ReplayGain / Normalize Not Working For Me

[EpheMeroN]

I've joined 2 audio files that are in .wav and have been trying to average out the two so they have the same levels without clipping. They are from the same recorded show, but from different sources.

ReplayGain + Advanced Limiter from foobar2000 does nothing, and a simple Normalize in Audacity does nothing as well. By nothing, I mean the audio sounds the same as it did before I applied the filters.


What it looks like in Audacity:

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/8058/untitledkv5.jpg

[ursamtl]

I'm surprised Replaygain in Foobar didn't work for you. Since I fgured out how it works, I use it religiously and always with good results. Double check how you're doing it because RP does work. I'd avoid "normalizing" because it doesn't account for the average loudness of a file.

[EpheMeroN]

I'm surprised Replaygain in Foobar didn't work for you. Since I fgured out how it works, I use it religiously and always with good results. Double check how you're doing it because RP does work. I'd avoid "normalizing" because it doesn't account for the average loudness of a file.
Here's what I've tried to do using the latest foobar2000:

1) Load the .wav into player
2) Right-click on .wav, convert\convert to...
3) Encoding preset = WAV, ReplayGain processing checked, set to apply track gain, DSP processing checked to use Advanced Limiter, click OK and save out .wav

[ursamtl]

Ah ok, I see the problem. wav files do not support Replaygain tags. I'm surprised Foobar didn't give you an error message. That's how I discovered the problem. You can either use a commandline freeware utility called wavegain (Google it. I think there's also a frontend Windows program around) or else convert your files to a lossless format such as Flac, ape or Wavepack. These support Replaygain. For example, I'm currently creating mp3s of my albums for my personal mp3 player. For CDs, I store the ripped files as flac. For 24-96 high resolution recordings of vinyl, I use wavepack as I've read that flac has problems with formats other than 16-bit/44.1kHz. I apply replaygain to these for playback. The original data is not changed in any way but the replaygain info is stored in the file. However, when I create the mp3 (using Foobar), I enable the use replaygain setting. This way, all the files on my mp3 player play back at roughly the same volume level. I'm sometimes surprised at how well this works, especially on vocals. Two songs from completely different sources sound like they were recorded in the same studio. I imagine it would work equally well for video soundtracks as well.

[Mug Funky]

it's odd, because in foobar2k 0.8.3 special (the one i'm using at home and at work), it'll remember replaygain info for wavs as long as they're in the playlist (so if you scan a wav, it'll say "file update failure blah blah", but you can right-click and view the RG data. but if you then remove this file from the playlist, and drag it back from explorer, it wont have the RG data anymore).

you could force tag writing for wav files by going to "inputs > standard inputs" and checking the appropriate box. just remove the tags when you're done because it'll probably break the files for other programs (there's a nice big warning next to the checkbox). i don't appear to need to do this, but you've got a later version so maybe the behaviour has been changed. in a pinch you could download the version i'm using...

[EpheMeroN]

I found the WaveGain + GUI at http://members.home.nl/w.speek/wavegain.htm

I tried using it and the resulting WAVE file still sounded the same and looked the same visually in Audacity.

I am guessing that the 2 streams that I joined together have too much of a dB difference and neither ReplayGain nor Normalize can balance them out when they're joined.

[Mug Funky]

they're joined?? aaah, that's the problem.

do each file on it's own... replaygain only applies a gain, there's no compression or other dynamic manipulation going on. just a simple gain operation - the scanning is to find out what amount to gain by.

the advanced limiter is a different story - basically if replaygain has to amplify something, then there's a chance peaks will go over 0db and clip. in this case the limiter kicks in and takes the peak down nicely.

[EpheMeroN]

Yes they're joined!!!

They become 1 WAVE file due to my AviSynth script that joins the two streams together with all the trims and edits. I'll have to make 2 new scripts to output separate audio files and then put ReplayGain to the test using WaveGain Frontend.

I'll report the results tomorrow.

[ursamtl]

Ah yes then that is the problem for sure. Replaygain is seeing the louder section and calculating the average loudness based on this. If you separate them and apply replaygain to each, I think you'll find that the perceived loudness will be the same. Note that they may still look slightly different in a wave editor because their content may be different, but they will sound as if they are at the same loudness level.

[raquete]

...there's a chance peaks will go over 0db and clip. in this case the limiter kicks in and takes the peak down nicely.any chance to adjust max peaks to -1dB with WaveGain + GUI ?

[AVIL]

Hi,

My idea is so simple that i'm pretty sure that is wrong. Anyway here goes:

- Select left part (all the low level part) and adjust selection to zero cross. Amplify just to left new level peak to -0,1 db.

- Select right part (all the high level part ) and again adjust to zero cross. Amplify just to left new level peak to -0,1 db.

Good luck

[EpheMeroN]

Well, that did it!

I made two new scripts to output separate WAVE files, and then I imported both into WaveGain Frontend and applied ReplayGain. Then I joined them together using foobar2000. Afterwards I played it back and it now sounds the exact same throughout the entire WAVE!

ReplayGain is quite amazing :)