CD Changer/Carousel + Random Play = Up & Down Volumes! (1 Viewer)

[Richard Burzynski]

Are there any changers that have a "volume stabilizer" feature? Or does a third party device exist that I can place between my changer and receiver?

Thanks.

Rich B.

 

[joe rizzuto]

my pioneer has that feature, but i don't care for it so i never use it.

 

[jeff peterson]

Joe, I've never heard of that built into a CD player, which Panny do you have?

 

[Han]

It just kills me that people who mix CDs don't go by any standard volume level. There's nothing worse than that loud song that comes in when shuffling a CD changer at a party.
Unless you can find the feature in a CD changer, I'd use a computer...
The quick way: Dump all the songs onto your hard drive and run it through a player like Winamp with a volume normalization plug-in. I like doing this anyway, because you can also use a Crossfade plug-in which makes your party music sound more professional.
The long way: Dump all the songs onto your hard drive. Run a batch application that allows you to normalize all those files to a single volume level. Then burn them back onto CD-R and use those CD-Rs in your changer instead of the original CDs. This way, you won't have to hook up your computer to the home theater.
I'm sure there are expensive compressors or other devices that you can run in between your changer and the receiver, but I think that'd just add some noise to the signal.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Normalization likely won't help- as all normalization does is assigns the peak sound to maximum- which 99.9% of recording already are... Again your problem is with dynamics and the perception of loudness.
I wrote an entry on this for the HTF FAQ and Primer:
Why are some CDs so much louder than Other Cds? by Vince Maskeeper
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...24#post1219924
-Vince

 

[AaronBatiuk]

Are there any changers that have a "volume stabilizer" feature?

My old Sony 5-disc (CDP-C745) had this feature. Sony called it "level file". The changer would remember all sorts of settings for each disc and recall them whenever you put that disc into the changer. This included a disc name ("memo file"), a delete file (delete songs you don't want to hear!), level file, and other things. I got rid of that changer when I went to a 400 CD changer and a 5 disc SACD changer. Although I miss that feature, I now exclusively use the digital output for CD, so it wouldn't have worked now anyway.

 

[Richard Burzynski]

I am looking for a solution that does not include a PC. Well, I thought I remembered a feature of a certain piece of a/v gear, and here it is:
http://www.simacorp.com/svs4.html
I actually used to own one - I bought it as a video switcher only, but then sold it a few months later. This may not be an elegant solution, and sound quality may suffer, but if it keeps background music stable during my parties, it'll be as good as GOLD.
What do you guys think?
Rich B.

 

[Han]

This is false- the max "volume level" is standard- it's the problem of how far an engineer chooses to slaughter the dynamics of a particular recording to cram material to that maximum. The peak level from disc to disc is likely 100% the same- just because the engineers have chosen to actually allow the dynamic range suit the recording and artist is not a bad thing. We shouldn't be seeking the homogenization of yet another art form to suit a cd changer.

I don't think I said anything about a Max Volume Level. Of course all CDs will have the same ceiling for their dynamic range.
I guess what I'm thinking of is what's labeled as "Average RMS", when you run a statistical analyzer or global analyzer on a song using SoundForge or Wavelab. I do this when I'm making mix CD-Rs. If I'm comparing two rocking songs (as opposed to a soft song vs. a rocker), sometimes, one album's song comes out as averaging -16dB while another would be something much louder like -9.5dB. Of course I only include the middle 90% or so of each song to discount the soft beginning and end of the songs. This is the easiest number for me to judge whether to increase or decrease the volume of the music file to match the others.