Platinum Notes vs. MP3Gain
i was just about to buy PN cause id like to adjust all my mp3 volumes. i then found out that MP3Gain has a free macintosh version called MacMP3Gain (surprise surprise) my question is now, do these two pieces of software correct the levels in the same way?
Since PN is $98 and im only really intrested in the volume adjustment-function, MacMP3Gain would be an easy saved money…
i found this on MP3Gain…
MP3Gain can modify files in two ways:
write metadata;
modify MP3 data, writing undo information as metadata.
In both cases, it first computes the desired gain (volume adjustment), either per track or per album, using the Replay Gain algorithm.
In the first instance, it simply writes this as a tag (in APEv2 format), which can be read by other applications that implement Replay Gain.
In the second instance, it modifies the overall volume (scale factor) in each MP3 frame, and writes undo information as a tag. Note that this is completely reversible, by subtracting the modification that was done and removing the tag: it does not introduce any digital generation loss, since it does not decode and re-encode the file.
PN does 3 things that mp3gain doesn’t -
If all your looking for is a program to get your gains all set right there is no need to fork out $98 in my opinion, but the other options look fairly attractive.
I don’t actually own PN so i cannot vouch for its effectiveness and i am also not very keen about handing over that much money for a program i cant give proper testing to before purchasing. It would be nice if they produced a trial version that only worked on half the song or perhaps some static noise inserted into the songs every 30 seconds like a lot of the other music programs on the market.
PN’s other functions has no intrest to me, but they should definatley make a trial version!
im gonna go with mp3gain.
what db do you guys adjust to with PN, 90db?
PN adjusts the track to -13db
From the PN site - “Below is the Platinum Notes final fix, without clipped peaks. It has perfect pitch and -13 average volume:”
that doesnt make sense? it has to adjust to a fixed db value. if it just adjusted everything with -13db the volume wouldnt be the same on every track?
That’s the average gain of each track, i am assuming that PN uses a perceived -13db average as opposed to an actual -13db average. Otherwise like you say the tracks would not be the same on every track and we more or less end up where we started - tweaking the gain knob.
Its hard to comment without owning the software.
yes, your right.
mp3gain has two functions in adjusting. either album mode, where it compares all the given tracks in a directory and adjusts the db level after that, so the general sound of the album wont get lost.
and track mode, where it simply adjust to the given db level.
pretty cool