Volume levels of imported MP3s

[Juzbee]

Hi everyone.. This is my first year using SOTS, and I think it's really cool to have music that I like imported into the game. However, seemingly every MP3 I own is WAY less loud than the stock songs that came with the game. Rather than edit all of my files to be louder, does anyone know of any way to completely disable the game's soundtrack during in game situations (not in the jukebox)?

If not, what program do you recommend for altering the volume levels of my personal music files?

Thanks.. JB

[R9NALD9]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

The easiest is mp3gain.

You can easily load mp3 files in, check their current db level and bunch increase/decrease db levels on all your music files.

[Juzbee]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

Thanks, R9NALD9!

[ARoid1313]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

What db level are you guys using? 96 looks like the best value for walk up imo, however broadcast music needs a slight bunp

[ryanmc564]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

glad there is a thread on this, because I was going to asked is there anyway to boost the volume on the SOTS packs, the volume is extremely low to point you can barely hear them at all unless you drop the volume way down on everything else and crack up the volume on the t.v. or stereo. I think I'm going to take the sounds that I got off of here and dumped them into my home studio and remaster them.

[danny2744]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was thinking the same thing. I was wondering why my broadcast music sounded so low compared to everything else

[isherdish]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

I have been using this website to boost the volume. I think it works decently well and is quick and convenient.

http://www.mp3louder.com/

[danny2744]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

[quote=isherdish;2048083055]I have been using this website to boost the volume. I think it works decently well and is quick and convenient.

/quote]

What settings have you used on the site if you dont mind me asking?

[isherdish]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

On most of my files I bumped it up 3 decibels and it seemed to work well. A couple of them had to be bumped by as much as 6 decibels.

[Juzbee]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

I used mp3gain as was suggested, and it's a VERY quick process to make everything the same level. You can select your entire "MUSIC" folder, and change the levels in one click.

I found that setting it to 100 db was a close match for the non-SOTS music that's in the game. I kinda wonder why they made the music so loud. It's way louder than what is considered "normal" from what I can tell.

[headzapp]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

I used the files from this site and got a few sounds from the internet and they are way low. I thought I did something wrong, since at first I couldn't even upload them and then when I did they wouldn't play. But I'm happy this can be fixed.

[CujoMatty]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

You have to be careful fellas. Gain is tricky its not just increasing volume. too much and you will get distortion. Happened to me on a bunch of files when we were making our pack. Some were good some were terrible. When we made the packs we made the volumes with the maximum gain allowed without clipping so the sounds wouldn't distort. You can do what you want but I feel like the better solution is to go into game options-presentation options-audio options and turn down everything except the music slider and raise your tv volume. I posted settings on the original post of the Starter Pack thread. Also everyones home theatre set up is different so there really isn't a universal fix.


For example playing with headphones is a completely different experience than with my surround sound stereo. The settings I posted in my thread with the volumes turned down work perfect on my stereo but with headphones the sounds were way too loud so I had to adjust the audio settings back to default in game. The weird thing is with headphones on default audio settings the walk-ups are almost too loud. Way to soft on stereo way too loud on headphones lol doesn't make sense. I use the official Sony headphones and it sounds incredible.


Again you can do what you want but im pretty sure you can get the desired levels without having to redo all the volumes. the more important aspect is getting all the songs the same volume. Which is a work in progress for me.

[R9NALD9]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

Really kind of disappointed with the buggy implementation of SOTS.

Imported 600 songs and thought I was lucky that it didn't crash. Then after setting the audio/presentation settings to the proposed settings in the starter pack thread...it was still waaaaaaay to low.

Will experiment a bit. Problem is that I can't delete my songs if I wanted to update them with better or newer versions. If I select delete songs the game crashes every single time.

[Juzbee]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

Really kind of disappointed with the buggy implementation of SOTS.

Imported 600 songs and thought I was lucky that it didn't crash. Then after setting the audio/presentation settings to the proposed settings in the starter pack thread...it was still waaaaaaay to low.

Will experiment a bit. Problem is that I can't delete my songs if I wanted to update them with better or newer versions. If I select delete songs the game crashes every single time.

I agree. I posted similarly in the "impressions" thread about the sound in general. I think that we may be looking at it the wrong way. The imported files probably aren't too low, but I'd say that many of the in-game sounds/music are just RIDICULOUSLY high. It's been a challenge to get the audio adjusted so that everything sounds natural. I think the troubles with SOTS are part of a larger audio problem.

Btw, thanks for the info on adjusting my MP3's. Things are MUCH better with the volume of my files jacked up to around 100 db. Not perfect, but much better!

[CujoMatty]

Re: Volume levels of imported MP3s

Really kind of disappointed with the buggy implementation of SOTS.

Imported 600 songs and thought I was lucky that it didn't crash. Then after setting the audio/presentation settings to the proposed settings in the starter pack thread...it was still waaaaaaay to low.

Will experiment a bit. Problem is that I can't delete my songs if I wanted to update them with better or newer versions. If I select delete songs the game crashes every single time.

Thats so weird I can easily get the sounds to be way too loud. I wonder what the difference is. Whats your sound system setup? Just curious. I remember back in the ps3 sots days certain setups especially just having tv audio was a major issue with quietness.