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Final steps
Finalize an album - the final steps
( * This method described in this chapter is preferred for Lossless albums, but works with MPC, too. Read here an alternative method for Finalizing an MPC album.
* WavePack Hybrid requires something slightly different, read the WavePack Hybrid guide )
Table of content:
0. Cleaning up after extraction
Move the small files like EAC log file(s) & cue sheet (optional) into your album directory:
(it is recommended to use Windows Commander32 or Total Commander (TCFAST) instead of the Windows-Explorer. For all operations in daily work the Total / Windows Commander with the special profile is way better than Windows Explorer, but if you are used to W. Explorer, stay with it ;))
Then delete the doubled EAC-log, result:
You have the single songs/tracks and the EAC log(s) in your directory, as well as the optional but useful files like playlist (m3u) & cue sheet.
I. Replaygaining by Foobar2000
* Start foobar2000.
1. Press Foobar2000 -> Playlist tab -> Clear
Your playlist is now empty.
2. Press Playlist tab: Add directory (containing the EAC-extracted files), press OK
If e.g. flac files aren't added, you need to configure foobar preferences settings:
* Foobar2000 tab -> Preferences -> Core
In the field of : 'Restrict incoming files to:'
add e.g.: *.flac (separated from other file format extensions by ';' , be careful, no empty spaces are allowed !)
an example line for copy & paste:
*.mpc;*.mp+;*.mp2;*.mp3;*.ogg;*.wav;*.ape;*.wv;*.flac;*.ofr;*.shn
Close foobar2000 preferences,
and start again with this step 2. of Replaygaining.
This configuration in foobar2000 preferences, you need to carry out only once, of course.
3. Mark (e.g. by Foobar2000 -> Playlist -> Selection -> Select all or by mouse-click on last track and then pressing Shift - Arrow up at same time) all songs (e.g. *.flac) in the album playlist,
4. With Mouse right-click on the marked selection : Select -> Replaygain -> Scan selection as album
5. Wait some time, until Replaygain is finished.
Some informations about ReplayGain:
* ReplayGain is a Lossless method (and could be undone)
For MPC & the Lossless codecs like FLAC, Ape, Wavepack etc., Replaygaining means :
Analyzing the songs of an album for volume / gain peaks, and for averaged volumes of tracks and album.
The result of this analysis is written as tag info at end or begin of a track. The track data is not changed at all (which was very different for old-fashioned & outdated mp3 format in past and its highly recommended mp3gain).
- So, if you want to use the stored replaygain infos, you have to tell this to the Decoder, Player, which decodes your mpc- or lossless tracks, and you have to specify, which replaygain mode is used, e.g. track gain: all songs sound with same averaged volume, so you don't need to turn your Amplifier's volume knob now anymore,
album gain: relative volume differences between louder and more silent songs are kept.
- And if you want, that replaygain infos are not applied at all, simply turn off the function in player/decoder settings.
- Replaygain offers a clip protection for lossy codecs like mpc.
By mouse-right-click on a track in foobar2k & 'Show file info', you get this picture, which contains all technical information.
II. Final steps for Finalizing your album:
Before last step of Finalization, please recall & check, if some important steps are complete:
- OK EAC log(s) check ? ==>> Test & Copy with matching (= same) checksums (crc), to verify in future the High Quality of your album backup
- OK Tag check ? ==>> After you have created md5 file or par2 recovery data for backup, any tag change later on would destroy your files, so take care to have written the tag informations carefully ! Though already a small (0.5 - 1% and a small blocksize) amount of par2 data could restore your files, if you had changed the tags by accident !
- OK ReplayGain check ? ==>> Because the very useful RG info is included as tag in song files, any change later on would destroy your files regarding md5 or par2 data !
If everything is OK, which is very likely, if you followed the configurations and methods described in this guide, then proceed:
As described here,
- Create an md5 file for the complete album.
Before Finalizing ( = creation of md5-file) , don't forget to include the
- EAC log file(s)
& maybe some optional files like:
- playlist-album.m3u (usually automatically created by EAC during extraction)
- cue-sheet-album.cue
- pictures-covers-booklet-scans.jpg ==>> How To scan a cover or booklet ?
- www.allmusic.com : artist-album.mht
(simply browse to the www.allmusic.com website, do a search for the artist and find some interesting artist and/or album information. Save the webpage(s) as web archive, single file: *.mht )
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