5 replies to this topic

[StanL]

I have just purchased Toast 9. I have a playlist in I-Tunes of 8hrs of MP3 tracks which when I burned a CD the tracks were all different volumes. I want to burn a new MP3 CD in Toast 9 using the Normalize Tracks option to equalize the volumes. However the Normalize Tracks option is grayed out. I am told that I cannot use Normalize Tracks option with MP3 files. Any suggestions?

[tsantee]

The problem isn't that they are MP3 files, it is that you want them to remain in that format. If you were making an audio CD Toast could normalize the MP3 files before burning them to CD.

Here is one method for you to consider.
1) Add your MP3 files to the Toast Convert window with Audio Files selected as the format.
2) Select all the files and choose Normalize Track from the Disc menu.
3) Click the red button and choose AIFF at the desired format. This will require a reasonable amount of free hard drive space.
4) Go to www.panic.com/audion and download the free Audion MP3 encoder application. It will be easier to use than iTunes to convert those AIFF files back to MP3 because nothing gets added to your iTunes Library (and the quality may be better, too). Do the MP3 conversion.
5) Add the newly converted MP3 files to Toast to burn your MP3 disc.

[StanL]

I did steps 1-3. I downloaded Audion but cannot figure out how to do the MP3 conversion. Audion is not supported any longer and there does not appear to be instructions.

[pseudonym]

Then try iTunes.  

General instructions:

Drag the AIFF files into your iTunes music library.  Choose the type and quality of the conversion back to mp3 by selecting iTunes> Preferences> Advanced>Importing. Select AIFF files from within iTunes and choose "Convert Selection to mp3" from the "Advanced" menu.

It probably makes sense to choose a high quality (high bit-rate) conversion back to mp3 if you have the space for it, as I can't imagine that converting back to mp3 a second time will do anything great for the sound quality.

Edited by pseudonym, 01 July 2008 - 07:55 PM.

[tsantee]

I did steps 1-3. I downloaded Audion but cannot figure out how to do the MP3 conversion. Audion is not supported any longer and there does not appear to be instructions.

Here are the instructions from Audion Help:
Encoding with Audion is easy!
1 Create a New Playlist from the File menu
2 Drag the audio tracks you wish to encode into the playlist
3 Choose Encode Playlist Items from the Tools menu

That's it! The freshly encoded files will be placed in the folder specified in the General preferences.

Tip: You can set the encoding settings in the console window

[StanL]

Thank you both. Both systems worked