flac files and embedded cue sheets

[elite1967]

Hi all,
I am new here.
I am trying to embed a cue sheet in a .flac file using metaflac.
But despite the cue sheet has all the title/artist/genre information,
these information do not get recorder in the flac file.

Here is the command I have used:
metaflac.exe --import-cuesheet-from=cdimage.cue cdimage.flac

Here is part of the cue sheet:
REM Genre "Classical"
TITLE "Faure, Requiem; Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms"
PERFORMER "Celibidache - Munchner Philharmoniker"
FILE "CDImage.flac" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "Applause"
PERFORMER "Celibidache - Munchner Philharmoniker"
COMPOSER "Fauré, Gabriel"
PREGAP 00:02:00
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE "[Faure] Requiem, op.48 - I. Introit et Kyrie"
PERFORMER "Celibidache - Munchner Philharmoniker"
COMPOSER "Fauré, Gabriel"
INDEX 01 00:43:15
...

As a test I have recreated the cue sheet from the flac file and I have
got only the TRACKS and the INDEX tags.

Here is the command:
metaflac.exe --export-cuesheet-to=cdimage2.cue cdimage.flac

And here is the resulted file:
FILE "CDImage.flac" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
PREGAP 00:02:00
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:43:15
...


Is there anything else I am missing in the process?

Thanks
Stefano

[Andy Hawkins]

Hi,

Post by elite1967
metaflac.exe --import-cuesheet-from=cdimage.cue cdimage.flac

I'm not sure that it will import tag information from the CUE sheet. The CUE
sheet in the FLAC file might be purely for track time information.

You should really be using VORBIS comments to store the metadata in.

What operating system are you using?

If Linux, my flactag utility can retrieve metadata for an album from the
Musicbrainz service, and write it to the flac file.

http://www.gently.org.uk/flactag

Andy

[gharris999]

In the flac format, a distinction is made between the cuesheet format
that is native to flac -- which contains only track timing information
(metadata type 2), and an embedded cuesheet which contains genre,
title, performer, composer, etc, which is actually nothing more than a
metadata type 4 vorbis comment with a "CUESHEET" label. Though they
are referred to by the same name, they are actually different.

The command you used above, metaflac.exe
--import-cuesheet-from=cdimage.cue cdimage.flac, just imports the
timing data to that type 2 cuesheet block.

The command you probably want to use is:

metaflac.exe --add-replay-gain --import-cuesheet-from=cdimage.cue
--set-tag-from-file=CUESHEET=cdimage.cue cdimage.flac

[elite1967]

Post by gharris999
metaflac.exe --add-replay-gain --import-cuesheet-from=cdimage.cue
--set-tag-from-file=CUESHEET=cdimage.cue cdimage.flac

Thanks a lot! I will try tonight.

BTW, what is the command "add-reply-gain" for?

Stefano

[gharris999]

Post by elite1967
BTW, what is the command "add-reply-gain" for?

Replay gain is a standard that Slimserver/Squeezecenter supports which
allows volume normalization. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replay_gain

Metaflac will scan the audio data using the replay gain algorithm and
add a series of comment tags to your flac file: e.g.

Code:
--------------------

comment[0]: REPLAYGAIN_REFERENCE_LOUDNESS=89.0 dB
comment[1]: REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN=-1.47 dB
comment[2]: REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_PEAK=1.00000000
comment[3]: REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_GAIN=-1.47 dB
comment[4]: REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_PEAK=1.00000000
--------------------

If you have the volume adjustment feature turned on in SqueezeCenter
(Settings->Players->Audio->Volume Adjustment/Replay Gain=Album Gain)
then the player will adjust the playback volume so that "perceived
volume" is supposed to remain constant from album to album. It seldom
really works that way, but it's better than nothing.

[elite1967]

Post by gharris999
Replay gain is a standard that Slimserver/Squeezecenter supports which
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replay_gain
Metaflac will scan the audio data using the replay gain algorithm and
add a series of comment tags to your flac file: e.g.

Code:
--------------------

Post by gharris999
comment[0]: REPLAYGAIN_REFERENCE_LOUDNESS=89.0 dB
comment[1]: REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN=-1.47 dB
comment[2]: REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_PEAK=1.00000000
comment[3]: REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_GAIN=-1.47 dB
comment[4]: REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_PEAK=1.00000000

--------------------

Post by gharris999
If you have the volume adjustment feature turned on in SqueezeCenter
(Settings->Players->Audio->Volume Adjustment/Replay Gain=Album Gain)
then the player will adjust the playback volume so that "perceived
volume" is supposed to remain constant from album to album. It
seldom really works that way, but it's better than nothing.

Thanks for the feedback.

Setfano

[BlueDonkey]

Slimserver/Squeezecenter shouldn't have any problems reading your tags
then, as long as you have a well-formed cuesheet, that is.

I have used autoFlac and EAC to create a flac file which includes both
vorbis comment CUESHEET tag, and segment 5 METADATA_CUESHEET_BLOCK
information. I have written a program that parses the metadata
segments, and everything looks like it should be ok, but SqueezeCentre
doesn't pickup the track names from the vorbis comment CUESHEET tag.
It just picks up the track boundaries.

The vorbis comment looks like this...


Code:
--------------------
CUESHEET=CATALOG 0724358222128
PERFORMER 'Billy Idol'
TITLE 'Billy Idol Songs - 11 Of The Best'
FILE 'DUMMY' WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE 'Rebel Yell'
PERFORMER 'Billy Idol'
ISRC USCH38400024
INDEX 00 00:00:00
INDEX 01 00:00:20
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE 'Hot In The City'
PERFORMER 'Billy Idol'
ISRC USCH38400019
INDEX 01 03:45:13
--------------------


Do you have any ideas what may be causing squeezeCentre to ignore the
CUESHEET? I hate the idea of having to have a separate cuesheet to the
audio as there is always a chance of them getting separated or out of
sync.

Any help gratefully received.

[Andy Grundman]

Post by BlueDonkey

Slimserver/Squeezecenter shouldn't have any problems reading your tags
then, as long as you have a well-formed cuesheet, that is.

I have used autoFlac and EAC to create a flac file which includes both
vorbis comment CUESHEET tag, and segment 5 METADATA_CUESHEET_BLOCK
information. I have written a program that parses the metadata
segments, and everything looks like it should be ok, but SqueezeCentre
doesn't pickup the track names from the vorbis comment CUESHEET tag.
It just picks up the track boundaries.
The vorbis comment looks like this...
--------------------
CUESHEET=CATALOG 0724358222128
PERFORMER 'Billy Idol'
TITLE 'Billy Idol Songs - 11 Of The Best'
FILE 'DUMMY' WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE 'Rebel Yell'
PERFORMER 'Billy Idol'
ISRC USCH38400024
INDEX 00 00:00:00
INDEX 01 00:00:20
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE 'Hot In The City'
PERFORMER 'Billy Idol'
ISRC USCH38400019
INDEX 01 03:45:13
--------------------
Do you have any ideas what may be causing squeezeCentre to ignore the
CUESHEET? I hate the idea of having to have a separate cuesheet to the
audio as there is always a chance of them getting separated or out of
sync.
Any help gratefully received.

Can you file a bug and attach the file in question?

[gharris999]

If the file in question is too large to attach directly to the bug, you
might try to use metaflac to dump all the metadata from the flac file
and attach the dump output. Use a command like:

echo Metadata from flac file: >flacfile.tags.UTF8.txt
metaflac.exe --list --no-utf8-convert flacfile.flac

flacfile.tags.UTF8.txt

[BlueDonkey]

submitted bug #8144

file was 400MB so just attached metaflac dump. If this isn't
sufficient, I'll try and create and attach a smaller flac file. What
is considered a polite maximum size?

Thanks for the quick response.

[Robin Bowes]

Post by BlueDonkey
submitted bug #8144
file was 400MB so just attached metaflac dump. If this isn't
sufficient, I'll try and create and attach a smaller flac file. What
is considered a polite maximum size?

I wrote some code that strips the audio from flac files (just leaving
the metadata).

Search the forums for it (I don't know where it is either other wise I'd
give you a link!)

R.

[gharris999]

Alternately, use an audio editor and create a 10 second stereo wav file
of silence and flac that and then embed all the metadata.

[gharris999]

Robin's utility:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=17228&highlight=strip+audio+flac

[Robin Bowes]

Post by gharris999
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=17228&highlight=strip+audio+flac

Aha! That's where it got to! :)

R.

[trainee]

Was there a resolution to this? I believe I am experiencing the same
issue while attempting to use FLACs with embedded CUESHEETs for the
first time. Sqeezecenter picks up both tracks, but not the track names
etc.

[gharris999]

Post by trainee
Was there a resolution to this? I believe I am experiencing the same
issue while attempting to use FLACs with embedded CUESHEETs for the
first time. Sqeezecenter picks up both tracks, but not the track names
etc.

When you say "for the first time", do you mean, "first time" for you,
or do you mean "first time" for SqueezeCenter...trying to pick up the
track info by browsing the music folder, rather then doing a new music
scan?

[trainee]

First time for me. As I don't really have any experience with FLACs
with embedded cuesheets. I've tried rescanning for music multiple
times. This is a test on my local machine so other than this new file
I only have the demo songs that come with vista. When I browse to the
file via 'music folder' it sees test.flac but it cannot see the
individual songs and it fails to play the file at all.

[gharris999]

Would you be willing to post the cuesheet in a zip attachment? Also,
tell us how you're embedding it. I'll be happy to take a look.

[Robin Bowes]

Post by gharris999
Alternately, use an audio editor and create a 10 second stereo wav file
of silence and flac that and then embed all the metadata.

You don't even need to do that.

Something like "touch dummy.flac" will create a flac file, then you can
add meta data to it.

R.

[elite1967]

Post by Andy Hawkins
Hi,
If Linux, my flactag utility can retrieve metadata for an album from the
Musicbrainz service, and write it to the flac file.
http://www.gently.org.uk/flactag
Andy

Hi Andy,
I am using Windows.
Will you develop a version for Windows?

Stefano

[Andy Hawkins]

Hi,

Post by elite1967
I am using Windows.
Will you develop a version for Windows?

Unlikely I'm afraid, I do all my ripping and tagging under Linux.

Maybe if I'm feeling masochistic sometime I'll see how much effort it'd take
to port.

Andy

[gharris999]

I've got a windows utility that will pull metadata from the CDPLAYER.INI
file and mark up a cuesheet with performer, genre, comments, etc. A
fair amount of windows cd ripping software stores metadata in
CDPLAYER.INI. Watch this thread. I'll post a link to the utility in a
day or so.