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[bassmann]

Hi there,

It’s been a busy year for me building DIY audiophile speakers and amps / digital crossover to drive them

Now they are complete I'm now working on optimizing my audio library but thought I'd check in here before I make unrecoverable changes. Keen to hear feedback on how others are managing the following in regards to their MC audio library.

1)   Audio Formats
a.   Most of my library is FLAC format. This is a mix of 44.1KHz @ 16 bit to 192KHz@ 24bit, sometimes even higher. In some cases I have the same material at different resolutions / sampling rates
b.   I'd like to rationalise the duplication of material. My initial thought is to keep the higher res material and let MC transcode when hardware requires. My only caution is I have observed different listening volumes of the same material. Not empirical, but I perceive 24 bit to be consistently quieter in perceived loudness than 16 bit material. But Why?
i.   Is there any fact based argument behind my observation?
ii.   Can I fix this with destructive processing via MC or another program (which one) or is this what I should expect?
iii.   I see MC has Volume levelling and Adaptive Volume which as we speak I’m running both as a test. I read its best to run adaptive in conjunction with volumes levelling to balance changes. Interestingly when I click the Tools button in MC I see VL takes out 10db and AV adds 10db. Intuitively doesn’t feel like the best approach for an Audiophile setup target. Appreciate any thinking around this?
iv.   Alternatively should I run some destructive processing over my library to normalise levels? If so, should I do this with MC or another app? Which one?

2)   Playlists
a.   I just did an upgrade to MC23 from MC20 and my playlist are gone?
i.   Is there a folder I should check to see if they are still available?
ii.   If so, can I import the mc20 playlists into MC23?
b.   I have a NAS. Can I change the playlist folder to reside on the NAS?
i.   How do I do this?
c.   What is the easiest way to manage playlists with MC? Current way I’m building playlists is tedious. I’m in Std View > Right Click on song > send to > playlist…..must be an easier way
i.   What I mean my this is, is there a way I can drag and drop files to edit a playlist, even maybe visually compare playlists? If not MC, what app does this well. 

3)   How does cover art work?
a.   From what I understand this is created per MC device (unless your running MC server)
b.   What I’d like to understand is how to use the coverart I may have in the materials folder rather than building a new library.

4)   Anything else I should consider in optimising my Audio Library appreciate?

FYI - running MC23 on Win10 Pro

Cheers,

Thanks in advance

[ferday]

there is no logical reason for 24 bit to sound quieter.  likely coincidence.  you can fix it with non-destructive processing, by analysing audio and using volume levelling.  it writes to tags and doesn't actually change anything in the file

restore a library backup from MC20 into MC23 and the playlists should come back fine

there are so many ways to build a playlist.  try play doctor for an automated list, make some rules with a smartlist, or split screen and drag files into a manual list

[bassmann]

restore a library backup from MC20 into MC23 and the playlists should come back fine

Just did this from a MC Backup dated 15th Nov 17. My playlists are not back...

[~OHM~]

Just did this from a MC Backup dated 15th Nov 17. My playlists are not back...

they may not be where your expecting to see them. Look for a playlist folder called something like downloaded or something to that effect (I can't remember) your playlists should reside inside this folder, once you find them you can then freely move them.

[Gatherum]

Weren't there some changes made between MC20 and MC21 that made libraries from the former not completely forwards-compatible with the latter? Or am I remembering wrong?

In any case, the easiest, most intuitive way I know in which to add to a traditional playlist is to create it, right-click it, select Edit Playlist in Action Window..., and drag-'n-drop. Said action window will not disappear until you tell it to do so, and tracks can be re-arranged by dragging them.

Smartlists might as well be views in themselves: You create one, edit its parameters, and it auto-adds tracks based on those parameters.