Individual Simfile Volume

Neon Kel · 09-28-2008, 11:20 AM

Hey I'm hoping someone can help me out with this. There are some sims I have that are frikkin' loud as hell (Crosstime, Dream to Nightmare from ITG3, etc.) and some that are really low in volume despite the volume level of my computer. My question is this:

How can I adjust the volume of the individual sim? Is there a frequency change I need to administer to the music? Or is there something else that I can do? Any help is appreciated. Thanks

jyris1 · 09-28-2008, 11:53 AM

You can open the audio file in an audio editor and "normalize" or otherwise manually increase the volume of the softer files, then re-save.

I don't know if there is a quicker solution.

Hiryuu · 09-28-2008, 02:24 PM

That's pretty much the solution. You've got that or 'Maximize' as it's shown in GoldWave.

Generally, a good simmer is going to look at their audio file before they send it out and do exactly that. Those that don't aren't really helping the quality of their sim, at least by presentation, if their sound is crap.

tsugaru7reveng · 09-29-2008, 12:19 AM

Although you would have to re-sync the file if you make the audio's volume louder. That usually happens to me.

Hiryuu · 09-29-2008, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsugaru7reveng

Although you would have to re-sync the file if you make the audio's volume louder. That usually happens to me.

Ehhh...not usually. At least as long as you're not using MP3.

MP3's are going to have sync trouble regardless in the slightest but significant amount.

Neon Kel · 09-29-2008, 08:01 PM

I don't have to worry about that though, since I always convert my music into .ogg format.

And I agree that audio is something the simmer should consider before uploading it (for obvious reasons) which is why I ask the question. I am working on a sim I'd like to upload sometime, but the volume of the actual music is too low.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyris1

...or otherwise manually increase the volume of the softer files, then re-save.

Ok so how do I do that?

jyris1 · 09-29-2008, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Ok so how do I do that?

If your audio editor has no "normalize"/"maximize" command, it must have some sort of "increase volume" command. So use that.

auuwolf · 10-06-2008, 12:35 AM

for that problem i use "mp3gain "
it works fine for me

*recessionatalus* · 10-06-2008, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hiryuu

That's pretty much the solution. You've got that or 'Maximize' as it's shown in GoldWave.

no

no

no

no

no

don't just maximize the volume; it'll make the song sound terrible

you are much much much much better off quieting the songs that are way too loud

set your computer's volume to a normal level (like, for things other than stepmania) and then, leaving your volume there, edit the songs that are too loud or too quiet to get them to that point

if you just quiet everything, you'll be irritated by system sounds/stepmania sound effects/etc that are way too loud; if you make everything too loud you won't be able to hear anything else and could damage your speakers if it is too loud

Hiryuu · 10-06-2008, 02:10 PM

Uhm...I'd have to disagree there. If they're way too loud (say, with Goldwave, a rating over 1.000, which does exist) then a maximize/normalize WILL quiet loud songs that suffer from clipping past that medium so that you won't suffer that or speaker damage.

Unless you're making subtle references to the loudness war to where you maximize a song to the extreme purpose, to which I'm pretty sure most of your audio programs don't unless you intentionally do it, which will suffer quality and dynamic range loss, I think you're on crack. :\

*recessionatalus* · 10-06-2008, 04:12 PM

i think i just misunderstood what you were saying (also i forgot that it is labeled as maximize on goldwave, haha)

i was more worried about how a lot of people that make itg simfiles these days maximize the volume of songs (to the point of clipping and possible speaker damage) to compensate for machines that have their volume settings set very low

Hiryuu · 10-08-2008, 09:38 AM

Ah that yea...

At that point, bug the fsck out of the people that run the damned machines.

bengali · 10-08-2008, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by auuwolf

for that problem i use "mp3gain "
it works fine for me

This is the correct answer. MP3Gain is not like an ordinary normalizer.

MP3Gain modifies the volume parameters (the 'gain') of the MP3 file directly without re-encoding it like you normally would. This means you will not have sync issues after having increased the volume + the audio file does not degrade in quality.

I can't post links, but Google for "MP3Gain" and click the first link..

jyris1 · 10-08-2008, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bengali

This is the correct answer. MP3Gain is not like an ordinary normalizer.

MP3Gain modifies the volume parameters (the 'gain') of the MP3 file directly without re-encoding it like you normally would. This means you will not have sync issues after having increased the volume + the audio file does not degrade in quality.

I can't post links, but Google for "MP3Gain" and click the first link..

This solves all of my normalization problems too. Thanks! Auuwolf too.

Renard · 10-24-2008, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hiryuu

a maximize/normalize WILL quiet loud songs that suffer from clipping past that medium so that you won't suffer that or speaker damage

if an audio file has been saved as MP3 or OGG with peaks over the 1.0 point of clipping, it will generally cause the previously-existing peaks to be lost and the file permanently distorted, regardless of whether you normalize it afterwards or not. it's just how the formats work. even WAV audio does it to a certain point.