I’m not sure if this problem relates to the batch processor or the transcoder but the deal is this: When I throw m4a ALAC files, stuffed with metadata into the batch processor, it apparently strips the metadata from the files, and improperly renames them (I’m trying to set it to name them as catalog_artist-songtitle.wav/mp3). The batch renamer is set to remove numeric leading characters, insert a fixed catalog ID with a trailing , then drop on the file names. It adds catalog as expected, but fails to find/insert the ID3 metadata (which iTunes and even OS X see natively from any view).
I must have something set up wrong here… I thought I had the order wrong or needed to delete the old name, but trial and error ruled those issues out. I tried to be careful about where the name starts/stops. But it seems more like the metadata is getting removed before it reaches the renamer. What am I doing wrong? Help!
If you’re making WAV anyway, I would convert the ALAC to WAV in XLD or MediaHuman, then batch rename the WAVs in Wavelab. Either one will transfer the ALAC metadata to the WAV copies (they can read and write WAV ID3). Or you could batch rename all the ALAC files in Kid3 tagger.
afaik, Wavelab doesn’t read or write metadata for aif either. Seems like both alac and aif should be added at some point.
Resources for batch file rename of ALAC:
the taggers Kid3 and Jaikoz (?)
Resources for batch file rename and convert ALAC:
Mac: XLD, JRiver, MediaHuman (no rename)
Windows: Foobar, xRecode, JRiver, MediaHuman (no rename)
for example, in Kid3, load the ALAC directory (or a copy of the ALAC directory to test) in the Kid3 left panel.
put:
ANP_%{artist}-%{title}
in the top Format box. Select all the ALAC files on the left. Click the Tag2 button to the right. Click the Save button and the ALAC files will be renamed from the fixed “ANP_” and “-” and the artist and title metadata tags.
Thanks Bob… After PG’s response I just moved to RX to do exactly that!
In the meantime I discovered a side-issue: Most WAVs we get from clients lack any metadata whatsoever (forget right or wrong!). Maybe one of the programs you suggested would be better at adding it back in?
PG, pardon me for not rtfm but this makes me wonder: Can I use a csv or text document to search/replace file names from ripped titles (like 03 I Wanna Hold Your Hand.wav) with scripted ones (e.g. The Beatles - I Wanna Hold Your Hands.wav) and stuff metadata in at the same time with WP 8.5? That would be the best solution for my needs, and avoid the intermediate stop in RX etc.
Can I use a csv or text document to search/replace file names from ripped titles (like 03 I Wanna Hold Your Hand.wav) with scripted ones (e.g. The Beatles - I Wanna Hold Your Hands.wav) and stuff metadata in at the same time with WP 8.5? That would be the best solution for my needs, and avoid the intermediate stop in RX etc
The batch file renaming tool allows to do renamings from tables. But to setup all this, the number of files to rename must be big enough (else you will be faster to rename manually).
For Meta-data, you can use the batch processor to inject data from xml files. But this is for “advanced users”, and rtfm will be needed.
Daved, I’m glad you tried Izotope because I didn’t realize it could read or write WAV ID3 metadata.
I tried it myself with an HD Tracks 96K 24 bit ALAC in the RX4 batch processor to WAV, and found that RX4 doesn’t transfer all the metadata (picture, album artist), like XLD does. XLD and Mediahuman also build WAV List Info metadata from the ALAC in the process (in addition to filling the ID3), which is useful (and apparently standard in making WAV metadata from ID3 or MP4 input only) because many programs don’t read WAV ID3. I haven’t checked if Wavelab does this from files with only ID3, but it should if it doesn’t. RX4 should too, but it doesn’t.
Alxo, RX4 made a 32bit float file (from a 24 bit source) when I specified “sample format from original file”, which seems like a bug. But the biggest difference was that XLD was much faster than Izotope (ymmv), and yet the WAV output files were all identical according to the Wavelab File Comparator when they were all made correctly at 24 bit. (RX4, XLD, Mediahuman WAV output files all identical).
XLD’s a little hard to figure out at first, but if you have a chance to try it out, I’d recommend it. MediaHuman has fewer features. But they were both made specifically for dealing with metadata and conversion.
On Windows, I’d go with Foobar for these ALAC converts. To me, it’s sort of the the XLD equivalent on Windows for features and speed, metadata, conversion, re-naming.
