Free Music Programs for Ripping, Conversion, Normalizing etc...

[Sighlass]

Just a few music/audio programs that I found useful.



Audacity -  Free, open source, cross-platform audio software

Audacity is an easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder. Can be used to convert FLAC to Mp3 (not in batch). Useful to trim songs down that have parts you don't care for (example: an extended intro that is not needed)

This program also has a nice sound recorder for anything that plays across your speakers. If you can't get a song any other way, record it via Audacity and save it.

https://www.audacityteam.org/

Fre:ac - A free audio converter and CD ripper for various formats and encoders. It features MP3, MP4/M4A, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, and Bonk format support, integrates freedb/CDDB, CDText and ID3v2 tagging. I find this useful for converting batch (lots) FLAC format albums I download to Mp3 formats. Something that Audacity can only do one song at a time.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bonkenc/

Mp3Gain -  Tired of reaching for your volume knob every time your mp3 player changes to a new song? MP3Gain analyzes and adjusts mp3 files so that they have the same volume.

MP3Gain does not just do peak normalization, as many normalizers do. Instead, it does some statistical analysis to determine how loud the file actually sounds to the human ear.
Also, the changes MP3Gain makes are completely lossless. There is no quality lost.

I use this quite a lot and usually keep the setting at 90db. If you don't like how loud or quiet a song sounds compared to others in your collection, change it so it fits in your mix better.

http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

Ocenaudio - is a cross-platform, easy to use, fast and functional audio editor. It is the ideal software for people who need to edit and analyze audio files without complications.

https://www.ocenaudio.com/download

Shuangs Audio Joiner 2.5 - Shuangs Audio Joiner is a free audio file join tool. It can combine WAV, MP3 and WMA which are in various formats, frequencies and tracks into one file.

I occasionally use this to combine the best of two mixes of songs I like. Perhaps I like the beginning of one mix and the end of another mix, I can use this to make one file. Also note I use version 2.5, not sure, but the newer versions may display ads, so I just keep with the older version that I will link below.

https://www.freewarefiles.com/Shuangs-Audio-Joiner_program_50112.html

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Have a program you like, please comment and share. I am always looking for new free programs to try.

[Sighlass]

Some downloads have files compressed or "zipped" and one has to "unzip" them to be of use. Most modern operating systems now days have a built-in program to do this, older operating systems might require a program to do this operation.

I like 7-zip for being an open source program that works perfectly for most occasions to unzip compressed files. There is a version for most every operating system now days.

7-zip - Free Open Source program file archiver that seems to work better than WinRAR which comes with modern operating systems.

https://www.7-zip.org/download.html

Image of what a zipped file might look like below....



Link to the wiki page about the program below... if you are wanting a better description than what I can offer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Zip

[Elderberry]

The products I have been using for many years is the Audio Editor Goldwave:http://www.goldwave.com/

The Goldwave Audio mixer, Multiquence which is discontinued, but I still used the last version: https://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Audio-Mixers-Synthesizers/Multiquence-Multitrack-Mixer.shtml

And also their currently supported Audio/Video mixer, Videomeld: https://www.goldwave.com/videomeld.php

For Video editing I use Avidemux: http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

And AVS Video Editor: https://www.avs4you.com/avs-video-editor.aspx

[Elderberry]

And I also use FFmpeg more and more: https://www.ffmpeg.org/

[Sighlass]

Great stuff Elderberry, I have heard only positive things about Goldwave. Avidemux sounds promising, thanks. It perhaps should be noted that some of your programs were not free though.

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For video playback on the computer. I love love love VLC Player.. Open Source, powerful, and basically plays about everything you throw at it from video to audio to pictures.

VLC Media Player - Plays everything video/audio wise and so much more (conversion etc).... comes with all the codex needed, no need to download more. Runs on basically all computers no matter the operating systems. No ads, no spyware, no problems.

https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Most audio I do NOT use VLC because it does use more resources (CPU) than lighter audio players like WinAmp, but if VLC will not play something, odds are something is wrong with your file.

[roamer_1]

Most audio I do NOT use VLC because it does use more resources (CPU) than lighter audio players like WinAmp, but if VLC will not play something, odds are something is wrong with your file.

KLite Codec Pack , Standard or better pack comes with Media Player Classic, which you might find a good bit lighter.

[Sighlass]

Anyone have a suggestion on a good place (FREE) that I can upload my music files that does not offer spyware/crap/vulgar picture ads to people who visit it ? I love the site I use now ((myairbridge[dot]com)), but 3 days is not a long time for them to hold the file for others to download.

[Elderberry]

I forgot to add that I use the ffmpeg script "ffmpeg-normalize" for normalization.

https://pypi.org/project/ffmpeg-normalize/0.7.1/

Project description

ffmpeg-normalize

ffmpeg script for normalizing audio.

This program normalizes media files to a certain dB level. The default is an RMS-based normalization where the mean is lifted or attenuated. Peak normalization is possible with the -m option. EBU R128 normalization is possible with the -b option.

It takes any audio or video file as input. The normalized audio can also be merged with the original.

Requirements

    Python

    ffmpeg from http://ffmpeg.org/ installed in your $PATH (3.x or above recommended)

[Sighlass]

Bumping back to the top for more suggestions... still looking for a good free server that allows sharing of music for more than 3 days... but does not spam ya or try to trick you to download bad stuff.

[Sanguine]

BKMK for later.

[Sighlass]

I was looking for an free program to alter the voice of some audio I had that was hard to listen to...

Found this and it works fine.... but was pretty slow to complete, but it did work.

Voxal by NCH Software....

Here is the link to the free version...

https://www.nchsoftware.com/voicechanger/vxlsetupfree.exe

Here is the link to read up on it first .... it does quite a few things that I don't need (alter my voice if talking to someone for example)... but I guess if you like to troll other folks and sound like someone else while gaming, this will do it.

https://www.nchsoftware.com/voicechanger/index.html

You can do some of this in the program Audacity (also free and open source) that I linked higher in the thread.... and it is quicker, but not as many option on voice control... Pitch worked for me though in changing a squeaky voice down lower where I could understand it.