I recently put all of the official released Prince music (no protoges) on mp3 format onto a DVD and have been listening to it.. on shuffle.. its a pretty interesingly different mix everyday!!

The only sore to my ears is the difference in sound levels from song to song. For instance a late 90's song compares to an early 80's song..the levels are SO different.

Has anyone ever gone thru their Prince catalog to level out every song to a continueous accectable level? Any good programs for that kind of operation..I'm sure it would take a LOT of hard work and a Lot of time.

There are soooo many different levels on the volume.. in particular, the single NPGMC releases 2001 are actually louder than those on the Slaughterhouse/Chocolate Invasion releases.

What is the desired level is it better to have them a little lower or go ahead and crank the levels up.. my only concern would be distorting the sound if fucking with the levels on some of the songs.. is there a general agreeance on sound level... as comparable on a certain album or whatever..for instance is there any officially released Cd that practiaclly has the perfect volume level?
[Edited 11/5/06 23:47pm]

Adjusting the volume of different songs on an album is one part of the process that's called mastering. This is done after the tracks have been recorded and mixed, before the pressing of the record. Usually, you want all the songs on an album to be equally loud, so that you can listen to the whole thing without having to turn the volume up or down.

Over the years, the average output volume of a record has increased. A record made in the 90's is generally much louder than a record from the 50's. Partly due to new (and better) technology for recording and mixing, but also the records have to be louder today to cut through on the radio. You want your particular song to stand out from everything else.

So, when compilation records are made, especially from artists with a long career, the newer tracks will always be louder than the old ones. (Compare, for instance, the "For You" album with "The Gold Experience"!) Therefore, a new collection is usually "re-mastered", meaning that the tracks are adjusted to the same volume.

Mastering also involves balancing different frequencies, so that a song doesn't have too much bass or high end, for instance. This is to make sure it will sound good in any kind of speaker system - at a club, in your car stereo etc.

I'm sure there are some good computer programs that can do that for you.
Perhaps anyone else has a suggestion?

RealMusician said:

yes you're correct.
Todays mastering is horrible though. There's distortion and clipping on most records; the chili's last three albums SOUND HORRIFIC!

We could all petition for re-masters

Yeah, some of his old stuff is terrible, compared to todays sound.

The only album I have a problem with is the Batman OST. Its so dang quiet! Anyone else noticed this?

If you have Itunes, theres an option called soundcheck which does a pretty good job of evening out the levels.

Definitely time for some remastered Prince. Dirty Mind with lotsa liner notes!

dolphin1974 said:

not as bad as for you.

On my hi fi with the super eq and sub-woofer on, electric chair sounds great.

sovembol said:

Yes, http://www.prince.org/msg/8/207070
MJ's adult solo work is perfectly remastered and the volume level is great.

The NERO burinng software also has a feature called 'normalizing' which evens the volume between tracks.