this program that MP3Gain will NOT change the quality of your mp3s in any way. Only the volume will be changed! Pick which mode you're going to use and that's it. Give it a bit of time to do it's duty and you've got mp3s adjusted just the way you want them. If you have the Tags feature turned on, the changes on your files can be removed to bring them back to their original state. It's as easy as clicking the 'Modify Gain' menu and hitting 'Undo Gain Changes'. You can adjust the 'Constant Gain' by increments of 1.5 to the plus or minus and to either or both channels. Does it Work?......... I had noted in my collection that I had two specific files that were both very loud and very soft. One by the rock band AC DC and the other by the 1970's group, The Ohio Players. After making the adjustments to the files, I listened to them on my personal MP3 player and the difference was astounding!! The AC DC tune was lowered to a very respectable level and the Ohio Players song was raised to a level that let me here every whisper that the introduction held. Neither of these songs (or the rest of the ones that I did) were affected in any way quality wise, expect for their volumes. I figured out a few things while working with MP3Gain which I'd like to pass on as suggestions. First, use COPIES of your mp3s from your master collection rather than your originals. That way, if something happens to the file, you still have the original to work with again. I take all of my selected files and put them into one directory, usually my 'work' directory. Then in the program, just pic a 'folder' of files to work with. It assures me that I'm using copies instead of originals and makes selection easier once in the program. When you want to change the volume of your files, take into consideration where you are going to be when you listen to them. If it is going to be noisy, you may want to do a couple and test them. Use a TV and adjust it's volume to be at the approximate level of the noise you are going to be in and listen. I used this to adjust the volume to my working envoirement which is quite noisy. Try your mp3s and if they are not loud enough, adjust the dB higher, redo the files and try again. I also noticed that when I played my mp3s on my player before I changed them, the volume control display was all the way up. After making the changes, I was able to shave off a couple of 'lines' of volume on the display, giving me the same volume as before but at a lower level. I have not tried the 'Album Gain' mode however, this program did exactly as I needed to do and I'm sure there will be no problem with this aspect of MP3Gain. Le me (and the author!) know if you do have any problems. I'll list them here. Uninstall..... I could not find the uninstall listed in my 'add/remove programs' area on my Windows XP. The Start menu area has the icon to uninstall the program. The directory is not removed however. Problems...... In
Closing .......... Enjoy!! Buzzy J |
