Mp3 split program that allows for multiple cut-points before execution?

[ewemoa]

I think I'd remember what to do with Audacity, but I imagine it would take a fair bit longer to finish because of the exporting to mp3...

-ewemoa (April 13, 2011, 06:20 AM)

For comparison, I tried Audacity's procedure.

It definitely feels like it takes longer (importing and exporting anyway), and I'm not convinced now that I'd remember how to carry the steps out in the future 

...and now for some suckiness:

• If no audio is selected, cannot choose Analyze -> Silence Finder...seems like with no selection, the application should default to assuming the whole track is intended as a target
• The number of "silences" detected does not appear to be reported, neither a total, nor during detection...
• Try cancelling "Export Multiple"...you'll have to indicate this a number times equal to the number of tracks
• Audacity steals focus during "Export Multiple"...guess how many times...this is repeatedly annoying especially because if you happen to be typing elsewhere not only are you interrupted, you may accidentally cancel one of the exports...
• Previous values for the "Export Multiple" dialog do not appear to be saved
• It wasn't obvious to me how to move a cursor in the audio track to match the currently selected label (Alt+Left Click)
• It wasn't obvious how to navigate among the labels (Tab, Shift+Tab)
• Procedure for removing a label was unintuitive for me - create a selection covering the target label in the label track and choose Edit -> Silence.

This was with Audacity 1.2.6...

In 1.3.13 there appear to be some improvements:

• With no audio selection, "Silence Finder..." can be chosen and it applies to the whole audio track.
• "Elapsed Time" appears mentioned in various dialogs...but if I don't happen to be looking at the screen shortly before the dialog disppears, I'm not sure whether I can learn how long the last operation took...
• "Export Multiple" can be stopped without repeated button presses (I believe via the Cancel button, not the new Stop button).
• Most values for the "Export Multiple" dialog appear to be saved -- could be wrong but it looked like one checkbox value wasn't
• The cursor for the audio track follows the currently selected label.

Removing a label seems to have changed.  From the "Removing labels" section of "Label Tracks":

To remove labels without affecting other labels: Single-click in the text of an individual label, then press the <Delete> or <Backspace> key (as appropriate) on your keyboard until the text is removed. Once the label is empty of text, press <Delete> or <Backspace> once more to delete the label. You can also remove one or more labels without affecting other labels by selecting any region extending over (or at least touching) the label edges(s), then choose Edit > Split Cut.

(Actually, learned via a YouTube video: Audacity 1.3.12 Beta - Adding and REMOVING labels.)

[Curt]

Curt, this is a big if, but: if you're currently de- and re-encoding MP3s "just" for the purpose of normalizing, may I suggest you look into Replay Gain^w? The idea is to simple scan the MP3s, and add tags with information of track and album volume levels, so a supporting player can do the normalization instead of destroying audio by re-encoding

-f0dder (April 14, 2011, 01:45 AM)

-thanks, f0dder, but the files I am 'destroying' (cut/clean beginning and end, and normalize volume) are either extracted from video files, YouTube etcetera, or from radio streams. Not much quality to lose in the first place.

[Curt]

I forgot, and so forgot to tell, that with/on the few normal recorded tracks (from CD) where I have had to normalize the volume, I still use Code-it, but then it is named MP3 Volume Normalizer. No re-encoding, it is derived from mp3gain version 1.4.6* = ReplayGain.
 
(*= my version is from August 2010; I have not cared to update it as it works flawlessly)
 

Lossless Gain Adjustment

The bad news: This software can only adjust the volume of your mp3 files in steps of 1.5 dB.
The good news: 1.5 dB is a small enough step for most practical purposes. Most humans can just barely hear a volume change of 1 dB.

Some other good news is that this volume adjustment is completely lossless. In other words, if you adjust an mp3 by -6 dB and then if you change your mind, you can adjust it again by +6 dB and it will be exactly the same as it was before you made the first adjustment.

-Code-it MP3 Volume Normalizer

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[ewemoa]

Audacity steals focus during "Export Multiple"...guess how many times...this is repeatedly annoying especially because if you happen to be typing elsewhere not only are you interrupted, you may accidentally cancel one of the exports...

-ewemoa (April 14, 2011, 04:54 AM)

I think I've come across a work-around -- use of virtual desktops.  Switching away from the desktop that audacity is running on seems to be effective in not being bothered by audacity-focus-stealing.  May be this method is more generally applicable -- though perhaps how well it works may depend on application-specific behavior and/or one's window manager / virtual desktop configuration(s).