[vorbis] Normalising songs

[Moz]

David wrote:

> How does cdex differ, and what IS the best way to convert a
> collection of CDs to oggs with a similar dynamic range (so that i
> don't blast my speakers as a quite song that had to be cranked up
> ends and a loud one begins)?

Search on/for VorbisGain, as it's been discussed here recently and
seems to be where the bulk of the work is going. In outline, the idea
is that it adds a tag to each encoded song that tells any player what
volume change should be applied in order to get peak perceived volume
for the track. This is not the same as 100% peak, but is hoped to get
a consistent perceived loudness for all tracks.

What that means is that the actual music data isn't affected, and the
track can still be listened to at its original volume (as carefully
selected by the designer of the album). This is so that audiophiles
don't grow to dislike people like you if you share songs that have
been altered, and so that you can listen to songs they've encoded
without growing accustomed to the noise of your speakers exploding.

Also, there's a difference between changing the gain (volume) of a
whole track, and compressing the dynamic range (which is what radio
stations and advertisers do). The latter is... not favoured by most
people, but might be something you could look into. It lets you hear
the quiet spots in a track without having the volume up so high you
break things on the loud bits (which is why radio use it). There's
probably a plugin for FreeAmp or WinAmp to do that.

Moz

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