ReplayGain Plugin

This plugin adds support for ReplayGain, a technique for normalizing audio playback levels.

Installation

This plugin can use one of two backends to compute the ReplayGain values: GStreamer and mp3gain (and its cousin, aacgain). mp3gain can be easier to install but GStreamer support more audio formats.

Once installed, this plugin analyzes all files during the import process. This can be a slow process; to instead analyze after the fact, disable automatic analysis and use the beet replaygain command (see below).

GStreamer

To use GStreamer for ReplayGain analysis, you will of course need to install GStreamer and plugins for compatibility with your audio files. You will need at least GStreamer 1.0.

Then, enable the plugin (see Using Plugins) and specify the GStreamer backend by adding this to your configuration file:

replaygain:
    backend: gstreamer

mp3gain and aacgain

In order to use this backend, you will need to install the mp3gain command-line tool or the aacgain fork thereof. Here are some hints:

  • On Mac OS X, you can use Homebrew. Type brew install aacgain.
  • On Linux, mp3gain is probably in your repositories. On Debian or Ubuntu, for example, you can run apt-get install mp3gain.
  • On Windows, download and install the original mp3gain.

Then, enable the plugin (see Using Plugins) and specify the “command” backend in your configuration file:

replaygain:
    backend: command

If beets doesn’t automatically find the mp3gain or aacgain executable, you can configure the path explicitly like so:

replaygain:
    command: /Applications/MacMP3Gain.app/Contents/Resources/aacgain

Configuration

Available configuration options for the replaygain section in your configuration file include:

  • overwrite: By default, files that already have ReplayGain tags will not be re-analyzed. If you want to analyze every file on import, you can set the overwrite option for the plugin in your configuration file, like so:

    replaygain:
        overwrite: yes
    
  • targetlevel: The target loudness level can be modified to any number of decibels with the targetlevel option (default: 89 dB).

These options only work with the “command” backend:

  • apply: If you use a player that does not support ReplayGain specifications, you can force the volume normalization by applying the gain to the file via the apply option. This is a lossless and reversible operation with no transcoding involved.
  • noclip: The use of ReplayGain can cause clipping if the average volume of a song is below the target level. By default, a “prevent clipping” option named noclip is enabled to reduce the amount of ReplayGain adjustment to whatever amount would keep clipping from occurring.

Manual Analysis

By default, the plugin will analyze all items an albums as they are implemented. However, you can also manually analyze files that are already in your library. Use the beet replaygain command:

$ beet replaygain [-a] [QUERY]

The -a flag analyzes whole albums instead of individual tracks. Provide a query (see Queries) to indicate which items or albums to analyze.

ReplayGain analysis is not fast, so you may want to disable it during import. Use the auto config option to control this:

replaygain:
    auto: no