1LOUDGAIN(1)                                                        LOUDGAIN(1)
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NAME

6       loudgain - loudness normalizer based on the EBU R128 standard
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SYNOPSIS

9       loudgain [OPTIONS] FILES...
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DESCRIPTION

12       loudgain is a loudness normalizer that scans music files and calculates
13       loudness-normalized gain and loudness peak values according to the  EBU
14       R128 standard, and can optionally write ReplayGain-compatible metadata.
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16       loudgain  implements  a subset of mp3gain´s command-line options, which
17       means that it can be used as a drop-in replacement in some situations.
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19       loudgain will not modify the actual audio data, but instead just  write
20       ReplayGain  tags  if  so requested. It is up to the player to interpret
21       these. (In some players, you need to enable this feature.)
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23       loudgain currently supports writing tags to the following file types:
24       FLAC (.flac), Ogg (.ogg, .oga, .spx, .opus), MP2  (.mp2),  MP3  (.mp3),
25       MP4 (.mp4, .m4a), ASF/WMA (.asf, .wma), WavPack (.wv), APE (.ape).
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27       Experimental, use with care: WAV (.wav), AIFF (.aiff, .aif, .snd).
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OPTIONS

30       -h, --help
31              Show this help.
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33       -v, --version
34              Show version number.
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36       -r, --track
37              Calculate track gain only (default).
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39       -a, --album
40              Calculate album gain (and track gain).
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42       -c, --clip
43              Ignore clipping warnings.
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45       -k, --noclip
46              Lower track/album gain to avoid clipping (<= -1 dBTP).
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48       -K n, --maxtpl=n
49              Avoid clipping; max. true peak level = n dBTP.
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51       -d n, --pregain=n
52              Apply n dB/LU pre-gain value (-5 for -23 LUFS target).
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54       -s d, --tagmode=d
55              Delete ReplayGain tags from files.
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57       -s i, --tagmode=i
58              Write  ReplayGain 2.0 tags to files. ID3v2 for MP2, MP3, WAV and
59              AIFF; Vorbis Comments for FLAC, Ogg, Speex and Opus; iTunes-type
60              metadata  for MP4/M4A; WMA tags for ASF/WMA; APEv2 tags for Wav‐
61              Pack.
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63       -s e, --tagmode=e
64              like ´-s i´, plus extra tags (reference, ranges).
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66       -s l, --tagmode=l
67              like ´-s e´, but LU units instead of dB.
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69       -s s, --tagmode=s
70              Don´t write ReplayGain tags (default).
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72       -L, --lowercase
73              Force          lowercase           ´REPLAYGAIN_*´           tags
74              (MP2/MP3/MP4/ASF/WMA/WAV/AIFF  only).  This is non-standard, but
75              sometimes needed.
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77       -S, --striptags
78              Strip tag types other than ID3v2 from MP2/MP3 files (i.e. ID3v1,
79              APEv2).  Strip tag types other than APEv2 from WavPack/APE files
80              (i.e. ID3v1).
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82       -I 3, --id3v2version=3
83              Write ID3v2.3 tags to MP2/MP3/WAV files.
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85       -I 4, --id3v2version=4
86              Write ID3v2.4 tags to MP2/MP3/WAV files (default).
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88       -o, --output
89              Database-friendly tab-delimited  list  output  (mp3gain-compati‐
90              ble).
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92       -O, --output-new
93              Database-friendly  new  format  tab-delimited list output. Ideal
94              for analysis of files if redirected to a CSV file.
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96       -q, --quiet
97              Don´t print scanning status messages.
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RECOMMENDATIONS

100       To give you a head start, here are my personal recommendations for  be‐
101       ing (almost) universally compatible.
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103       Use  loudgain  on a »one album per folder« basis; standard RG2 settings
104       but lowercase ReplayGain tags; clipping prevention on;  strip  obsolete
105       tag  types  from MP3 and WavPack files; use ID3v2.3 for MP3s; store ex‐
106       tended tags:
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110           $ loudgain -a -k -s e *.flac
111           $ loudgain -a -k -s e *.ogg
112           $ loudgain -I3 -S -L -a -k -s e *.mp3
113           $ loudgain -L -a -k -s e *.m4a
114           $ loudgain -a -k -s e *.opus
115           $ loudgain -L -a -k -s e *.wma
116           $ loudgain -I3 -L -a -k -s e *.wav
117           $ loudgain -I3 -L -a -k -s e *.aiff
118           $ loudgain -S -a -k -s e *.wv
119           $ loudgain -S -a -k -s e *.ape
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122
123       I’ve been happy with these settings for many years  now.  Your  mileage
124       may vary.
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126       For  easy  mass-tagging,  there  is a bash script called rgbpm included
127       with loudgain, which follows above  recommendations.  You  can  make  a
128       copy,  put  that into your personal ~/bin folder and modify it to what‐
129       ever you need.
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BUGS

132       loudgain is maintained on GitHub. Please report all bugs to  the  issue
133       tracker at https://github.com/Moonbase59/loudgain/issues.
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AUTHORS

136       Matthias C. Hormann mhormann@gmx.de
137       Alessandro Ghedini alessandro@ghedini.me
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140       Copyright (C) 2019 Matthias C. Hormann mhormann@gmx.de (versions > 0.1)
141       Copyright (C) 2014 Alessandro Ghedini alessandro@ghedini.me (v0.1)
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143       This program is released under the 2 clause BSD license.
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147                                September 2019                     LOUDGAIN(1)
Impressum