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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output Apps
I am still in the process of moving my CD collection onto my harddrive using iTunes. So far there's been no major problems, so I was somewhat surprised and alarmed when the one CD, "Microgravity" from Biosphere, turned out sounding awful. Suspecting a scratched CD or some coding artifacts I tried recoding with different settings, with no success.

The culprit turned out to be the automatic volume control, which essentially helps you play every song at the same level. In this case the low bass, of which there is a lot, really became saturated, creating an annoying, gritty noise. Turning off the control in Preferences -> Effects fixed the problem.
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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: julzmon on Oct 23, '03 11:09:46AM

Yes I keep that feature off all the time. It messes up a lot of my CD's.
I do have an off topic question though.
Do you have the latest Biosphere Album?
I've been wanting to get it but have not seen it in record stores wondering if I should just order it.
Is it as good as the rest of them?

thanks :)



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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: tamy on Oct 23, '03 12:01:30PM

If you mean "Shenzhou", then yes, I've got it. I think it's pretty good -- reminds me somewhat of "Substrata", but maybe a little more toned down and somber.

If you liked "Substrata" it's definitely worth buying.



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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: bjorne77 on Oct 24, '03 07:32:41AM

Microgravity is a great album.
btw. the lates albums from Geir Jensen (Biosphere) is even more "ambient" no beats etc. but they are good.

Also Biosphere is a Mac guy as far as i know.



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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: nmthor1 on Oct 23, '03 11:25:16AM

I have the same problem, but not only in iTunes! A friend's car stereo has the same feature, and while ok for some music, it really messes up others!



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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: seanhussey on Oct 23, '03 11:32:59AM

Does this preference mar up the actual importing of files, or just the playback? I'd hate to think I'd have to go a re-rip a bunch of CDs to fix this!



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Just Playback
Authored by: momerath on Oct 23, '03 12:05:13PM

It doesn't touch the actual music data.



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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: sfn on Oct 23, '03 11:57:29AM

I use "Sound Check" all the time and have not noticed this. Could you also be using "Sound Enhancer" or EQ at the same time? I only check 'Sound Check' in my preferences as the enhancer and the EQ do distort the sound.

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-sfn



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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: babertocci on Oct 23, '03 12:19:28PM

I was using "Sound Enhancer" pref for a while, but I was noticing that the sound was getting really distorted with an overly heavy low end. I turned it off and everything started sounding like I know it should again. And this has ben with the Sound Check on all the time.



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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: tk4two1 on Oct 23, '03 02:06:22PM

Instead of using Apple's Sound Check try using Volume Logic, you can get it at

http://www.octiv.com/index.asp?content=iTunes

It works really well and it works on the fly without having to scan each song.



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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: wyvern on Oct 23, '03 03:50:52PM

Better yet, don't use anything at all.



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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: JDag on Nov 21, '03 10:38:48PM

Great tip tk4two1! Downloaded, installed, and it works great. I checked the info on their site. Sharp group, thanks for the info! Much happier iTunes user.



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iTunes automatic volume control really does something?
Authored by: martinx on Oct 23, '03 05:56:55PM

When I first saw the feature, I thought, this is GREAT! I like classical music, but some parts are so SOFT that turning the volume all the way up is barely enough, and then suddenly DUN DUN DUN!!! and my ears get blasted out.

But auto volume control doesn't seem to fix this at all. I couldn't really tell that it was doing much of anything. From this article, it sounds like maybe its adjusting volumes between songs, and not in individual songs. *sigh*



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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: metron on Oct 23, '03 07:45:35PM

Funny, I first noticed the distortion on a Biosphere track, as well. I think it was from Substrata... The remedy is lowering the preamp level in the EQ to about 1/3 to 1/4. Of course the EQ has to be switched on for that and eats some of your cpu, even if it's set to flat.

Regarding Volume Logic: It sounds impressive at first but personally I think it does more harm than good on most material. An automated processing can never replace a good sound engineer..



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iTunes automatic volume control can distort output
Authored by: swath on May 24, '04 07:51:21AM
"Regarding Volume Logic: It sounds impressive at first but personally I think it does more harm than good on most material. An automated processing can never replace a good sound engineer.."

I've been playing with the Volume Logic plugin for a couple days and generally concur - although it sounds good at first, and it does improve the sound of certain tracks, the plugin has a fatal flaw: it's attempting to remaster material that's already been mastered. It does a really nice job on some unmastered demo and live versions I've run through it, but most of the tracks in my iTunes library have already been through a mastering compressor. It's redundant, and you end up squishing the music.

A better, though not perfect solution to the iTunes Sound Check clipping problem is iVolume. It's slow and kind of clunky, but it does a nice job of gauging the overall volume of each track (better than Sound Check) and adjusting accordingly. Best of all, you can manually set the overall loudness to which it's setting all the tracks.

Net effect: lightly compressed classical tracks sound as loud as ultra-compressed rock and pop tracks without clipping (and without losing dynamic contrast).

Hopefully, Apple will hear people's complaints about clipping in iTunes and give us more control over the level to which Sound Check is attempting to adjust. Ideally, they'll give us control over the quality of the Sound Check algorithm, as well. But until then, it's good to see that there are developers willing to step up to the task.



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