flac audio leveler

[FreerunMedia]

OK - funny you say to turn off AGC... normally you use AGC to control the overall level. Another option is to compress and limit, but that is devestating for your audio. Why I'm using AGC with care is because I don't want to loose too much dynamics in the music; so the quiet pieces of a song must not be as loud as the loud parts. AGC, if used quite harsh, will do just that: try to maintain a certain level. Now, if I want a certain baseline level of my station, and I don't want to use AGC too much and I definitely don't want to use compress and limit to control much of my level, I have to go to the source 

No not realy. AGC pulls up the gain of the track and a limiter keeps it at level. This way you compress the sound more than you want. When you use a compressor you set a level as threshold, a compression rate and you correct it with a "make up" gain. The amount of compression you use is how compressed your sound is going to be. A 1:2 works fine most of the time with a fast attack and slower release you make the sound more easy to listen to. Fast attack and release makes it very hyped. For radio you use a 5 to 7 band processing over different frequenties. An AGC has only one band in an "over all" way. Most of the times you'll be "radio jogging". ( Walking to the volume knob to turn up and down and up and down )

I would sugest to listen to my stream, No AGC and only stereotool running and no MP3 gain or replay gain. yes there is room for improvement but than, setting up the right "sound" for an station is a job by itself.