How to Smooth Out the Volume of the Songs on Your MP3 Player

It's happened to everyone.  Having adjusted the volume accordingly, you're listening to a tune on your MP3 player.  But then the next song is somehow quieter, so you jack up the volume.  Then the song after that comes on and nearly blasts your brain into mush.  I hate that.

Most MP3 players and their attendant software (like iTunes) is supposed to equalize the volume of all music files so you don't have this problem, but it doesn't always work.  That's why MP3Gain might be worth checking out.

The free program analyzes your music files and helps you normalize the volume across all of them.  Note that the program is currently Windows only.  Read more at Red Ferret.

Comments

[Marc]

I've used this software for about 10 years and strongly recommend it. It's far more customizable than soundcheck in iTunes, which artifically boosts volume levels and makes bass or louder parts in quieter songs abnormally loud. I use this when creating CDs all the time and the only other thing I wish it had was wav and/or flac support.

[deejaycrackah]

Personally, I've re-mastered and in some cases re-re-mastered all the songs on my device.
This seems to be an easier way to go about things though.
I really just wish they would stop with this whole sound war bit, and just find a happy medium between volume control, and listenability.

[Labyrinthman]

Mediamonkey uses the same mp3gain library, but also adds in library management and other tools as well.

Either way, it's worth using.

[Detached]

This is amazing! Thanks!