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Topic: Question about MPC (Read 5213 times) previous topic - next topic
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Question about MPC

Just tonight I downloaded the MPC Encoder and tried it out. I like the quality, in fact, I like it big time. With the -xtreme preset, I have been averaging files smaller than --r3mix with LAME. However, I want to know, is there a program similar to MP3Gain for MPC's? I don't want to have different volumes for all of my songs. MP3Gain has worked PERFECT for me on MP3s and I hate to leave it behind if there is no similar tool for MPC's. If there isn't a similar tool, what about one that does the same to WAVs?

Thanks,
- Chris

Question about MPC

Reply #1 –
Well, for ripping and normalizing I use AudioGrabber.  Never had a problem with it and it does an excellent job of normalizing.  I don't think any program can get a hundred songs perfectly matched in what you think is volume, but I've been using the "average" method instead of the peak method in AudioGrabber and it's doing a good job.  I think there's also WaveTrim that will normalize but I forget if it'll do more than one file @ a time.

Question about MPC

Reply #2 –
Hi everyone!

If you can manage some scripting, you could possibly use wavgain, from

http://www.geocities.com/snelgman/

It won't change the .wav file, but it will scan the .wav file and suggest the appropriate Replay Gain. You need to convert this into a scale value to send to the encoder (does mpc support --scale in the same way as lame? if so, this may work). Then you could batch scan and encode your files.

I don't know how to do this, which is why I can only give you scetchy details. If someone is reading this who is good with scripting, maybe they can suggest the exact commands that are necesary? Changing the Replay Gain value to a scale value is desribed in the players section on

http://www.replaygain.org/


Since mpc is a closed format, it's unlikely that someone will write an mpcgain program. It may or may not be possible to change just a few bytes per field to accomplish the gain change (as mp3gain does). If it is, then maybe someone can examine the decoder to determine how. It doesn't sound like a job for the faint of heart!

Cheers,
David.
http://www.David.Robinson.org/

Question about MPC

Reply #3 –
Hi David,

Perhaps you can talk to Frank Klemm about adding replaygain support to MPC?  I would think he would be interested in something like this, and now might be a good time considering he is just about to rework the clipping prevention stuff in the encoder from what he said on his website.  It would be great if you could contact him and let him know about your project.  Links to his page are in the links section on this site or for the time being on the front page.

Question about MPC

Reply #4 –
Good idea! I contacted Frank, and he mentioned two interesting things. Firstly, that Replay Gain data could be included in SV8. Secondly, that an mp3gain-like program should be possible with existing SV7 mpcs:

Quote
A SV7 MPEGplus can be changed in 1,76 dB steps.
Often the level can only be reduced, because the scaler is only 
6 bit = 110 dB (MP3 has 8 bit = 383 dB).

If a file use scaler from 1...61, you can increase volume by +1,76 dB
or you can decrease volume by 1,76 or 3,52 dB.


So there ya go! It just needs some bright spark to look in to it, and code it. The problems appear to be:
a) slightly coarser gain change (1.76dB vs 1.5dB) compared to mp3gain.
b) it won't be lossless (or won't work) if you have to make parts quieter than the minimum.

This looks like a challenge for a programmer. Any offers?

Cheers,
David.

Question about MPC

Reply #5 –
Hey Dibrom,  are you telling me my MPC's are clipping now? I can't hear it on what I've encoded so far.  Should I hold off on encoding the rest of my stuff or is this just a little finetuning on Frank's part?  Thanks.

Question about MPC

Reply #6 –
Quote
Originally posted by Dacs_IV
Hey Dibrom,  are you telling me my MPC's are clipping now? I can't hear it on what I've encoded so far.   Should I hold off on encoding the rest of my stuff or is this just a little finetuning on Frank's part?  Thanks.


All lossy formats have "clipping", so it's  not really some sort of new problem.  Most times you won't hear clipping anyway, unless it is very bad.. it is usually extremely subtle.  However.. many of these formats are now adding methods to prevent or remove clipping entirely.  MPC has had clipping prevention in the past, and it works, but it also altered the sound of the file some.

Frank is redoing this clipping prevention to use a better system currently.  I wouldn't really wait for that though if you have stuff to encode.

You can also manually scale a file to reduce clipping if you need to do something about it now.  Something like -scale .95 with MPC should do the trick for most things.

Question about MPC

Reply #7 –
I'll take a look at that.  Thanks, D.

Question about MPC

Reply #8 –
If you use EAC to grab your audio, you can use the normalize option. Besides that, everything can work automatically with EAC, whereby it fills in the ID3 tags, starts the encoder in the background (!) while you can put in another CD! very usefull if you must grab & encode a lot of cd's!
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