Replay Gain - A Proposed Standard

Technical Outline

The 1 minute guide to the Replay Gain Proposal

• The Problem:
  Different CDs are mastered at different levels. When Random playing, the volume keeps changing.
• The Solution:
  Store the ideal Replay Gain for each audio track in the header of the audio file.
• What's here:
  A proposed method of calculating the Replay Gain, together with a calibration standard.
• What can you do?
  Read on...

Replay Gain Calculation

The calculation of the Replay Gain is explained in detail here. A function to calculate it, written in MATLAB is available here. C Source code and DOS executables are available here. If you can help, the project needs support for other platforms, and a graphical user interface.

Storing the Replay Gain

The "Radio" and "Audiophile" Replay Gain adjustments and the Peak Amplitude need to be stored in the header of the audio file. Are you one of the authors of Monkey's Audio, MPEG plus, Lame, Ogg Vorbis, ID3v2 etc etc? Can you find room for 8 bytes of information in the header of your files?

Player Support

The Replay Gain is little use if players don't support it. Can you program a Winamp plug-in? Are you the author of an audio player? See Player Requirements for what's needed, and please get in touch.

Good ideas / suggestions / criticism

All are welcome!

Contact

Email David@Robinson.org

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