Its pretty simple really
Load the songs in MP3 Gain
Do a track analyst on the songs.
Look at 2 columns
clipping
clip(Track)
The songs with a red Y in clipping are already an issue.

Now change the gain from 89db to lets say 93 db
observe the clip(Track) column if a song shows the red Y then it will clip if adjusted to the 93db level.
(It should not have a red Y after you do the track analysis in the clip(Track) column.)
Keep changing the level down to like 90db, you will see some or all of the red Y's go away in the clip(Track) column, when all of the red Y's are gone in that column, you have a safe level that will not clip.
Then apply modify gain by track

 

I'd be afraid to work on that bench.. might get it dirty! nice work!

 

Will this MP3 gain software "normalize" multiple mp3s at a time or is it a one by one thing?

 

multiple - you can do "normalize" per album/track or folder including subfolders.
per album will leave volume differences "in tact" between albums - still not me likey on the bike as I play randomized per genre...

analyzing will take a while and I would not recommend to run x000's at the time (I usually do 500 or so).
depending on your CPU (aka speed of your PC) it might take a while (my personal PC is a P4 LOL; we got 9 PCs with the 3 of us... my work PC is i7 Quad core but not using that one for personal purposes; I work for a very large company and I know my PC is being monitored/logged).

just download it; small footprint. poke around with it and see if you like it. Again 92/93Db is what I found the "right" setting. Keep in mind, if you just play MP3s you downloaded from somewhere, you got MOST LIKELY Clipping in them. Can I hear it? a bit...

poking around in the FLAC world as we speak... wiull check if my Pioneer will play FLAC - but pretty sure it won't. Manual does not mention it.
FLAC is bassically compressed WAV, which in it's turn is lossless audio (CD quality).
With the large usb sticks nowadays, putting a 3-400 Mb per album on a stick is still allowing for lets say 70 or so albums on a 32Gb stick. plenty IMO.
and then you DO HAVE the best quality audio available...

back to garage - putting drawers in the work bench - and OL finally unlocked the booz safe

 

What AAWAV said

I usually do a folder at a time
All songs in A folder as example

I never analyze or modify by Album
always track specific.
The changes are done on the tag (ID3 tag)
That means they can be reversed if you wanted to go back and start over.
Just go to modify gain pull down and choose undo

I always apply amount of gain or decrease gain that will not clip to normalize.
Also if you adjust up to like say 93db and it shows clipping, it will distort.
I always try to find a point that will allow the balance of no clipping in the clip(Track) column.

I am trying to get even play back volume not really playback gain. 89db is a good medium, but if your songs like mine are all over the place. you may have to go lower to achieve no clipping on all songs.

I try to keep them lower.
If you clip it upfront, you can not recover it.

I use an app in my android phone called Power Amp
It has an option to apply output gain. called replay gain (RG preamp). its maxed at 16db. Mine is set at about +6
It will also apply the gain and stop before it clips if you choose that option. ( I have)
This seems to help for me. My songs wont clip and distort
Distortion Kills speakers

 

Man, you guys went to deep on this. I'm here with a headache trying to decipher what ya'll talking about.

At the end of the day for me, I'm gonna just use Spotify for playlists and download to my cellphone and then also play MP3's from my USB, as is.

I'm sure with my audio set up (see my signature), even the worst sound will sound great.

Remember the rule of K.I.S.S. (not the 70's Rock group)

 

LMAO - yes it will sound great with that setup.
Don't you LOVE spotify? use highest quality setting on audio and run wired to your system and you are all good. make sure you set your EQ on your phone to flat!!! how would I know

 

After converting all my itunes from apple lossless to MP3 and storing them on a flash drive I ran them through MP3gain at 93 dB. Then I just changed my itunes to use the flashdrive as my library so i could maintain the original data in case something went wrong. They actually seem to sound better, clearer. 93dB allows a few of them to clip but I figured a little would be okay as a tradeoff for volume. One thing odd is that although most of my music would convert, some would not, they were aac files and maybe that is because i bought them from the itunes store. That was a small percentage of my music. Aslo, when I used the MP3s on the flashdrive as my source for itunes the music showed up but all my playlists were empty ao I had to start over with creating play lists. No big deal it was time I cleaned them up and reorganized them anyway. Appreciate the input from you guys.

 

yep - some files do not like to be "altered" or even inspected... I do not know why and gave up trying to figure it out. I just grab the same song somewhere else or I simply do not put it on the stick...

 

Hoping this isn't too far off topic. I have my MP3's on a player connected to the stock HU via the AUX port. My issue is the difference in volume from one track to another. Will running them through MP3gain fix the issue or is there a better program to normalize the volume between tracks?