Lude Generation

Gents, got a bit of a puzzler for you that I hope you'll be able to help me with.
So, I download various MP3 music files that I play as background muzak in the office. Strangely, some are quieter on playback than the others.
Being the Stone-age technophobe that I am, I've had a look at the files and, of course, see some of them are differing file sizes. Most of them are between 3MB to 7MB but some are larger.
Trouble is, I thought it would be better to download 'bigger' files, say 10MB but it doesn't make any difference. Even though I download 'larger' files they still can replay quieter than say a 3MB file.
It's a bit of pain as I have some nice soothing music playing quietly in the background then suddenly, the walls are vibrating to the strains of Steppenwolf's 'Magic Carpet Ride' at 11.
Is there a way of 'levelling' all my files so they play at a soothing and relatively unobtrusive 5?
Ta, as ever, for any info, Si.

It's down to the way the file was originally mastered - when I edit video footage I can set the audio level output at different volumes (I think TV broadcasts are set at -10dB). The file size is down to how highly compressed the digital file is, and won't have any bearing on the volume of the track.

Just expanding on what Matt said, some media players have an auto levelling feature tucked away in the settings menu so you should be able to minimise mastering differences. What do you use?

Unfortunately, MP3s that are *acquired* all seem to vary wildly in volume levels.

The size of the files makes little difference to the volume - however in some circumstances a higher file size *could* potentialy mean that there is a higher "bitrate" (number of 0s and 1s used per second of audio) - which could allow for a greater dynamic range (difference in volume between quiet parts of the song and loud parts of the song)


As Donald said, a lot of playback software will have the ability to "normalize" the volume levels of all tracks, ensuring a consistent playback volume. However, you may also lose some of the dynamic range within individual songs, so some might sound a bit "flat" without the variance in volume levels.

http://audacityteam.org/
With this you can adjust the soundlevel of your song. Just import it, change it and save: done.

Thanks to you all, much appreciated.
@Donald, my laptop runs with Windows 7, if that's a help.
@Sven, thanks fella. I've downloaded it and it looks marvellous, (in a Phil Spector kind of way) but, as they do have on-line help, I think I'd better ask the question there as I can't see a 'make all my MP3's the same volume button'!
Thanks again guys.

As mentioned previously, you need to normalize the tracks so the peaks on the waveforms - the loudest bits - peak at a similar volume. here's how to do it [url]http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/normalize.html/url]

Ta Matt. I've registered on the site and asked the question but no replies as yet., I'll take a look at the guide you've mentioned later on this evening.
Thanks buddy.

Simon, what software are you using to playback the MP3's?

^ that's what I meant Simon, not the OS You might not need to faff around downloading stuff.