ReplayGain Plugin¶
This plugin adds support for ReplayGain, a technique for normalizing audio playback levels.
Installation¶
This plugin can use one of two backends to compute the ReplayGain values: GStreamer and mp3gain (and its cousin, aacgain). mp3gain can be easier to install but GStreamer support more audio formats.
Once installed, this plugin analyzes all files during the import process. This
can be a slow process; to instead analyze after the fact, disable automatic
analysis and use the beet replaygain
command (see below).
GStreamer¶
To use GStreamer for ReplayGain analysis, you will of course need to install GStreamer and plugins for compatibility with your audio files. You will need at least GStreamer 1.0.
Then, enable the plugin (see Using Plugins) and specify the GStreamer backend by adding this to your configuration file:
replaygain:
backend: gstreamer
mp3gain and aacgain¶
In order to use this backend, you will need to install the mp3gain command-line tool or the aacgain fork thereof. Here are some hints:
- On Mac OS X, you can use Homebrew. Type
brew install aacgain
. - On Linux, mp3gain is probably in your repositories. On Debian or Ubuntu,
for example, you can run
apt-get install mp3gain
. - On Windows, download and install the original mp3gain.
Then, enable the plugin (see Using Plugins) and specify the “command” backend in your configuration file:
replaygain:
backend: command
If beets doesn’t automatically find the mp3gain
or aacgain
executable,
you can configure the path explicitly like so:
replaygain:
command: /Applications/MacMP3Gain.app/Contents/Resources/aacgain
Configuration¶
Available configuration options for the replaygain
section in your
configuration file include:
overwrite: By default, files that already have ReplayGain tags will not be re-analyzed. If you want to analyze every file on import, you can set the
overwrite
option for the plugin in your configuration file, like so:replaygain: overwrite: yes
targetlevel: The target loudness level can be modified to any number of decibels with the
targetlevel
option (default: 89 dB).
These options only work with the “command” backend:
- apply: If you use a player that does not support ReplayGain
specifications, you can force the volume normalization by applying the gain
to the file via the
apply
option. This is a lossless and reversible operation with no transcoding involved. - noclip: The use of ReplayGain can cause clipping if the average volume
of a song is below the target level. By default, a “prevent clipping” option
named
noclip
is enabled to reduce the amount of ReplayGain adjustment to whatever amount would keep clipping from occurring.
Manual Analysis¶
By default, the plugin will analyze all items an albums as they are implemented.
However, you can also manually analyze files that are already in your library.
Use the beet replaygain
command:
$ beet replaygain [-a] [QUERY]
The -a
flag analyzes whole albums instead of individual tracks. Provide a
query (see Queries) to indicate which items or albums to
analyze.
ReplayGain analysis is not fast, so you may want to disable it during import.
Use the auto
config option to control this:
replaygain:
auto: no