Karaoke Forums

Hi guys,
Do you normalise your MP3's
or just accept your ripp.

I don't normalize.  I prefer them to be as close to the disc as possible.  Normalizing is another form of compression on top of the already compressed file as it is.

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When you normalise an MP3 there is no decoding or re-encoding
It is a lossless process.

It bothers me that if I play a track I am unfamiliar with
I wont really know if its going to go quiter or louder than expected.

Yeah, what Jerry said.  To simplify it a little, when an MP3 is encoded, there is a gain coefficient (I am sure that isn't the correct terminology, but it gets the point across) that is stored in the file that simply tells the player software to play it louder or softer, but with no change in the resolution of the encoded file.

There is an open source software that takes advantage of this and will normalize all your MP3 files, here: http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/  Their FAQ clearly states that this is non-destructive and does not degrade sound quality.

Thank you Meep
Correct info.
The info refered to is stored in the MetaData header
which contains the ID tag.
The MP3 is not altered, but the header contains info on what volume to play the MP3.

What do you guys do.

OK I may know a bit, but I come here to learn.
Already learned a lot.

Mostly from Lon.
Cant always agree with you Lon.
Unfortunatly for me you are right more often than I am.
Respect you.

To answer the original question, I usually normalize as a part of the ripping process.   It doesn't take any extra effort that way, and all my tracks (karaoke or otherwise) are more predictable that way.

I plan to one of thes days, bot my karaoke and DJ files.  But after unzipping the karaoke files and normalizing 20,000+files, it is something I am not looking forward to.

Normalization goes in relation to the peaks so it is better with some to compress first..
I use the sqr soft limiter winamp plugin and run at -6 --10 db It limits the "loud" tracks and brings up the lower ones.. I wouldnt wholesale normalize everything... Compression and expansion is a better avc  When I normalize in mixdown I rarely do more than a 3db step...

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Twan, many players have a normalize feature that can be used on the fly.  Naturally, it only normalizes them as they are played, by ti saves the effort of having to unzip the files.  For example, there are several plugins for Winamp to do this.

I've tried a couple of them, but with not so good results.  It seems that as the music went along the volume would bounce up an down a little bit.  Not much that the "general public" noticed, but it drove me insane.

Perhaps I was using the wrong ones, I forget which ones I tried.

\

There is STILL another process it goes through in which it will raise & lower the signal - which ultimately alters the original wave.

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I use mp3gain, which I've found to be more effective than normalizing.  It's completely non-intrusive.

Normalization is a 2 step process Thr first pass finds the highest peak The second adjusts the level of the entire track.. It is normally used to adjust tracks "up" to a level with the rest of the tracks in the mix-down process.. It can be used for small differences in levels between songs but when used to bring a song that was tracked very low to start with destroys the seperation between instruments and vocals..  The remedy for those with a radical difference  is to retrack at a higher level thus preserving the quiet passages and original mastering..  Try it on a piece of classical music.  Normalization totally destroys it..

For live performances avc is best obtained by limiting either digitally in the computer or with a limiter in the rack and then in small increments.....

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It would appear that there are differant types of normalisation.
I use MP3GAIN which has already been pointed out as non-intrusive.
Possibly this all boils down to semantics.