Old AVI files, looking for a way to set the gain

[THRobinson]

Wasn't sure if this would be under audio, or video... figured post in general.

I have an old TV series, all AVI files and the volumes between files are all over the place.

I use a program called MP3Gain for MP3 files, and I like that I can do a batch process and that I can simply click 90db and that's what it does... seen a few tutorials for my situation, but, most aren't batch, and none that I found are as simple as picking an average db level, it's usually adjusting it by a %. Which is fine if only 1 file, but, I have about 80 files and would like them all to be relatively close to one another.

Does anyone know of an app that does this?

I use VidCoder and it has a Gain option for audio conversion, but it's not like setting 90db and it makes all the files converted 90db, it's just to increase or lower so, mostly just guess work... else I'd just batch convert everything to mp4 with aac audio.

Anyone able to point me towards such an app?

[hello_hello]

AVIGain? https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/255147-Mini-Guide-Normalizing-Audio-for-Multiple-AVI-files

[hello_hello]

If you want the volumes to sound the same, normalising is a rough way of doing it, but using something like ReplayGain with a program such as MP3Gain might be better. However it'd involve manually demuxing all the audio, running ReplayGain, adjusting the volumes and remuxing. I'm not sure if one of AVIGain's methods of normalising uses ReplayGain, or whether they just normalise the traditional way (increasing volume until the peaks are at 100% etc).

[THRobinson]

Found avigain last night and running it, not sure why but its VERY slow... files are about 175MB each, been running 9h and only got about 6 files done. Have your choice of gain, lossless, regular and super loud, but 0 indication of what the output levels will be.

I think demuxing would be way faster.

Would MP3Gain work? since it tags the adjustmenst vs reencoding the mp3 with the adjustments? Not sure if all players would detect the tagged adjustments.

EDIT - Nevermind, maybe something else running in the background or corrupt file... but, tried avi_gain again and it's flying through pretty fast now. Took about 9h for 6 files last night, just did another 6 in about 15-20min. Haven't tested the volumes yet though.

[jagabo]

AVI_GAIN_LOSSLESS.BAT uses mp3gain. But it has to demux the audio from the AVI file, adjust it, then remux back with the video. You can modify the batch file to set the peak value.

[THRobinson]

I wish the readme files for these apps had more details.

Like I said though, with MP3Gain, I know when I use it on my MP3s for music, some programs have the option to use or ignore the tagged adjustments (since MP3Gain doesn't reencode the audio)... I'm not sure when playing a movie with an mp3 track, if the video player looks at the tagged adjustments or ignores them. Mostly I use XBMC media centre for my stuff, but, not always.

[jagabo]

I'm not sure when playing a movie with an mp3 track, if the video player looks at the tagged adjustments or ignores them.

Why don't you just try it and find out? Take a video with very low audio levels and normalize it.

[hello_hello]

MP3Gain doesn't just add tags to MP3s, it can adjust their volume. MP3 is the only format for which the volume can be adjusted losslessly (without re-encoding). The volume can only be adjusted in increments of 1.5dB (I can't remember the technical reason) but MP3Gain can adjust the volume to the nearest 1.5dB and then write tags so that players which support them can adjust the volume further if need be. 1.5dB isn't much though, so even without the tags it can adjust MP3 volume fairly accurately. My MP3 player doesn't support ReplayGain so I use MP3Gain to adjust the volume of MP3s before transferring them to the player.

You'd need to run track gain on the files and use the function to apply the gain. Soundtrack audio tends to be a bit more dynamic than pop music, so when running MP3Gain on soundtrack audio I usually change the target volume to 83dB instead of the default of 89dB. Sometimes you can get away with 86dB but usually at 83dB there won't be any tracks "clipping" after the volume has been adjusted.

I'd be very astounded if players paid any attention to ReplayGain MP3 tags in AVIs. They're not all that well supported by MP3 players. In fact, I'm not 100% sure the MP3Gain tags would be kept when muxing an MP3 into an AVI. I'd need to try it.

When you're in Track Gain mode, the Track Analysis button writes the initial ReplayGain tags as it analyses. The Track Gain button adjusts the volume and re-writes the tags accordingly.



MP3Gain can also normalise (peaks at maximum volume) but the function is disabled by default. You can enable it in MP3Gain's options. When it's enabled, after you've run a Track Analysis, you can right click on an MP3 (or a bunch of them) and select "max no-clip gain".

There's a plugin for MP3Gain which lets it adjust the volume of AAC audio in the same way. Apparently the process isn't losslessly reversible for AAC. I'm not sure why.

[hello_hello]

AVI_GAIN_LOSSLESS.BAT uses mp3gain. But it has to demux the audio from the AVI file, adjust it, then remux back with the video. You can modify the batch file to set the peak value.

I haven't used AviGain myself so I'm not sure. Does it just normalise the traditional way..... peaks to 100% or another predetermined level..... or does it run a ReplayGain scan and apply a ReplayGain volume as MP3Gain does?

[jagabo]

AVI_GAIN_LOSSLESS.BAT uses mp3gain. But it has to demux the audio from the AVI file, adjust it, then remux back with the video. You can modify the batch file to set the peak value.

I haven't used AviGain myself so I'm not sure. Does it just normalise the traditional way..... peaks to 100% or another predetermined level..... or does it run a ReplayGain scan and apply a ReplayGain volume as MP3Gain does?

It does this:

mp3gain /f /s s /d 100 /k /r a-norm.mp3

[hello_hello]

I guess I'll need to research what the mp3gain commandline options do.

[myr]

Try R128GAIN - http://r128gain.sourceforge.net/

[THRobinson]

AVIGain wasn't bad... not as good as hoped, but they seem pretty close now... much better than before.

Did increase the file size about 5-10mb per file though.

Few files (only 3) sound like they weren't created with stereo, just left channel only so, will have to demux those... force joint stereo I guess?

MP3Gain wise, I've been setting the 'normal' volume to 95, since almost everything Ive used the program for, shows up between 92-98db so, 95 seemed pretty much the average. And I'm happy with the output. I dump the batch of files in, hit track analysis, it runs through, when done I hit track gain and let it run and done.

Though a few months ago I opened up WMP and it tried to import the entire library and in the process, wiped out over half the MP3Gain settings... turned off the auto import function in WMP and moved my collection to an external drive and re-ran MP3Gain on my library. When I hit track analysis it already had the info, just needed to hit the track gain button and let it run again. Rare I ever use WMP, normally I use Media Monkey for organizing, and my media centre XBMC for playback.

Anyways, point was, I like MP3Gain, but sometimes programs (in this case Windows Media Player) kinda reset things on me for whatever reason. :S

But anyways, for what I wanted it seemed to work. I might run them through VidCoder, convert to MP4 simply because many of the files have the black bars which I want crapped off so it displays full screen automatically, hopefully when they convert they include the vol level changes.