Normalization?

[Bjrmd]

I have seen the link to the "normalization" feature but have a couple of questions. Is it the same as "automatic gain protection" in the options menu? If so, I understand that feature will correct overloaded volume (reduced) but is there a way to increase excessively softer low volume tracks. I know replay gain will do this for mp3s but does it also work on aac, ogg, wma? In addition, if replay gain is on, what dB level is it set at? Is this adjustable?
Thanks again

[dmitrykos]

Normalization does not act as AGP because AGP is only decreasing gain in case of overload during run-time. Normalization analyzes track statically and calculates necessary gain for mixers, in Neutron it makes track as load as possible without overloading. In Neutron Normalization will also take into account EQ values, thus it requires EQ binding to album. If EQ is not needed then you still need to have one with 0 gains. If track has initially low volume Normalizer will increase its gain to max possible level, similarly to Replay Gain. If Replay Gain was in track's tags then it will be ignored in case of Normalization in favor of calculated value. On Display that gain correction will be show as if it is Replay Gain.

> but does it also work on aac, ogg, wma?

In Neutron it will work with any format which is supported by Neutron. No limitations.

> if replay gain is on, what dB level is it set at?

It is ignored in favour of calculated values. But! 1.46.1 has bug with this, and RG is not ignored there. It is already fixed since -DEV2 version (in Downloads section of web site).

> Is this adjustable?

I did not make dB adjustable due to such reason: Android devices have low power amplifier, so to have best SNR ratio it is better to normalize to max possible range of digital representation of audio signal.

[Bjrmd]

Wow that sounds great
how do I turn on normalization?
Is there a visual confirmation that it's on?

[dmitrykos]

1) make sure you have EQ settings as you wish,
2) go to Albums section -> long press on desired album -> press BIND EQ (it will bind current EQ settings to this album) -> you will notice new button NORMALIZE, press it -> in new window you can simply press ALL + DONE -> it is time consuming process (there is progress bar shown for each track).
3) after normalization you will notice R/G label on display with correction value in decibels.

[dmitrykos]

I advise you to get -DEV3 version form web site if you wish to try normalization and have tracks with Replay Gain (to avoid bug).

[Bjrmd]

Can I just normalize an entire folder of music at once, I have a large assortment of albums in a long randomized playlist(in just one large folder) so I can't easily normalize each album one at a time.
Thanks again

[dmitrykos]

Well, not really. Only per album basis. Why it is so? Because in Neutron Normalizer is taking into account EQ settings and it is logically impossible to have such binding per folder, artist basis, because folders and artists may have several albums. Well, I could gather all albums referenced by Folder may be, or Artist, but what if artist has only 1 song in some album. The best way which avoids ambiguity is to do per Album as album may contain only songs and no other groups.

To avoid loosing your setup you could try creating folder /sdcard/NeutronMP and place files: neutronmp.db, streaming.xml, eq_presets.xml taken from /sdcard/Android/data/com.neutroncode.mp. In this way even if you completely uninstall Neutron /sdcard/NeutronMP folder will remain and after reinstall you will have all settings preserved.

[Bjrmd]

I am not sure if I fully understand but let me explain what I would like to avoid.
Let's say that I am listening to a series of mixed tracks, some are mp3, wma and aac. Despite my best efforts to match the perceived listening volume, some are much louder than others. I can generally normalize the mp3 tracks with mp3 gain software on the pc before transfer but not wma, ogg and aac.
So as tracks change, the device volume needs constant adjustment to prevent excessive loudness or softness.
I was hoping that neutron could do that type of normalization.
Perhaps there can be an option in a future version?
Maybe even in folder scan when all the tags are read in.
Thanks for your consideration.

[dmitrykos]

> I was hoping that neutron could do that type of normalization.

Yes Neutron does, except the fact that it does not allow to set target gain. Making music softer (less louder) in digital domain on mobile device will lead to worse SNR due to limited built-in amplifier. Neutron's normalizer will make quiet music louder and louder music quieter and will guarantee that custom EQ settings do not cause overload. As to custom gain setting, I will ad it to my dev. plans.

[Bjrmd]

I tested normalization using 2 albums, one an mp3 that I have never been fully able to make loud enough even with mp3 gain software and another from itunes that was a very loud aac encoding. The results after normalization were amazing, they matched quite well in the volume and quality was superb. This feature is a treasure and makes neutron truly unique.
Thanks again