nick_the_ninja
Hi,
I've been doing a bit of research recently, and concluded that I'll buy more CDs in future, rather than variable bitrate MP3s (although I personally can't tell the difference between 320 kbps rips and VBRs that Virtual DJ says are 128 kbps).
The question I have is - is normalisation (volume) important for ripping? I use WMP for ripping at 320 kbps, but I've read that WMP doesn't do normalisation. I was thinking that normalisation was unimportant because the Virtual DJ auto-gain would correct for this, but now I'm not so sure. Could an absence of normalisation lead to excessive clipping of high volume peaks?
My home setup is quite good now - Denon AVC-A1 amplifier, JPW Ruby 4 speakers and Eltax Rumble subwoofer. All my tracks sound great to me - whether they are 320 kbps rips or VBR MP3s, but I've heard that lower kbps are more noticable when playing on a big rig. Do you think VBR MP3s with average bitrate of 256 kbps are ok?
MP3 album downloads are convenient, and I find that it's often difficult to tell whether a CD is pre-mixed or not.
Thanks,
Nick
I've been doing a bit of research recently, and concluded that I'll buy more CDs in future, rather than variable bitrate MP3s (although I personally can't tell the difference between 320 kbps rips and VBRs that Virtual DJ says are 128 kbps).
The question I have is - is normalisation (volume) important for ripping? I use WMP for ripping at 320 kbps, but I've read that WMP doesn't do normalisation. I was thinking that normalisation was unimportant because the Virtual DJ auto-gain would correct for this, but now I'm not so sure. Could an absence of normalisation lead to excessive clipping of high volume peaks?
My home setup is quite good now - Denon AVC-A1 amplifier, JPW Ruby 4 speakers and Eltax Rumble subwoofer. All my tracks sound great to me - whether they are 320 kbps rips or VBR MP3s, but I've heard that lower kbps are more noticable when playing on a big rig. Do you think VBR MP3s with average bitrate of 256 kbps are ok?
MP3 album downloads are convenient, and I find that it's often difficult to tell whether a CD is pre-mixed or not.
Thanks,
Nick
发表时间 Fri 28 Jun 13 @ 3:23 pm
J-Snip
I believe it is important. I use Audiograbber (free) to rip to wavs and set the normalization to 98%.
发表时间 Fri 28 Jun 13 @ 9:41 pm
Dazmax
Interesting one this.
The Normalising process changes the dynamics of the origonal music program. What you end up with in your Ripped track may well have a different dynamic range from the source.
Normalising an individual track is done as part of the Finalising process when the track was origonaly produced. Some ripping software provides the option of doing a peak search or scan of the track before ripping to let you make sure the origonal dynamic range of the track is preserved.
There are a whole range of tricks that Recording engineers can use to make differences in the real or apparent loudness of a track. Some of these tricks do not change the final output level of the track but use clever dynamic processing to change the dynamic range within the limits of the recording/playback system.
Normalising after the fact will change the way the track sounds. Not a problem if you are ok with the way it sounds afterwards but not a great way to make a faithfull copy of the work.
If the only issue is gain matching between tracks then pre scanning for gain with VDJ works fine.
Daz
The Normalising process changes the dynamics of the origonal music program. What you end up with in your Ripped track may well have a different dynamic range from the source.
Normalising an individual track is done as part of the Finalising process when the track was origonaly produced. Some ripping software provides the option of doing a peak search or scan of the track before ripping to let you make sure the origonal dynamic range of the track is preserved.
There are a whole range of tricks that Recording engineers can use to make differences in the real or apparent loudness of a track. Some of these tricks do not change the final output level of the track but use clever dynamic processing to change the dynamic range within the limits of the recording/playback system.
Normalising after the fact will change the way the track sounds. Not a problem if you are ok with the way it sounds afterwards but not a great way to make a faithfull copy of the work.
If the only issue is gain matching between tracks then pre scanning for gain with VDJ works fine.
Daz
发表时间 Fri 28 Jun 13 @ 10:42 pm
nick_the_ninja
Thanks for your replies :)
I've got JRiver to re-rip my CDs. I'm doing a bit of research before I go ahead though. I'm gonna go with 320kbps CBR.
Still unsure whether to use normalisation or not. Virtual DJ will do gain matching between tracks, so I don't want normalisation for that, but is there any other advantage to using it? I've noticed that 'LIMITER' is usually flickering away on the Virtual DJ skin - not sure if this is bad (music sounds OK though) - but if it is, would normalisation reduce it?
I don't want to have to re-rip my CDs again, so I want to make sure I'm getting the best possible quality rip this time :)
I've got JRiver to re-rip my CDs. I'm doing a bit of research before I go ahead though. I'm gonna go with 320kbps CBR.
Still unsure whether to use normalisation or not. Virtual DJ will do gain matching between tracks, so I don't want normalisation for that, but is there any other advantage to using it? I've noticed that 'LIMITER' is usually flickering away on the Virtual DJ skin - not sure if this is bad (music sounds OK though) - but if it is, would normalisation reduce it?
I don't want to have to re-rip my CDs again, so I want to make sure I'm getting the best possible quality rip this time :)
发表时间 Sat 29 Jun 13 @ 3:25 pm
nick_the_ninja
This was an interesting read: http://www.hometracked.com/2008/04/20/10-myths-about-normalization/
I'm not concerned about my tracks appearing to have different volume levels (Virtual DJ's auto-gain sorts this out). If I have to frequently adjust the volume level when listening to tracks via another media play then so be it.
Interestingly, when I play my downloaded VBR MP3s on JRiver, it shows the bitrate at any given moment, and I can see that it does increase to the high 200s when needed, so my low-bitrate fears are averted.
Just one more thing - is it normal for the Virtual DJ skin LIMITER to be flickering on and off? (e.g. during the drum kicks?) I'm not too concerned about it, as it still sounds fine, and is probably just touching the limit. I think I'm using 2dB headroom.
Nick
I'm not concerned about my tracks appearing to have different volume levels (Virtual DJ's auto-gain sorts this out). If I have to frequently adjust the volume level when listening to tracks via another media play then so be it.
Interestingly, when I play my downloaded VBR MP3s on JRiver, it shows the bitrate at any given moment, and I can see that it does increase to the high 200s when needed, so my low-bitrate fears are averted.
Just one more thing - is it normal for the Virtual DJ skin LIMITER to be flickering on and off? (e.g. during the drum kicks?) I'm not too concerned about it, as it still sounds fine, and is probably just touching the limit. I think I'm using 2dB headroom.
Nick
发表时间 Sat 29 Jun 13 @ 7:06 pm
Dazmax
Good article :-)
If music is being ripped from CD source which has already been proccessed by an audio enginer. The work has already been done, so re doing that seems pointless.
As I mentioned before Normalising on each track will be done already. Adjusting or Normalising all the tracks to exactly the same settings would seem to seek to undo what has already been done and for some tracks would, I think have a detramental effect.
As far as the limiter goes. Having this flickering ocasionaly should not be a problem.
Daz
If music is being ripped from CD source which has already been proccessed by an audio enginer. The work has already been done, so re doing that seems pointless.
As I mentioned before Normalising on each track will be done already. Adjusting or Normalising all the tracks to exactly the same settings would seem to seek to undo what has already been done and for some tracks would, I think have a detramental effect.
As far as the limiter goes. Having this flickering ocasionaly should not be a problem.
Daz
发表时间 Sat 29 Jun 13 @ 10:24 pm