Bugzilla – Bug 2299
Add auto volume levelling at playback
Last modified: 2007-11-21 10:22:11 UTC
Auto volume levelling would be nice. The server may go through the audio file before playback and calculate the correct volume level related to a predefined requied perceived level. The Replay Gain method according to http://replaygain.hydrogenaudio.org/ should be used, alternative algorithms can also be used and selectable. The volume levelling can also be done at client side but this requires that the complete audio file is processed, which is not suitable, better to do this at the server side.
Replay Gain is supported in the 6.2 nightlies. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 1131 ***
Make that 1311 *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 1311 ***
I'm not sure this is really a duplicate of 1311. My idea is to check the volume level of the file just before playing, using the actual audio file. Not by reading any tags. Reading tags requires pre-processing of the files, which will take very long time with large collections. By doing this just before playing a file makes pre-processing redundant and the desired perceived volume may be altered when required, without massive reprocessing of files.
Id suggest that you investigate Replaygain. There is no point in simply duplicating a feature that already works.
My suggestion involves using the Replay Gain algorithm to calculate the volume correction just before playback. If there are any Replay Gain tags stored, they can be user, or, alternatively, a new calculation can be forced if selected. This may be useful if the user will like to change the settings of the required volume. Note: I've tried using MP3Gain for my collection of about 8000 files. It took several hours so I left it working during the night. In the morning my PC had rebooted. My point is that it would be nice to be able to calculate the volume just before playback, to avoid having to prepare each file in advance.
ReplayGain is a CPU intensive process. It is something that must be run beforehand, especially if one wants to calculate proper gain for an entire album.
Yes, it is CPU intensive. But it takes only a couple of seconds per tune, this can be done while the previous tune is playing, by slimserver. The server knows which tune that will play next in the playlist. So it can calculate the changes, update the file, with or without adding tags (like MP3Gain). The benefit is that there´s no need of doing massive calculation before hand with a large collection and having to repeat the process manually when new tunes are added.
you can consider using EAC and ripping to FLAC. the process will add in replaygain tags during the process, so your new tunes will already be done. it might even be possible with EAC ripping to MP3.
Got a new request for this feature. Could it be re-evaluated for a future release? (from suupport ticket 070507-000372) Incidentally, one of my biggest gripes in listening to songs on the SB3 is volume levelling -- I think one of the most useful features to incorporate into [Slimserver] would be an automatic volume leveller. I've used mp3gain and iTunes levellers, but these seem ineffective. Are there any plans to introduce any such volume-levelling feature in any future releases? With best wishes...
Assigning to Chris as this is a feature request.
removing target, as clearly 6.2 isn't valid any longer
Even simply using the iTunes volume function would be a huge improvement. I realize that a function which required analysis of every bit of every song file is probably prohibitively complex, but a manual function would be a huge help. This is the most frustrating issue I have with SlimServer.
Steve, we do currently support iTunes Sound Check and Volume Adjustment metadata. However the behavior when both are present is being considered in bug 3207.
Steven, is this a dup?
No, I don't think so. The original poster requested real time volume adjusting of files in SqueezeCenter without the need to add any type of replay gain metadata to the files before hand. I'm inclined to give it a target of future or just close it as wont fix.
Please use ReplayGain or one of the other supported auto leveling tools.