A Question from Someone Who Owns "The Divine" album...

foxyluva · #1 09-21-2006, 05:17 PM

Im in the process of making a best of Stevie CD for my car (yes, some of us STILL don't have an iPod

) and while making it, I noticed that when you skip from track to track, the levels change on the quality, and you have to adjust the volume accordingly. I managed to fix the problem by getting most of the songs I needed from the Enchanted Box Set, which are all recorded on the same level, but there are still some tracks that are not on this box set, that I need to sound 'louder' if you get what I am saying...

Basically, my question is for someone who owns the "Divine" Best of Stevie, if the quality levels of the tracks are remastered for the compilation, and if they sound any better than the ones on the 'Wild Heart'

The tracks I am especially looking for are "Sable on Blond" and "Nothing Ever Changes" - which sound fine on the WH album, but when ripped to the computer, they sound of a poor quality compared to the other tracks.

This would be a perfect question for Johnny Stew or someone else who knows about audio quality and all that ****, and is able to unravel my ramblings

Any help would be appreciated

Johnny Stew · #2 09-21-2006, 05:23 PM

I don't own 'The Divine,' so I can't answer that part of your question... but I can tell you that I swear by a program called mp3Gain when I'm making mix CDs.
It's really simply to use, the files it produces don't lose any quality, and it's free.

foxyluva · #3 09-21-2006, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

I don't own 'The Divine,' so I can't answer that part of your question... but I can tell you that I swear by a program called mp3Gain when I'm making mix CDs.
It's really simply to use, the files it produces don't lose any quality, and it's free.

Its not so much that it 'loses' quality. Its just that the sings are all on different levels. For instance, if I put something from "Sorcerer" next to "Sable on Blonde" on the mxed CD, I have to turn the volume way up on the stereo because the original qualitys are so different. Will this program help with evening them out?

LiquidBlue5000 · #4 09-21-2006, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by foxyluva

Its not so much that it 'loses' quality. Its just that the sings are all on different levels. For instance, if I put something from "Sorcerer" next to "Sable on Blonde" on the mxed CD, I have to turn the volume way up on the stereo because the original qualitys are so different.

This is due to the fact that each album was recorded at a different input level. Basically you'll need a program which has a "normalizing" setting. Nero is very good for that, but there are also a slew of other programs which you can download for free which have this same feature. If you do a search on it, you should be able to find a good program to use.

foxyluva · #5 09-21-2006, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiquidBlue5000

This is due to the fact that each album was recorded at a different input level. Basically you'll need a program which has a "normalizing" setting. Nero is very good for that, but there are also a slew of other programs which you can download for free which have this same feature. If you do a search on it, you should be able to find a good program to use.

Thank you Brian, this is exactly what I was after. Your a gem

LiquidBlue5000 · #6 09-21-2006, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by foxyluva

Thank you Brian, this is exactly what I was after. Your a gem

You're welcome

Johnny Stew · #7 09-21-2006, 08:25 PM

I should have explained better... mp3Gain is a "normalizer." However, unlike most volume-levelers, it doesn't "flatten" the sound spectrum (which produces an mp3 that has no highs or lows, and therefore no depth to the sound).

The fact that the file loses no quality is just one of the many pluses for mp3Gain.