Why no Track Level after rip [#18083]

[terryo]

This has bugged me in both MM4 and MM5. I rip CDs with the box selected for Level Track Volume. Why is the Track Volume column always blank and I have to Level Track Volume again after the album has been ripped to see numbers in that column?

[Lowlander]

You can enable the option to Automatically analyze volume of unanalyzed files.

[terryo]

But I select "Level Track Volume" when I rip the CD. Is this not analyzing the volume?

[Lowlander]

No, this levels (modifies the audio) of the track. This is different from Analyze Volume which calculates the volume offset and saves it to the tag (audio not modified).

With Analyze Volume only Players that support the tag can play files at the same volume, whereas with Level Track Volume any player will play levelled. The reason to not choose Level Track Volume is that it modifies the audio itself.

https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/WebHel ... veling/5.0

[terryo]

I am still confused.

A. In "Rip Audio CD" the box is "Level Track volume"

B. In the dropdown box for selected tracks it is "Level Track volume"

C. The column for tracks is labeled "Track volume." There is a deciBel number here if step B above is performed but no number if the box in step A is checked. Why?

I fully realize "Analyze volume" does not change the file. And "Level Track volume" gives a warning of changing the file if executed through the selected tracks menu (B, above) but not for ripping CDs (A, above). That does not make sense.

Perhaps what you are implying is that when ripping a CD, the dialogue box has the incorrect label. Perhaps the rip CD function should be properly called "Analyze volume."

[Lowlander]

No, Rip also does Level Track Volume.

Track Volume the column/tag is used by Analyze Volume. However you're right that this does get a value when using Level Track Volume of a file in the Library. In other words, it levels the volume and then analyzes what the new offset is.

[terryo]

So that leads to two questions.

1. Why isn't this level displayed in the column to indicate the tracks have been leveled?

2. Why does doing a "Track Level volume" on the newly ripped/leveled files take as long as a full Level Track volume if the track has already been leveled during the rip?

When a downloaded file has a value in that column and I run Level Track volume, the numbers for all the tracks rapidly change right down the selection. I do this whenever the numbers in that column are +/- > 10 dB and it brings them down to single digits close to 0.

[Lowlander]

1) Level Track Volume doesn't calculate Track or Album Volume values, thus this isn't displayed. It levels the audio. This is why Rip doesn't display this value. When doing it in Library the leveled file is also Analyzed, this is why the value is shown.

2) It runs it again.

3) As Level Track Volume levels the audio, the Track Volume which is the offset in volume is expected to be near zero as the file is now levelled.

[terryo]

The logical assumption for a user would be "Level Track volume" does the same thing on every menu where you see it.

So what you're saying is the menu for selected files should say "Level and Analyze Track Volume" because it functions differently than "Level Track volume" on the CD rip menu.

No wonder I was confused.

[Lowlander]

An issue for this has been added to the Bug Tracker: https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=18083

[terryo]

Another inconsistent label exists in the "Convert format" box. It also says "Level track volume" but no numbers appear in the "Track volume" column as they do when you click Level track volume in the Tools menu.

[Lowlander]

That's correct, Level Track Volume modifies the file audio itself. Track Volume and Album Volume are calculated by Analyze Volume which fills in an offset to the volume in these tags. This behaves as expected.