I have recently download some mp3's and I've noticed that they seem to have been recorded with too much signal strength making them very distorted. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good software program that will rectify the problem.
I doubt music files that play with perceived distortion can be repaired.Better off finding them somewhere else & check comments before downloading
Mp3 files have a base volume in the header then the volume in each frame is relative to that main value. Changing that main value is called normalizing. Unlike lossless audio normalization is not dangerous. With lossless the music is completely altered and if you screw up you can't reverse the process. With mp3 it is just changes the metadata. You can normalize a batch of files to the same value. That is what you are supposed to do. Scorp, the quality of the playback equipment determines the distortion. Still, music shouldn't distort at the lowest volume setting unless it is garbage. Jim both of us would be curious to see if normalization fixes the problem.
I will not hold my breath for a reply. When I downloaded music I discovered there was no end to the stupidity of some users. The music was either severely over normalized or was transcoded stupidly. Too many fools are too cavalier about transcoding. I remember some trouble I had with converting ape audio with a cue file. I want split tracks in a lame format. When I split the ape file then transcoded I got garbage but when I transcoded then split the file it was perfect. Every time you alter a file you are changing the audio even if you can't hear the difference. Once you discard the original you are stuck. I stick with Lame VBR V0 setting. You can transform that back to wave and back again a dozen times with out noticeable loss. DVDXbox and I tested transcoding loss. V0 was fine while what ever lossy DVDXbox used was not fine. That was 5-10 years ago so I can't remember what format he used but it is obvious to me not all formats have the same quality.
