I have all of the early music from many year ago purchasing the CD's but until Diamonds & Pearls everything is a low recording compared the after 1991.

So my question is if today and purchase the older works will it at least have a higher recording today. I am not talking about the quality of sound, but the loudness?

Are you asking if the songs on iTunes have been digialy manpulated (mastered or EQed or whatever) to sound louder or bettet than the early CDs were?

correct, and just the loudness really what I mean. As I like to mix up the difference CD's songs in playlist but don't like 1999 lower in loudness vs. Thunder louder with the volume.

I believe there's an playback option in iTunes called Sound Check that equalizes the volume of every track in your library. You could give that a shot if the albums you have are wildy different in dynamics

I do it manually
First, I listen to a song I'm happy with the loudness level and adjust the playback volume.

Then i go to the low volume songs, select them all, right click, options and there's a volume bar. Move it to the right until you think the volume is good. Accept and voilá.


Next time you play those songs they will sound as YOU left them. And also if you sync them with your iPhone. You are not changing your file, just the playback

thank you, i will try that.

PANDURITO said:

I do it manually
First, I listen to a song I'm happy with the loudness level and adjust the playback volume.

Then i go to the low volume songs, select them all, right click, options and there's a volume bar. Move it to the right until you think the volume is good. Accept and voilá.


Next time you play those songs they will sound as YOU left them. And also if you sync them with your iPhone. You are not changing your file, just the playback

that's what she said....

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The older material on iTunes is generally quieter, just like the CDs.

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mbdtyler suggested using iTunes' "Sound Check" option that is supposed to equalize the volume of all the music in your iTunes library. But unfortunartely that function does not work as advertised. Even with Sound Check turned on, the volume of your songs will vary widely. Sound Check helps a little, but really isn't very good.

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PANDURITO recommended adjusting the volume of each song manually. That's what I do. Actually, you can do it by album or by song. Click on "Album Info" or "Song Info". A dialogue box will pop up with multiple buttons across the top. Select "Options". On that screen you will see "volume adjust" with a slider bar so that you can set the volume higher or lower. (The default is set to 0%.)

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PANDURITO says it won't change the actually file, but I believe he is mistaken. The file size changes slightly. In fact, the cloud service I use to back up my files recognizes the file as been altered and uploads the new version. With that said, I'm not sure exactly how the file changes. It might be something benign like adding volume info to the metadata, rather than something serious like recoding the whole song. I've tried to get an answer to that question, but have never succeeded.

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And now, for something completely different:

1.) sit down on the sofa and relax for at least 2 minutes, empty the mind

2.) go to your record collection and take out one of these old vinyl records (say, Dirty Mind)

3.) admire (or not) the cover art

4.) take out the record, put it on the turntable, put down the needle

5.) listen to the "thumb" as the needle hits the record, followed by some crackles

6.) music sets in - adjust volume

7.) back to the sofa

8.) enjoy musical bliss for 20 minutes or so

9.) during these minutes, look at cover art again /muse over lyrics / detect new details / nod with your head / jump up and dance / do the air guitar thing (best done when alone)

10.) record side ends - remember to put the needle up again, and slowly adjust state of mind to normal again

11.) if enough time is available, turn the record around, and repeat step 5-10 again

[Edited 5/28/19 6:44am]

lurker316 said:

PANDURITO says it won't change the actually file, but I believe he is mistaken. The file size changes slightly.

Of course, it changes size for you add info to let file know it has to add volume. Same can be done with equalization (some songs are so bass heavy it pays to lower bass so it doesn't distort on portable devices)

What I meant was these changes are completely reversible

Krid said:

And now, for something completely different:

1.) sit down on the sofa and relax for at least 2 minutes, empty the mind

2.) go to your record collection and take out one of these old vinyl records (say, Dirty Mind)

3.) admire (or not) the cover art

4.) take out the record, put it on the turntable, put down the needle

5.) listen to the "thumb" as the needle hits the record, followed by some crackles

6.) music sets in - adjust volume

7.) back to the sofa

8.) enjoy musical bliss for 20 minutes or so

9.) during these minutes, look at cover art again /muse over lyrics / detect new details / nod with your head / jump up and dance / do the air guitar thing (best done when alone)

10.) record side ends - remember to put the needle up again, and slowly adjust state of mind to normal again

11.) if enough time is available, turn the record around, and repeat step 5-10 again

Loved that but I haven't done it in 30 years. From the moment I started purchasing CDs

Still do it occasionally...without the crackles

Guys, just be aware that ANY manipulation of playback within iTunes or any other media player messes up the sound quality at least a bit (or more than a bit, depending on the source file), as even the slightest adjustment of volume will result in creating a new file (at least temporarily, for the duration of playback). The quality loss is significantly less when you're listening to and manipulating a 24bit file, but most people listen to 16bit versions (most often in a lossy compressed file formats) and with those the the loss will be more significant.

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Contrary to what a lot of people think, changing the volume of a digital audio file from 100% to 99.9% or whatever else doesn't mean your media player will simply play the same file a little lower in volume: it means forcing the software to recalculate the original file and that inevitably comes at a price, especially when the source file was only 16bit.

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So if you want to make sure you're listening to the actual file you acquired, always leave the volume settings at exactly 100% and forget about all the fancy effects your media player might have.

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Obviously the above only applies to audio still in the digital domain. Once that audio file passes the DAC (and becomes an analog signal), you're free to adjust volume (or EQ) in the analog domain, without any loss in quality.
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[Edited 5/29/19 1:44am]

Kares said:

Contrary to what a lot of people think, changing the volume of a digital audio file from 100% to 99.9% or whatever else doesn't mean your media player will simply play the same file a little lower in volume: it means forcing the software to recalculate the original file and that inevitably comes at a price, especially when the source file was only 16bit.

.

So if you want to make sure you're listening to the actual file you acquired, always leave the volume settings at exactly 100% and forget about all the fancy effects your media player might have.

That is all very true.

However, a huge number of people won't notice the difference in quality, I know I don't. I can't hear the difference between lossless and 320k mp3. Probably struggle to notice at 256k too, never tested that.

I know you've got those finley attuned engineers ears though

Also

SHIFT + ENTER

Then you don't need to separate lines with

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When you want a new line

PANDURITO said: