help with audio software

[Dualnames]

I need a program to set all my ogg and wav files (around 350) to the same audio volume.. Anybody know a good freeware program to do it?

[Paper Carnival]

I know Goldwave has batch processing, but I don't know if it does what you want. It's shareware, but fully functional.

[TwinMoon]

MP3Gain seems to be tailored for you.

EDIT: Well, almost tailored since it doesn't work with ogg. There is a program called VorbisGain but it's still beta.

[Nikolas]

Hem...

Jim? What do you mean same volume?

Usually such things are better down by hand and not automatically. (Depends on what you want though). I mean having the same volume, would mean that the peaks (loudest point) would be at... -1 db for example, which would mean nothing for the rest of the file really. So a loud bang in the beginning of the file, would render the rest of the file very low in volume, whereas a soft file, would be too loud.

And voice acting is such cases really.

So I'd say, download reaper or audacity, both free (shareware, in reaper) and full functional with no limitations and spend a few hours to listen and make no errors.

Plus with automated functions for 350 files (!) you might get clicks and pops which will be VERY annoying in voice acting, if this is what you're after!

[Dualnames]

482 are only the sound files of Dave dell.
Which means opening 482 times audacity..no thank you. I need something precise, no pop, no clicks. mp3gain would do, but i have wavs and oggs and I can't convert via dbpoweramp to mp3, so anything else?

[Ishmael]

Usually such things are better down by hand and not automatically. (Depends on what you want though). I mean having the same volume, would mean that the peaks (loudest point) would be at... -1 db for example, which would mean nothing for the rest of the file really. So a loud bang in the beginning of the file, would render the rest of the file very low in volume, whereas a soft file, would be too loud.

I think he means normalising all files, which, when done correctly, indeed sets the loudest points of every file at the same volume but doens't produce pops, clicks or distortion. I've maybe half of my music library through Winamp's replay gain calculator to get everything play at about the same volume, works just fine. Basically the same thing, but without actually modifying the file.

[Paper Carnival]

Then use GoldWave, it will do. When you get it, go to File > Batch Processing. You can then add files and processes to them. I think what you'll need is simply the MaxMatch process. You can also add the process Remove Noise (select Hiss Removal from the list of presets) to remove background noise. There's tons of things you can do, even save them all into one single format (say, mp3).

It works for ogg files too, just edit a couple of files manually to see what exactly you'll need to do.

[EldKatt]

I think he means normalising all files, which, when done correctly, indeed sets the loudest points of every file at the same volume but doens't produce pops, clicks or distortion. I've maybe half of my music library through Winamp's replay gain calculator to get everything play at about the same volume, works just fine. Basically the same thing, but without actually modifying the file.

The point is that unless the sound files are very similar, and internally uniform, even the most correctly done normalization will not be successful in producing an even perceived volume. For mainstream pop music, which is already insanely compressed, sure. For most other music, it will range from "probably not" to "definitely not". For voice acting, as Nikolas says, it's "hell no" (those being my words), even though even commercial games sometimes seem to use it, and reap gigantic fail because of it.

[Ishmael]

I think he means normalising all files, which, when done correctly, indeed sets the loudest points of every file at the same volume but doens't produce pops, clicks or distortion. I've maybe half of my music library through Winamp's replay gain calculator to get everything play at about the same volume, works just fine. Basically the same thing, but without actually modifying the file.

The point is that unless the sound files are very similar, and internally uniform, even the most correctly done normalization will not be successful in producing an even perceived volume. For mainstream pop music, which is already insanely compressed, sure. For most other music, it will range from "probably not" to "definitely not". For voice acting, as Nikolas says, it's "hell no" (those being my words), even though even commercial games sometimes seem to use it, and reap gigantic fail because of it.

Well, there's really no mainstream pop in said music library... Anyway, I might be just thinking too simple here then. If it's not just a matter of some files being more quiet than others, nevermind me.

[ryanlandry]

The most accurate, though highly time-consuming way to do what you want is to add a compressor and/or limiter to each file, one at a time, no batch-processing. You would need to listen critically and watch your meters as you adjust your compressor/limiter, and compare to other files as you go. if all the files have a similar internal dynamic, you COULD try the same compressor/limiter setting on all files and see how it works out, but i wouldn't recommend it. As was mentioned above, "normalizing" will not really do what you want, it will take the loudest peak and put it to 0dB FS (or whatever level you tell it to normalize to) and the rest of the quieter stuff will be boosted by the same percentage. sometimes the "loudest" peak in a sound file or song does not actually SOUND very loud, and may already be close to 0dB FS, and you'll hear almost no change through normalizing.

Anyway, long rant = individually compress/limit each file to a pre-determined level (around -1dB FS, as Nikolas mentioned, is pretty standard in pop and modern rock/metal, where the philosophy is "make it as hot as possible"). Yes, this process will take forever, possibly about 2 minutes per file if you know how to work a compressor...

[Dualnames]

Well, I converted all the files to wavs then using audiograbber I mp3ed them and then I used mp3gain..
It works.

[Nikolas]

As mentioned earlier, normalising won't do the job. And sorry for replying even if it appears the job is done, Jim!

Just for the record, I treated 70% of all voice acting in DiTR, manually (lot's of files), and it wasn't too much hussle. Since, looking at the waveform can give you instant (approximate) idea of what's going on, found the loudest, and made everything else round that point. Certainly some things were louder than others and this was left alone! It took some time, but I still thing it's the best way to do it.

And I'm still talking about voice acting! Pop music is already normalised and compressed, so no problem there. Classical will produce unreasonable results in all honesty!

[Dualnames]

I think I'm gonna do it manually through audacity..i guess.

and it's not bad going through all the files.. it's bad doing it twice. I've done this but due to my mistake i deleted the lone case 3 voice acting files. So I have to go through all of this...well, I guess I must.