WAV Normalizing Suggestions

@edale I used Audacity to normalize the audio.

As for the Ys series, they are awesome (bought a lot of them from GoG without DRM).
Also have the TG-CD versions too.

Conn wrote:Following this logic also zelda and super mario rpg are jrpg...

Now your getting it. Pretty much every game that came from Japan and is an RPG is a JRPG.

Though Zelda is kinda iffy on if it's an Action RPG or just an Action game, people have been arguing how to classify it since the 80's.

pepillopev wrote:@edale I used Audacity to normalize the audio.

As for the Ys series, they are awesome (bought a lot of them from GoG without DRM).
Also have the TG-CD versions too.

Audacity's normalization....kinda really really really sucks (at least for the type of normalization an MSU-1 mod needs).
http://normalize.nongnu.org/
You should use that program to normalize the audio for MSU-1 mods. It'll ensure that the PCM audio doesn't drown out the SPC sound effects in a game. Most SNES games need to be normalized at either -18dB or -21dB, but it can vary by game.
It's a command-line program, but it's possible to make a .bat file you can just drop the .wav file onto to normalize the audio before converting it to PCM.

Code:

cd %~dp0
FOR %%A IN (%*) DO normalize -a -21dBFS %%A
pause

As a .bat file, that'll normalize the audio to -18dB of any wav file drag-and-dropped onto it.

@edale Thanks for the suggestion. I will try it out and compare. I did notice that too but only for this game (the SPC700 sound effects samples do not sound too good with this port to begin with - drowned out, at least, for me). I did fully play the game in mute (always do to test if my spc mute is good).

PS: I forgot to mention that Axelay is another one where the SPC sound effects are not that good (made me question if the PCMs were done correctly). Anyway, if I like the end result using your suggestion, I will switch over to this method from then on. I'm always open to new suggestions.

I don't know all the technical details, but there are 2 different types of normalization:
Peak Normalization
RMS Normalization

Shouldn't source FLAC & WAV always be the media source used for MSU-1s?

I think that if MP3s are used, it should be denoted in the notes, so others can try to track down the higher quality originals.

@smokemonster Not always the case. Only way to know is if you know yourself pulled it from the source material (CD or originally bought material). That in itself, is entering copyright murky waters. Some places post stuff that has already been compressed/decompressed too many times (losing original quality).

I agree, it would be good practice to mention where the audio was sourced, but it is something I overlook at times, I care more about getting the patch released. If I remember when doing my own PCMs, I'll post it but it really is not a priority for me.

As for Ys III, I sourced the Oath to Felghana from the OGG format. Axelay was a bit tougher (different artists at varying qualities). It was a struggle playing around with the audio to get each track to sound decent (did not have a good working source).