Skip to main content

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Using WaveGain Frontend (Read 6366 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Using WaveGain Frontend

Hi all, new to the forums, new to volume leveling of WAV files. I've been using mp3Gain for a few years, and it's perfect for a total non-professional in audio editing. I've always left the options set to defaults, and that includes a target volume of 89.0 db's, so that all tracks in all folders/albums are set to the same volume. Now I'm trying to do the same thing with WAV files, and so far, the only program I have found that resembles mp3gain is wavegain, using the frontend that came zipped with it. My problem is that I can't figure out how to have it set volume at a specific db level (89.0) as was doable with mp3gain. I would like to have all WAV & mp3 volumes set to the same level since some playlists would contain a mix of those two formats. The online help for wavegain is for the command mode only, and I don't want to get into that if I can avoid it. After an hour or so of Googling for an answer, I've come up empty handed. Makes me wonder if I'm approaching this the right way.

Thanks for any replies.

Using WaveGain Frontend

Reply #1
Could I ask why you leave your files as WAV instead of compressing to lossless?

Using WaveGain Frontend

Reply #2
Because I'm copying them to 750gig eSATA which will be connected to a WD TV Live Plus to be played through my TV, and file size is not important. Please reread my question and then reply.

Using WaveGain Frontend

Reply #3
The default setting in WaveGain is 89dB. The option to use is '-g' in combination with a positive or negative floating point number to adjust the gain by the specified dB above, or below, 89dB.

For example '-g 3' will apply a gain of 92dB;

'-g -3' will apply a gain of 86dB.

There is a range of other options that you can view by executing wavegain in a command box with the '-h' option.

Using WaveGain Frontend

Reply #4
The question about why do you use .wav is to be expected, especially if you indicate that your intention is playback.

Now that you've added a hardware, one can check the supported formats:
Audio - MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital, DTS

There we are, the question not only remains, but even increases in interest.

FLAC supports replaygain tags, so the audio is not modified in any moment, only the player adjusts the volume at playback time.



Now onto your real question, wavegain frontend:

http://members.home.nl/w.speek/wavegain.htm

Replaygain specification is defined for 89dB.

At the bottom left corner, there's an option that says "Extra gain", so that you can set that value to any other value than 89dB.  (Please, can anyone confirm that the default is 89 and not 83 in wavegain????)

The difference between using a replaygain tag like in FLAC, versus using wavegain over a .wav file is that the .wav file gets altered after the conversion, and applying the opposite gain will not get you a bit-for-bit identical .wav than the initial one. (Since you are not using a lossy encoder, this part may be important to you).

Using WaveGain Frontend

Reply #5
Thanks for your reply. And, even though I still don't understand the question about "why wav files" -- after all, the files are already in wav format, why would I change them to anything else -- I'll press on and try to finish this project.

So, I open the Wavegain frontend, browse to the files I want to work on, open them, and, I assume, select (highlight) those files in the frontend's window. Then I leave all check boxes unchecked, select "No dithering", select "16 bit signed PCM (default)" for Output. In other words, I'm using all defaults. If I'm OK so far, then I have only one question -- do I use "Raidio gain" or "Album gain"? I've read the descriptions for them at the online manual, and still don't have a clue. As I said in my original post, I'm very new to this, and I promise that, once this project is finished, I'll never tinker with audio files again.

 

Using WaveGain Frontend

Reply #6
What you are after is, most probably, RadioGain.

RadioGain targets each file to the 89dB setting (or a different value, if extra gain is enabled)
AlbumGain targets the album to 89dB and then applies the resulting gain to all waves, probably ending in different targets for each file (album meaning the group of files you select).  RadioGain wouldn't be adequate for a gapless album, for example.

Using WaveGain Frontend

Reply #7

What you are after is, most probably, RadioGain.

RadioGain targets each file to the 89dB setting (or a different value, if extra gain is enabled)
AlbumGain targets the album to 89dB and then applies the resulting gain to all waves, probably ending in different targets for each file (album meaning the group of files you select).  RadioGain wouldn't be adequate for a gapless album, for example.


Thanks again Jaz, I'll get started on some of these wav file folders tomorrow.