Tag: audio

Normalize Audio Volume Levels in your MP4 Videos with MP4Gain

The Webernets18 Comments

MP4Gain – Normalize Audio Volume Levels in your MP4 Videos

MP4Gain-Logo

Mac users please see my Mac specific article HERE.

I have been saving episodes of the Discovery Channel show “How It’s Made” for years. Recently I compiled and organized them into an archive on my WDTV Live Hub, and I found that as I have used several different devices to record the episodes over the years, the audio volume levels range from barely audible to deafening. I needed a way to make the audio volume level of all of my mp4 video files the same. This process is called “Normalizing”.

A Google search returned only one batch MP4 volume normalizer of note, MP4Gain. The author offers a trial version, which I downloaded and installed. This is what the main window looks like.

mp4gain video normalizer main windowThe program is VERY easy to use. For straight out “Normalizing” all you need to do is simply add your video files and press “Normalize”. In my case, I wanted to adjust the bit rates of the audio and do a little re-equalizing.

Equalizer

The program includes a level meter with fall-offs, so you can play your file and have a visual representation of the sound levels. The functionality is bit raw at the moment, but I’m sure in future versions this will be refined, and hopefully you will be able to adjust the fall-off times to make them stay at the peaks a little longer, as they seem to drop off a little to quickly.

MP4Gain Video Normalizer

Once I set my EQ levels and bit rates, I pressed “Normalize” and away it went!

MP4Gain ProgressMP4Gain processes the files very quickly, and once it is complete, all your video files are the same volume! Its VERY cool!

You can download the trial version of MP4Gain HERE. The trial is fully functional and allows you to process about 15-20 files before asking you to buy a license.

In summary, this program is great, and I’m hoping that future versions polish up a few minor issues, like a missing vertical scroll bar (program is difficult to use on a small screen as the Normalize button is right down the bottom, and off the screen), and the jerky level meter. The major killer of this program is the price. At $40, it is pretty expensive (In My Humble Opinion). If it was somewhere in the $15 – $20 range it would definitely be hard to pass up.

It is able to normalize volume levels in the following video file types:

  • mp4, flv, avi
  • mpeg, mpg
  • 3gp, wmv

MP4Gain can also normalize your audio music files. It can also normalize MP3, MP2, AAC, AC3, FLAC, OGG, WAV and M4A files to!

Easily add Meta Tags to your music with Musicbrainz Picard

The Webernets0 comment

musicbrainz-picardThere’s nothing I hate more than dropping new music into my iTunes library only to learn once it has finished importing that it doesn’t have meta-tags (No Song Name, Artist, Album Title etc etc). So now, before I add new music, I run it through MusicBrainz Picard. Here’s the programs description from their site:

“MusicBrainz Picard is a cross-platform (Linux/Mac OS X/Windows) application written in Python and is the official MusicBrainz tagger.

Picard supports the majority of audio file formats, is capable of using audio fingerprints (PUIDs, AcoustIDs), performing CD lookups and disc ID submissions, and it has excellent Unicode support. Additionally, there are several plugins available that extend Picard’s features.

When tagging files, Picard uses an album-oriented approach. This approach allows it to utilize the MusicBrainz data as effectively as possible and correctly tag your music. For more information, see the illustrated quick start guide to tagging.

Picard is named after Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

To get started, download and install MusicBrainz Picard HERE. Once you are up and running, drop the music files you want to tag anywhere in the window. They will then populate the list on the left called unmatched files.

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When you have finished adding files, click the line of text with the folder icon next to it that says “Unmatched Files” to make it active. When it is active it will become highlighted. Now, go ahead and press the “Lookup” button, and MusicBrainz Picard will start scanning your music and comparing it to their database for identification.

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Once MusicBrainz Picard has identified the album and added all of the songs to it, the CD icon next to the album name will turn gold in color. If you don’t have all of the songs from the album, it doesn’t matter, you can still proceed, but the CD icon stays silver. The next step is to click Album Name next to the CD icon to make it active, and highlighted. You can now click “Save”.

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MusicBrainz Picard will now write the Meta Tag Data directly into your music files. Once it has completed, you can close out of the program, and then drop your music files into iTunes, and everything will be correctly categorised and ready to play.

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