How To: Make All Your MP3s The Same Volume

If you're like me, you've been collecting digital music for what seems like three lifetimes now. Originally, it was digitized cassettes and CDs ripped with shareware. Then it was peer-to-peer "sharing" programs where I "traded" for music. Then it was the many iterations of iTunes, all those audio blogs, and, of course, all y'all's awesome Salmagundi discs.

Of course, the MP3 files from each of those sources were digitally converted at different bit rates and volumes. What that means, unfortunately, is that my MP3s have very inconsistent levels, and every time I make a mix CD the listener has to watch out for massive volume shifts between songs. Sure, iTunes rectifies this problem (by tagging added information onto my files) when I'm listening through iTunes on my computer or my iPod, but that does jack-all for you guys listening those tangible CDs I send you every few months.

Enter the freeware program MP3 Gain (H/T Lifehacker). From the site: "MP3Gain is a freeware program that analyzes and adjusts mp3 files so that they actually have the same raw volume. MP3Gain does not just do peak normalization, as many normalizers do. Instead, it does some statistical analysis to determine how loud the file actually sounds to the human ear. Also, the changes MP3Gain makes are completely lossless. There is no quality lost in the change because the program adjusts the mp3 file directly, without decoding and re-encoding."