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Topic: Clipping indicator in mp3gain reliable? (Read 3013 times) previous topic - next topic
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Clipping indicator in mp3gain reliable?

I've just starting trying out mp3gain to get my music collection a little more "normalized".  According to the analysis a good number of my existing files are already clipping.  Thing is, I just don't hear it.  Is the indicator in mp3gain reliable?  Is it likely that some of the clipping going on is completely inaudible?

Clipping indicator in mp3gain reliable?

Reply #1 –
Quote
I've just starting trying out mp3gain to get my music collection a little more "normalized".  According to the analysis a good number of my existing files are already clipping.  Thing is, I just don't hear it.  Is the indicator in mp3gain reliable?  Is it likely that some of the clipping going on is completely inaudible?

Generally, clipping of 1 or 2 samples is not audible, but if it occurs over a larger range of samples, it becomes more audible. Not exactly sure myself what the threshold is. MP3gain's clipping detection is accurate, but it flags all clipping and does not have an option to ignore clippings of less than a certain number of consequetive samples.

If you are not sure where the clipping is occuring in the sample, try using Winamp with the MAD decoder plugin and enable clipping protection. Open view file info and watch the clipping protection auto-attenuation. The moment clipping occurs, the attenuation will change.

Clipping indicator in mp3gain reliable?

Reply #2 –
Dave I too started messing around with MP3Gain and noticed how about 60% of my existing files were clipping. I can't say I hear any kind of distortion, even at high volumes.

I am pretty sure MP3Gain might be very accurate at detecting clipping, but how to interpret and adjust this without messing up my entire audio collection is still a mistery.

Regards,
Okinawa Joe ®

Clipping indicator in mp3gain reliable?

Reply #3 –
Decode a few of your files that mp3gain reports to be clipping. You can use lame --decode for this.
Then load the resulting wave file in an audio editor (Cool Edit, Samplitude, or even EAC's wave editor)
Zoom in at the positions where the waveform reaches maximum scale. This way you can get an impression of the extend your files clip.
I believe that a few (<10 or so) consecutive clipped samples are not audible, but I'm not fully sure about that.
 

Clipping indicator in mp3gain reliable?

Reply #4 –
okinawa_joe:

Quote
I am pretty sure MP3Gain might be very accurate at detecting clipping, but how to interpret and adjust this without messing up my entire audio collection is still a mistery.


Err? You just... apply the appropriate gain to the files, you can't mess them up at all. If you want to be absolutely sure, lower the target volume until the files don't clip. (The "max no-clip" column can be of help for this.)