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[ferrarabrainpan]

First off, I did a forum search, and I read these two articles - https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Dynamic_Range and https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Analyze_Audio - but I'd still like a bit more help getting started.

I have numerous albums in my digital library that have different versions. For instance, I have four different versions of the first Roxy Music album (two versions of the original stereo mix, a Steven Wilson stereo mix and a Steven Wilson surround mix). My idea is that I'd like to enable a category in the column view scheme that can give information about each different version. So I imported a test track from all four versions into Audacity and looked at the visible waveforms. Two are badly brickwalled, and two appear to have a good DR. So I added a simple comment to the metadata for each album and added Comment to the column view scheme.

It seems like it would be better to have an objective measurement of the dynamic range for each song in the album, across the different versions, and have that value available in a metadata field within JRiver that I can display in the column view (but not adding metadata tags to the file itself unless I decide I want that).

I was going to buy this tool https://www.maat.digital/dro2/ to measure DR for the albums I want to know that info (not my entire library), but I guess JRiver can analyze the files to give me the same info with R128DR, right? First off, how do I do this for a select album? And how do I set it to store the DR figures within the MC31 library but not directly in the files themselves? And then, what's the easiest way to go about displaying the DR values for a given album in the column view scheme? Do I have to create a custom metadata field (like I did recently for Arranger) or is the DR value shown in an existing metadata field so I don't need to type it in manually for every song file?

I think that's how I'd describe what I'm intending to do. Thanks for your help.

[EnglishTiger]

MC already has fields/tags called - Dynamic Range (DR) and Dynamic Range (R128) which it populates when Audio Analysis is run so all you have to do is expose 1, or both, in the details list of any existing view.

[dtc]

To fill in the R128 tag just select any set of tracks and right click on them, then do Library Tools - Analyze Audio. You can look at the R128 field in the tag editor to see if the values are already there.   You can set Analyze Audio to run every time a new album is imported.

[blgentry]

You've probably already seen the Loudness War database.  But just in case you haven't, here's their list of albums for Roxy Music, Roxy Music:

https://dr.loudness-war.info/?artist=Roxy+music&album=roxy+music

Some of those look pretty crushed (brick walled, dynamic range limited).

Brian.

[ferrarabrainpan]

You've probably already seen the Loudness War database.  But just in case you haven't, here's their list of albums for Roxy Music, Roxy Music:

https://dr.loudness-war.info/?artist=Roxy+music&album=roxy+music

Some of those look pretty crushed (brick walled, dynamic range limited).

Brian.

Seems like the database is missing one of the best looking versions based on the waveform in Audacity, this being the version in the Complete Studio Recordings box set.

I still don't fully grasp how to read these numbers but I see the larger numbers are the less compressed. Is the listed DR for an album just an average of the DR for all the tracks, I presume?

[ferrarabrainpan]

To fill in the R128 tag just select any set of tracks and right click on them, then do Library Tools - Analyze Audio. You can look at the R128 field in the tag editor to see if the values are already there.   You can set Analyze Audio to run every time a new album is imported.

I go to Tools>Options>Library & Folders>Manage library fields and see the two fields for Dynamic Range there in the list. BUT when I look in the tag editor in the lower left corner for any given file there are no two such fields, how can I get them to display?

I learned how to add a new field of my own, but I don't know how to get one of the existing fields in that long alphabetical list of fields in the Manage Library Fields tool to show up in the tag editor in the lower left.

I analyzed a sample album with seven tracks and did not see an option to store the results in embedded tags within the files, or to not do that. I do not know where to look to find the results of the analysis for those tracks.

EDIT: Okay I found the fields when right clicking on the top bar where the column headers are shown in the library view and added the one I want:

But what does the "LU" mean that follows the numbers in the Dynamic Range R128 column?

[dtc]

LU is Loudness Units. It a measure of the relative volume, sort of like dB. It is the measurement R128 uses.

The tags (Peak Level, Volume Level and Dynamic Range) for R128 are in the Playback section in the new tag editor.

In the library manager, Peak Level and Volume Level are listed fields and under data you can check or uncheck the option to store in the file.

[ferrarabrainpan]

LU is Loudness Units. It a measure of the relative volume, sort of like dB. It is the measurement R128 uses.

The tags (Peak Level, Volume Level and Dynamic Range) for R128 are in the Playback section in the new tag editor.

In the library manager, Peak Level and Volume Level are listed fields and under data you can check or uncheck the option to store in the file.

Excellent, thanks! 

[blgentry]

I still don't fully grasp how to read these numbers but I see the larger numbers are the less compressed. Is the listed DR for an album just an average of the DR for all the tracks, I presume?

The Dynamic Range is (roughly) the difference between the average sound level and the peak (loudest) sound level.  It's defined in a specific way that I'm not very knowledgeable about.  I do know that higher dynamic range numbers mean more variation in loudness and (generally) more "alive" sounding music. As opposed to a constant drone.

The numbers listed in the database are the Average, Minimum, and Maximum DR of the album.  The Average is the first number and is a good single number to use for comparison.  If you want to, just click on each specific album and you'll get to see the DR data for each song individually.

Brian.

[ferrarabrainpan]

The Dynamic Range is (roughly) the difference between the average sound level and the peak (loudest) sound level.  It's defined in a specific way that I'm not very knowledgeable about.  I do know that higher dynamic range numbers mean more variation in loudness and (generally) more "alive" sounding music. As opposed to a constant drone.

The numbers listed in the database are the Average, Minimum, and Maximum DR of the album.  The Average is the first number and is a good single number to use for comparison.  If you want to, just click on each specific album and you'll get to see the DR data for each song individually.

Brian.

Thanks, it makes sense.

Apparently the database numbers  are 'crest factor' DR values as opposed to R128. The JRiver wiki explains it at https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Dynamic_Range and I decided to add a column with the regular DR to the column view since those numbers make better sense to me.

I think I've got a handle on this, thanks to everyone for your help sorting it out.

[dtc]

I do know that higher dynamic range numbers mean more variation in loudness and (generally) more "alive" sounding music. As opposed to a constant drone.

There has been a lot written about the "loudness wars" which basically increased the level of tracks to a constant high level, producing a low dynamic range.  It was done so that in non-critical listening situations (like in a car) the track always seemed to have a lot of energy.  It was more common in pop and rock music than is other genres like classical and jazz.

You do have to be careful about generalizing. For example, female folk music does not usually have a large dynamic range, but that is part of the music, not a post-processing manipulation.  Classical music generally has a higher dynamic range. Vinyls that have been digitized usually have a high dynamic range.

Although there is no generally accepted definition, a Dynamic Range  above 10 is often considered good, again depending on the type of music. A value of 20 is about as high as it typically goes.

Album Dynamic Range is just the average for all the tracks in the album. In a playlist when using Volume Leveling, MC calculates an average dynamic range for all the tracks and adjusts to that level. For an album, MC maintains the dynamic range for each track since the album was engineered to those levels.

[dtc]

Thanks, it makes sense.

Apparently the database numbers  are 'crest factor' DR values as opposed to R128.

MC calculates and reports both Dynamic Range (DR) and Dynamic Range (R128)

[ferrarabrainpan]

MC31 has analyzed my entire music library of 31,797 files. It took quite a few hours but it's done. Now I have created a column view scheme which includes both crest DR and R128 DR along with a special field I called Master where I can enter one-word ratings of the mastering quality (best, good, fair, poor) and all my albums that I have multiple versions for are tagged with a 'version' keyword so I have a library view focusing on just those albums. JRiver is a great program.

FWIW I gave Roon a free 14-day trial and quit after four days. I love the visual look of the UI, that it integrates with my Qobuz streaming account, and all the extra info it displays for all my local library files as well as Qobuz catalog titles. But it made a total mess of how my local albums and artists were displayed which didn't make sense. None of the embedded metadata was changed but it just looked screwy, like with entire or partial albums credited to a single session player appearing on that release. Too expensive, and not for me.

I wish JRiver would support Qobuz streaming but I know it will never happen...