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milhous · Mar 16, 2005, 01:18 AM

i've never used the feature, but i am finding it a bit annoying that i have to turn the volume up on some songs and lower it for others. does sound check really work? i want to see what you guys think before i commit a change to my large library. the majority of my music are ripped from cd's so they're probably not all recorded at the same, dare i say, "volume"?

Psychonaut · Mar 16, 2005, 01:24 AM

Originally posted by milhous:
i've never used the feature, but i am finding it a bit annoying that i have to turn the volume up on some songs and lower it for others. does sound check really work? i want to see what you guys think before i commit a change to my large library. the majority of my music are ripped from cd's so they're probably not all recorded at the same, dare i say, "volume"?

I doubt that Sound Check makes any changes to the files in your library at all. It justs adjusts the sound output volume of iTunes. I've never used it though.

Abnormal-Solder · Mar 16, 2005, 01:38 AM

In theory Sound cheack sounds good, but in practice is useless as.

I had it turned on, and my music still sounds too loud or too soft,
it does nothing!!!

waste of an option

anthonyvthc · Mar 16, 2005, 01:48 AM

Originally posted by Abnormal-Solder:
In theory Sound cheack sounds good, but in practice is useless as.

I had it turned on, and my music still sounds too loud or too soft,
it does nothing!!!

waste of an option

Like "Smartsound" on my TV. Just makes everything quiet as hell except commercials.

Randman · Mar 16, 2005, 01:52 AM

Wrong forum.

That said, it doesn't change the tracks themselves so you can try it, see if you like and turn it off if you don't. Do that before ripping any to make up your mind. I love it. I hate having different tracks have different volumes. I wish the shuffle had the feature.

analogika · Mar 16, 2005, 01:54 AM

All it does is increase the volume on songs whose peaks are lower than 0 dB (the theoretically possible maximum). This is called normalization or maximization.

Since virtually all commercial recordings are normalized on a song-by-song basis, this setting has absolutely no effect.

Also, the actual peak volume of a song is only one (relatively minor in this depressing Age of Death by Compression) aspect of what constitutes "loudness".

-s*

analogika · Mar 16, 2005, 02:00 AM

Originally posted by anthonyvthc:
Like "Smartsound" on my TV. Just makes everything quiet as hell except commercials.

I don't know what "Smartsound" on your TV does, but commercials' audio is compressed (as in dynamic reduction, not data reduction) to hell and back, making them seem easily twice as loud as a well-recorded movie or TV show.

This is by design.

In addition, I also get the impression that TV stations deliberately turn up the volume on commercials.

I very much doubt that "Smartsound" will have any effect whatsoever on that. I suspect that it messes with phasing in the upper frequencies to give a fake broader-stereo effect, kind of like the sound "enhancer" (*gag*) in iTunes.

anthonyvthc · Mar 16, 2005, 02:11 AM

Originally posted by analogika:
I don't know what "Smartsound" on your TV does, but commercials' audio is compressed (as in dynamic reduction, not data reduction) to hell and back, making them seem easily twice as loud as a well-recorded movie or TV show.

This is by design.

In addition, I also get the impression that TV stations deliberately turn up the volume on commercials.

I very much doubt that "Smartsound" will have any effect whatsoever on that. I suspect that it messes with phasing in the upper frequencies to give a fake broader-stereo effect, kind of like the sound "enhancer" (*gag*) in iTunes.

No, Smartsound is (supposedly) a limiter/expander that keeps the volume level even. This does not work. I think I'm gonna do what my great-grandfather used to do: mute all commercials. Created an eery vibe in the house.

analogika · Mar 16, 2005, 02:26 AM

Originally posted by anthonyvthc:
No, Smartsound is (supposedly) a limiter/expander that keeps the volume level even.

? limiters and expanders have opposite functions.

Kenneth · Mar 16, 2005, 02:41 AM

I enable "Sound Check" on my iPod tho.

Naplander · Mar 16, 2005, 04:31 AM

Just thought I'd chime in to support what Anologika has said.

The sound check "feature" does nothing to sort the volume output of the audio coming out of my iPod. I damn well wish it do though!

What I have been doing is manually reducing, or increasing the dB level on offending songs in iTunes (pressing apple i).

Hopefully someone will wright a good piece of software that actually does this

Randman · Mar 16, 2005, 04:34 AM

Originally posted by Naplander:
Hopefully someone will wright a good piece of software that actually does this

Write on! Right on?

lavar78 · Mar 16, 2005, 05:01 AM

Originally posted by analogika:
? limiters and expanders have opposite functions.

Of course they do.

They need to lower the volume for louder things and raise it for quieter things.

Naplander · Mar 16, 2005, 05:16 AM

Sorry, too early in the morning for good grammer and spelling

Randman · Mar 16, 2005, 05:20 AM

Originally posted by Naplander:
Sorry, too early in the morning for good grammer and spelling

Good grammar.

Butt ewe spel reel gud.

wataru · Mar 16, 2005, 05:38 AM

Originally posted by Naplander:
The sound check "feature" does nothing to sort the volume output of the audio coming out of my iPod. I damn well wish it do though!

Turning it on in iTunes does nothing on the iPod. You have to enable it on the iPod separately in Settings.

Naplander · Mar 16, 2005, 05:53 AM

I know. I have it enabled on both iTunes and my iPod.

The problem is that neither of them seem to do much good at normalising the volume...

(Randman, yes, "normalising" is spelled with an "S", not a "Z" )

Apple Pro Underwear · Mar 16, 2005, 06:02 AM

doesn't work great for me either

Randman · Mar 16, 2005, 06:11 AM

Originally posted by Naplander:
(Randman, yes, "normalising" is spelled with an "S", not a "Z" )

I may be a Yank but I've worked abroad for long enough to be quite familiar with the differences between an ess and a zed, thank you.

Mastrap · Mar 16, 2005, 06:36 AM

Originally posted by analogika:

In addition, I also get the impression that TV stations deliberately turn up the volume on commercials.

It's the other way round. When you produce a commercial you're given certain volume limits by the TV stations. Commercial production houses are constantly pushing these limits, to make sure their own work stands out from the crowd. It's too much work for the TV station to check all incoming commercials for adherence to their guidelines and so a lot of them just get away with it. I had films returned by station myself, asking if I could please turn the bloody noise down.

anthonyvthc · Mar 16, 2005, 11:29 AM

Originally posted by Mastrap:
It's the other way round. When you produce a commercial you're given certain volume limits by the TV stations. Commercial production houses are constantly pushing these limits, to make sure their own work stands out from the crowd. It's too much work for the TV station to check all incoming commercials for adherence to their guidelines and so a lot of them just get away with it. I had films returned by station myself, asking if I could please turn the bloody noise down.

I think Fox has the biggest problem with this. When I watch "The Simpsons" I have to turn the volume waaay up, but the the commercials almost blow my speakers. Give me a break. Anybody else notice this with the simpsons?