Topic: Intensity - What exactly is it? (Read 2126 times)

milehigh · « **on:** January 04, 2004, 09:32:30 am »

Hi - I have searched the message board and have seen several mentions of intensity - but no real definition - just wondering exactly what it is or what it is based on.

I guess I don't understand how I can have a song that is rated a 1 in intensity with 176 bpm and a 5 in intensity with 52 bpm.

Thanks in advance....

milehigh · « **Reply #1 on:** January 05, 2004, 10:28:01 am »

bump - anyone?

NoCodeUK · « **Reply #2 on:** January 05, 2004, 10:59:02 am »

Matt said before it is something to do with the differences in volume within a song or somethig like that. So a song with more quiet then loud passages would have a higher intesnity than a song which maintained the same volume all the way through...

Only the man himself can properly explain however

Adam

loraan · « **Reply #3 on:** January 05, 2004, 11:03:38 am »

Quote from: NoCodeUK on January 05, 2004, 10:59:02 am

Matt said before it is something to do with the differences in volume within a song or somethig like that. So a song with more quiet then loud passages would have a higher intesnity than a song which maintained the same volume all the way through...

If that's true, then that would tend to make older songs have lower intensity, since the trend in mastering since CDs came out has been to max out the volume through the use of limiters and compressors. The result is that CDs made in the last fifteen years, and especially so in the last five to ten years, tend to have very little change in volume--they're LOUD all the way through. On newer albums, intensity would be pretty useless, since all of them would tend to have a high intensity.

Matt · « **Reply #4 on:** January 05, 2004, 11:34:02 am »

Yeah, intensity measures variations in volume. The idea is that less intense music has more variation. (think of all the quiet passages in classical for example)

It's not an exact science, but it can be interesting and useful sometimes.

Quote

On newer albums, intensity would be pretty useless, since all of them would tend to have a high intensity.

Yeah, it's a sad trend. A lot of otherwise good music isn't that fun to listen to as a result.

Bendra · « **Reply #5 on:** January 12, 2004, 09:37:09 am »

I used audio analysis on my mp3 files and there are only ?'s in the intensity field. How do you get something into that column?

Quisp · « **Reply #6 on:** January 12, 2004, 10:40:58 am »

Quote from: Matt on January 05, 2004, 11:34:02 am

The idea is that less intense music has more variation.

I guess these guys haven't heard of John Zorn.

bvm · « **Reply #7 on:** January 12, 2004, 06:25:48 pm »

Quote from: Matt on January 05, 2004, 11:34:02 am

Yeah, intensity measures variations in volume. The idea is that less intense music has more variation. (think of all the quiet passages in classical for example)

It's not an exact science, but it can be interesting and useful sometimes.

Yeah, pretty inexact. I was hoping I could use the Intensity field to filter for tracks that are good for listening to in a noisy environment (my car). By your description, I would want high intensity (low dynamic variation) tracks. Unfortunately, in my collection, which is almost all classical, only 9% rate a "5". Almost 70% of the tracks are rated "1". That includes things I'd expect to find there (Verdi Requiem) as well as lots of pieces I wouldn't (most of Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier, keyboard pieces of a fairly uniform volume). Any hope of getting an audio analysis that really reflects the amount of dynamic variation?

Monkeyboy · « **Reply #8 on:** January 12, 2004, 06:42:20 pm »

I have been trying to use the intensitu field to clear some playlists up. But it doesn' seem to help group tracks together.

I find the BPM field more useful, but saying that, I have 2 tracks that are the same (in different albums) one is a second shorter than the other, but thats it (one is 192 the other 192vbr but same mix etc..). MC calculates that one has a BPM of 150 and the other 76. I believe the 76 one is right, because it is a slow song. Strange.
Rich

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Author Topic: Intensity - What exactly is it? (Read 2126 times)

milehigh

Intensity - What exactly is it?

milehigh

Re:Intensity - What exactly is it?

NoCodeUK

Re:Intensity - What exactly is it?

loraan

Re:Intensity - What exactly is it?

Matt

Re:Intensity - What exactly is it?

Bendra

Re:Intensity - What exactly is it?

Quisp

Re:Intensity - What exactly is it?

bvm

Re:Intensity - What exactly is it?

Monkeyboy

Re:Intensity - What exactly is it?