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[lhm3]

I am strongly considering moving from Foobar to J River Media Center, but I am having an issue with replay gain or Volume Leveling as it is called in Media Center. 

I have applied replay gain to all of my files in Foobar and I use Album Gain.  Foobar will calculate a value for album gain of -4.28db for example while J River will calculate a value of -9.72db.  The end result is that music played through Media Center requires a higher volume setting on my preamp than any of my other components.  With Foobar the volume level is approximately the same as my other components. 

I noticed there is a place where a fixed amount of gain adjustment can be entered.  Is this where I can correct this problem?  I notice that the differences between what Foobar calculated and Media Center calculated are not a constant.  If I want to increase the perceived volume level do I enter a positive or negative value in this field?

[JimH]

Welcome to Interact.  MC followed the original standard for replay gain.  Some other programs chose other standards.  Try a positive value.  If that doesn't work, try a negative one. 

[Alex B]

A short answer:

+6 dB

A longer answer:

As Jim said, JRiver programs use the original Replay Gain reference level value (83 dB SPL). JRiver Media Jukebox 8 was the first player program that had the intergrated replay gain analyzer and playback correction features.

Some other programs have later changed to use the reference level value of 89 dB SPL. This makes the corrected output 6 dB louder but can sometimes lead to audible clipping if the music is not very compressed (for instance, many classical works have a wide dynamic range).

You can use the +6 dB fixed adjustment to make MC and MJ work similarly like foobar. The "Overflow Handling: Clip Protection" setting prevents from occasional clipping, so you may want to keep it enabled.

The album gain value may differ slightly more or less than +6 dB because the programs calculate it a bit differently. Foobar measures the complete album as a single track. MC and MJ calculate the album gain values from the individual track values dynamically. In my experience the difference is small enough to be inaudible and in any case the Replay Gain system in general is not anything like exact science. It tries to simulate the human audiotory system, but it can't possibly take all variables into account.

I normally use the Album mode with the "Automatic based on current playlist" adjustment. That works for me.

Here's more info about Replay Gain in general: http://replaygain.hydrogenaudio.org/

[lhm3]

My problem with using the "Automatic based on current playlist" adjustment is since I normally play whole albums it takes the gain right back to where it was without replay gain.  This is especially true with the newer rock albums that are mastered at maximum volume and are at 100% on every track.  The calculated adjustment can be -15db and the "Automatic based on current playlist"  adjustment is then +15db and I am right back where I started.  It would be nice to be able to adjust the replay gain target, but I suppose you run the risk of clipping as you have pointed out.  I have added the fixed adjustment at +6db and that seems to be close, although MC does play at slightly lower volume with that adjustment.

I did go ahead and purchase the software as I find it is much easier to do what I need than with Foobar.  I especially like the server capability.  Thanks for your help.

Lindsay

[Alex B]

The +6 dB adjustment is effectively exactly the same as using a reference level of 89 dB SPL instead of 83 dB SPL. All these numbers are just stored metadata until the playback DSP actually sets the volume level.

The purpose of the automatic adjustment is to set the volume of the complete list as high as possible without causing clipping. When I listen to a single album it does really not matter because I always adjust the volume manually anyway. When the playlist in Playing Now contains tracks from several albums (maybe a few from each) it still works fine because it preserves the album gain corrections. First the album specific volume levels are adjusted by checking the album gain values and then the whole bunch is adjusted so that the highest peak of the complete playlist reaches (but does not exceed) 0 dBFS.

Naturally the +6 dB fixed correction works fine as well.