Volume Leveling for DLNA Renderer

[Fransie]

Hello,

I have a mixed collection of MP3 and FLAC files. I have configured MM to use a UPnP/DLNA Renderer as player. This player is a WiDAC (http://www.crystalaudiovideo.com/Produc ... WiDAC.aspx). In the MM options for Volume Leveling I have checked all options except 'Automatically analyze volume of unanalyzed files'. Volume leveling appears not to take place with this configuration, some songs sound much louder than others.

Perhaps I should also mention that most of my MP3 files have a volume adjustment tag which was set by MP3Gain. As MP3Gain does not do FLAC, my FLAC files don't have volume adjustment metadata.

I wonder where the volume leveling is supposed to take place. Does Media Monkey apply it before data are sent to the player? Or is the player supposed to apply volume leveling?

I think volume leveling is a very important feature. Would it help if I upgrade to MM Gold and are able to enable 'Automatically analyze volume of unanalyzed files'?

Thanks in advance for any help!
Frans

[Lowlander]

Volume Leveling for DLNA streaming from MediaMonkey is a separate setting in the Media Server settings (Tools > Options > Media Sharing).

Note that FLAC doesn't support Volume Leveling so if you need this you'll need to convert FLAC to MP3 for streaming (not the original files). MediaMonkey can analyze the volume for FLAC files, but then it's up to the client to level on playback (MediaMonkey can as client).

[Fransie]

Thanks for the reply Lowlander, but I'm not sure I get it.

Volume Leveling for DLNA streaming from MediaMonkey is a separate setting in the Media Server settings (Tools > Options > Media Sharing).

I have enabled sharing of my MediaMonkey library but I don't see a setting for Volume Leveling there. There is an option for automatic file conversion. Might that have something to do with volume leveling (e.g. convert FLAC to MP3 because that makes it possible to level the volume)?

Note that FLAC doesn't support Volume Leveling so if you need this you'll need to convert FLAC to MP3 for streaming (not the original files). MediaMonkey can analyze the volume for FLAC files, but then it's up to the client to level on playback (MediaMonkey can as client).

In what way doesn't FLAC support Volume Leveling? I understand it is possible to analyze a FLAC file and save ReplayGain data in the file's metadata.

Do you suggest to make a mp3 copy of all FLAC files for the purpose of playing to a DLNA Renderer?

[Lowlander]

Auto-Conversion tab of the media server has the volume leveling option. If you want FLAC files to be send leveled you'll need to have them converted to a format that support this like MP3.

FLAC is lossless (ie. same as source) and volume leveling alters the audio and thus isn't supported.

[Fransie]

Auto-Conversion tab of the media server has the volume leveling option. If you want FLAC files to be send leveled you'll need to have them converted to a format that support this like MP3.

FLAC is lossless (ie. same as source) and volume leveling alters the audio and thus isn't supported.

I do not want to permanently alter the audio (Tools : Level Track Volume) but I want to level the volume on playback (Options : Player : Volume Leveling : Level Playback / Sync volume ). In hindsight, perhaps I should have used a different title for this thread, something like Playback Leveling instead of Volume Leveling.

I have now bought Media Monkey Gold, which allows me to enable the background process that analyzes the volume of unanalyzed files. If I understand correctly, this will calculate and set track gain and album gain tags for all music files (MP3 and FLAC). If I am not mistaken, I hear less difference in loudness between FLAC and MP3 files now, as long as the pre-analyzed replay gain parameters are there.

[Lowlander]

Analyze Volume just modifies the tag with the volume offset. This is then used by the Player to adjust the Volume, however this only works if the Player supports this.

Level Volume modifies the Audio and will play all files on same volume no matter what Player is used. FLAC doesn't support this as it's lossless and thus Audio should remain orgininal

[Fransie]

Analyze Volume just modifies the tag with the volume offset. This is then used by the Player to adjust the Volume, however this only works if the Player supports this.

Ok, so in whether the ReplayGain tag is used to adjust volume depends on the DLNA Renderer?

[Lowlander]

Yes. If the renderer has this implemented it should work, however many renderers will likely not support it.

[sunspot]

Why don't you offer a setting to force a conversion and volume level for DLNA clients even if they support the format? So perform a FLAC/FLAC conversion on the fly with volume leveling. That way even if the client doesn't support volume level tags, MediaMonkey could force it by doing the leveling on the fly to the source file it's sending over?

Also, I'm using MediaMonkey itself as a DLNA client on my laptop, and it's not performing volume leveling, even tho I have it turned on. So my assumption is the volume tags aren't making it over, although I suppose it's possible MM is just ignoring them...

[Lowlander]

There is an option to level volume when converting in the Media Server settings, so as long as you setup that files are converted they should be leveled.

Do note that when applying volume leveling a lossless format like FLAC no longer is lossless.

[xpaceeight]

Volume Leveling won't be applied to DLNA playback.

I think when you use the xBox as a DLNA Renderer, it is the box that does the decoding. A connection to a new receiver, using it as the DLNA Renderer, would do the decoding there.

[Lowlander]

MediaMonkey does volume level to any DLNA client if you set it to do so in the Media Servers settings. You can encode and volume level on the server side. The client will still do decoding.