Plexamp audio levelling all over the place

Plex Labs
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I’ve been trying to settle on Plex for my remote music library consumption but I just can’t seem to make audio levelling work as it should.

I have lots of “self-made compilations” where I group single tracks with a consistent theme or genre, which come from different sources and I continuously update (add more tracks).

Also, I enjoy listening my entire library on shuffle.

I use Plexamp on my Android phone and at work (remote PC) and have loudness levelling and limiter enabled and the EQ off and I’m sure all my library is scanned (because the waveforms appear and the “sweet fades” mostly work).

The problem is the songs audio level is all over the place. I can have two songs in a row at the same volume, but the third or so is way louder or quieter. I’ve been having this problem since ever and I’ve been searching the forums and the internet for a solution but nothing ever works.

I’ve deleted my library, scanned everything again (with “Analyze audio tracks for loudness” set on “when media is added”), forced loudness analysis through the CLI, deleted cached files, changed the audio output (on Android)…nothing works, I still have random songs being louder or softer than others. And I can’t tie this occurence to any particular difference: I have FLAC, mp3 and aac files and I thought it might be related to a specific codec but no, it happens with all codecs.

Now, I have all my music correctly tagged: info tags + cover art + Replay Gain (I use mp3tag and foobar2000 to manage my library).

Wouldn’t it be IMMENSELY easier for Plex to check if the files had RG data present and apply that instead? I don’t want to sound entitled, I love Plex and I think it’s an awesome piece of software which works wonders with my movie collection but I’m having a tough time with the music part of it…

1 Like
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This is the core of the issue. We do album-based gain adjustment.

We compute the exact RG (more like RG 2.1+).

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Oh, I was under the impression that the calculation was per-track rather than per-album.

That explains it.

Well, is there any chance that per-track leveling might be implemented in the future? I know my case (making the “self-made” compilations) might be niche but still, there are plenty other general uses for constant loudness on all tracks: playlists with different song sources, genre shuffling, library shuffling, etc…

And thank you for your response Elon!

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It is. We just use the per-album values because that’s best for the majority of cases.

It’s … somewhat unlikely just because it’s a pretty niche use case but not totally out of the question.

Those are handled better by per-album leveling as the link above describes :sweat_smile:

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Hmmm…ok then! I just wasn’t aware that my need is as niche as it seems… :neutral_face:

I understand that album gain is meant to deal with “…the artistic intention of the producers.” as the article mentions.

But at the same time, I thought that wanting all tracks at the same loudness value (not relative, same level, period) when shuffling was at least a pretty normal and common thing, kinda like a “radio experience” (without the dynamic range compression that happens on the radio).
Something that would prevent you from always having to reach the volume control, whether it’s at the gym, the car or the train or while working…

Well, I will keep my figers crossed…maybe someday the feature will turn up on Plexamp! :slightly_smiling_face:

Thank you for your explanations Elan!

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Would it be possible to use Album Gain tag in case of playing albums, but as soon as the playlist is individual tracks, then use Track Gain?

I don’t know what logic was used, but Squeeze server used this setting in “Smart Gain” - It worked pretty well (other than the Gain setting immediately knocked off some db from the signal, which could not be reset with a gain feature such as PlexAmp).

BTW: I love PlexAmp for both Album mix as well as Track based mixes. I am unclear on how Tidal is adjusted for volume - does it supply Album and Track Gain in the tag?

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Per the link above, that’s generally not considered the best approach.

We do our own loudness analysis of the music using the same core as the server uses.

1 Like
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There are often times that I will rip a CD, then years later find bonus tracks from our Library’s Freegal service. Combining the bonus tracks with the CD tracks ultimately makes the CD tracks MUCH lower in volume because the downloaded tracks are hotter.

Track 1 from CD:

Screen Shot 2022-08-08 at 3.38.37 PM
Screen Shot 2022-08-08 at 3.38.37 PM708×505 43.3 KB

Track 14 from Freegal download service:

Screen Shot 2022-08-08 at 3.39.02 PM
Screen Shot 2022-08-08 at 3.39.02 PM706×510 38.7 KB

My only recourse is to download the entire album from Freegal so all the tracks come from the same ripping source.

Per track leveling would be nice. I already had a similar discussion with Elan concerning this and received the same answer. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. Live long and prosper :vulcan_salute:

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I think you’re arguing against yourself here :laughing:

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I was essentially quoting you in Vulcan :slight_smile:

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:man_facepalming: I need to drink coffee, then head to forums.

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