# Easy way to equalise the volume of an MP3 playlist in Windows Media Player?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-way-to-equalise-the-volume-of-an-mp3-playlist-in-windows-media-player/456940>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 18, 2008, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-way-to-equalise-the-volume-of-an-mp3-playlist-in-windows-media-player/456940 "2008-07-18T10:18:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-way-to-equalise-the-volume-of-an-mp3-playlist-in-windows-media-player/456940/1 "2008-07-18T10:18:21Z")

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I’m putting together a music playlist to be played between the band’s sets at my wedding reception. I’m doing it in Windows Media Player rather than iTunes, because of course iTunes hates you doing anything other than buying songs and loading them onto one iPod.

The problem is, I have lots of songs from lots of different sources - ripped from CD, downloaded, even copied off old tapes - and the volumes differ a lot. I don’t really want to have to re-rip them or even download new copies to try and fix this, but I can’t find an obvious way of fixing it, apart from having somebody stand next to the volume control and adjust it all night.

Is there a way to equalise the volume, either in WMP itself or as a free/cheap application?

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-way-to-equalise-the-volume-of-an-mp3-playlist-in-windows-media-player/456940/2 "2008-07-18T10:37:17Z")

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I would just burn them to a DVD and play them off that. When you burn them

1.In Windows Media Player, on the Tools menu, click Options.

2.On the Devices tab, click the drive that you use to burn your CDs, and then click the Properties button.

3.In the Properties dialog box that appears, click the Quality tab.

4.In the Volume leveling area, select the Apply volume leveling to music when it is burned check box.

Burn them back to the HD if you like.

Or there is [this](http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details/144607)

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-way-to-equalise-the-volume-of-an-mp3-playlist-in-windows-media-player/456940/3 "2008-07-18T11:02:33Z")

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MP3gain is the droid you are looking for.

> **[MP3Gain](https://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/)**
>
> MP3Gain - A free automatic mp3 volume normalizer