Quote:
Originally Posted by LiquidAcid
Also I don't recommend anything that changes the audio data directy. So this includes wavegain as well. Just encode it to flac and apply gain correction via metadata.
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I have my own reasons for using Wavegain...namely a player that doesn't support replaygain on FLAC files (and no Rockbox support). But yes, I'm not in love with the idea that it directly changes the data. It was only solution I could come up with. In any case, most of my stuff I own the original, so if I discover an issue down the road, I can re-rip.
Xenofan: To each their own, I guess. I did a direct comparison with the Sonic music and I just thought the rip (in mp3 vs the soundtrack in FLAC) sounded better. Richer, warmer, more fun.
Replaygain is a must for me, since I use "Random All" a lot on my library. Without it, I would be adjusting the volume with every track that comes up. Totally inefficient for me. Going from chiptune to pop to classical to metal to classic rock to whatever, with albums mastered from different eras, having everything come up the same perceived listening is a godsend. I really don't fully understand the aural science behind it, but it works for me.
I care about the music too. Most of my favorite VGM just happened to be my reference points for newer stuff and I've found it is generally mastered extremely well. Most SNES soundtracks, for example, have a richness and warmth that few soundtracks I pick up nowadays can match. Ditto for the first Grandia soundtrack and Guilty Gear XX Korean Reload, two longtime favorites that rank as some of the best-produced VGM I can think of. Also, Mitsuda's stuff is generally well-produced, one of the reasons I think his music ends up on the upper end of the popularity scale (someone above posted about the Tsugunai soundtrack, I felt that one sounded fine). For that matter, Uematsu's Playstation FF's are good as well (I was revisiting FF8 music the other day). On the other hand, I grew up with the Guilty Gear XX soundtrack and I grew to accept it, despite it not having the emotional connection I felt like it should be having (in other words, accepting it as good music, but not always looking forward to listening to it). Nowadays, I might just sell or delete it on top of analyzing it closer, but I can't just cast it aside either, since I have a history with it. Most of the other examples above that I gave, I don't quite have that problem.