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[Mike Henderson]

What you might be aiming for is this: a more uniform spectral balance between different tracks/albums/genres of music. ie, if some tracks are too bright and others too bassy, you want to reduce those differences in the overall sound. In that case, a multi-band compressor set for RMS detection, and slow attack and release and dividing into bass, low-mids, high-mids and treble would be my approach. Crossovers at 150Hz, 800Hz, 4kHz. Ish.

Whether you want to do that is another discussion. Some of the old Motown records, for instance, can have waaaay too much content in the 2-8kHz range to be comfortable at loud levels. Some would argue, though, that it's part of the sound of the era, and should be preserved.
Chris

I want my music collection to play being balanced like a Radio Station not having to adjust anything all, that is my aim guys.

Closest option I have found is Spotify which allows you to upload your own tracks to play through their system but problem is you can only upload just one folder of music and not multiple folders. unless I can find some sort of Radio Station or Internet based player which will allow me to also play my collections then I will have no choice but to look into Multi band compressing.

Doing some research I found this:

https://behindthespeakers.com/multiband-compression-tutorial/

and looking into a suitable piece of hardware I found this:

http://www.drumcityguitarland.com/BOSS-CP-1X-Multiband-Compressor-Guitar-Pedal-P11872.aspx

This part taken from that article is what the problem was with the 2 multi band "Softwares" I had tried:
 

Typical stompbox compressors color and restrict your sound,

therefore a hardware piece like this might work for me?

https://bssaudio.com/en/products/dpr-901ii

[Chris Hindle]

This part taken from that article is what the problem was with the 2 multi band "Softwares" I had tried:
 
therefore a hardware piece like this might work for me?

https://bssaudio.com/en/products/dpr-901ii

Well, until you get into Broadcast Levelers and such, the BSS is pretty well the best of Ye Olde Analog Dayz.
Should be pretty cheap these days.
People have been known to run a crossover and a second unit to get 8 bands of compression......
Chris.

[Brian Adams]

If you want your stuff to sound like radio, buy a used analog Orban Optimod and dial it in. That's what radio stations used to use before everything was digital. Now it's often done with digital processors, but I haven't heard one that works as well as the old analog ones. It won't sound exactly like radio since you're not running it through a transmitter chain and picking it up over the air, but I think it would give you the parts of the "radio sound" that you're looking for.

We still have a few old Orbans in service around here, and honestly, there's something magical about their sound. They're basically a multiband compressor/limiter with a gate, but I haven't heard anything that will exactly duplicate what an analog Orban does (including their newer digital units).

This one on Ebay looks like it's in decent shape.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NICE-VINTAGE-Orban-8100A-1-OPTIMOD-FM-Broadcast-Processor-ACC-22-installed/193749304143

[Scott Holtzman]

If you want your stuff to sound like radio, buy a used analog Orban Optimod and dial it in. That's what radio stations used to use before everything was digital. Now it's often done with digital processors, but I haven't heard one that works as well as the old analog ones. It won't sound exactly like radio since you're not running it through a transmitter chain and picking it up over the air, but I think it would give you the parts of the "radio sound" that you're looking for.

We still have a few old Orbans in service around here, and honestly, there's something magical about their sound. They're basically a multiband compressor/limiter with a gate, but I haven't heard anything that will exactly duplicate what an analog Orban does (including their newer digital units).

This one on Ebay looks like it's in decent shape.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NICE-VINTAGE-Orban-8100A-1-OPTIMOD-FM-Broadcast-Processor-ACC-22-installed/193749304143

Doesn't that have baseband output?  I forgot if the RCA test jacks present a processed signal.  Haven't seen an analog optimod since the 80's

[Mike Henderson]

If you want your stuff to sound like radio, buy a used analog Orban Optimod and dial it in. That's what radio stations used to use before everything was digital. Now it's often done with digital processors, but I haven't heard one that works as well as the old analog ones. It won't sound exactly like radio since you're not running it through a transmitter chain and picking it up over the air, but I think it would give you the parts of the "radio sound" that you're looking for.

We still have a few old Orbans in service around here, and honestly, there's something magical about their sound. They're basically a multiband compressor/limiter with a gate, but I haven't heard anything that will exactly duplicate what an analog Orban does (including their newer digital units).

This one on Ebay looks like it's in decent shape.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NICE-VINTAGE-Orban-8100A-1-OPTIMOD-FM-Broadcast-Processor-ACC-22-installed/193749304143

Thanks guys. Actually one person told me I can import all of my folders of music into Spotify Web Player which would help with this issue but because that is internet based better option would be to work with my local mp3's.

This is what the bud was referring to, this is the older model to what he has, it's the compressor feature in it which keeps all his mp3's multi bands constant:

https://www.ebay.com/i/114488627069?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=114488627069&targetid=935431405613&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9004390&poi=&campaignid=10454522294&mkgroupid=104612011580&rlsatarget=pla-935431405613&abcId=2146002&merchantid=222532915&gclid=Cj0KCQiA48j9BRC-ARIsAMQu3WRc2bbzki66cUkpNNgKtXQJZt8VlohMSxa5jEnhGS2c3-wE9qIJO7AaArmTEALw_wcB

The BSS FDS 388 I have does not have this feature, only an EQ.

[Mike Caldwell]

The BSS FDS388 was the big boy full blown speaker processing DSP in the day.
Set up correctly it could make your system rock.

[Mike Henderson]

The BSS FDS388 was the big boy full blown speaker processing DSP in the day.
Set up correctly it could make your system rock.

Right but it does not have the Compressor feature so better option for my purpose would be to go with that TOA instead?

[Glen Kelley]

...So I was wondering if there would be a market for music for background purposes that had the melody played in the lower registers.

It sounds like what you need is a Morphine playlist! 

[Russell Ault]

[...]
This is what the bud was referring to, this is the older model to what he has, it's the compressor feature in it which keeps all his mp3's multi bands constant:

link
[...]

From the specs I'm seeing on this unit, there's nothing special at all about the compressor, so just about any compressor should be able to achieve a similar effect. Heck, your playback software might even be able to load one as a plugin.

-Russ

[Bill Meeks]

I'm still not 100% sure what the OP desires: frequency shaping or volume normalization. It sounds more like volume normalizing to me. If that is the case, and you are playing the files with software, get a software player that supports Replay Gain tags. Foobar2000 is one of the free players that supports Replay Gain tagging, but there are several others.

In case you are not familiar, Replay Gain is a metadata tag inserted into many types of music files that provides a digital gain value the player can apply when playing back the file. Replay Gain does not change the original file. It is simply a datapoint via a tag in the file that gives the player a plus or minus digital gain multiplier to use when playing back the music. This has the effect of making all the MP3 files sound pretty much the same volume-wise.

With a player such as Foobar2000, you scan your music file collection and apply Replay Gain. You can choose per-track gain only, or you can have both per-track and an album gain value calculated and written into the tag metadata for each music file. The Replay Gain reference value targets an 89 dB SPL. ReplayGain nominally plays at -14 dB relative to full-scale. The reference value is adjustable, though, in several of the players that support Replay Gain.

[ProSoundWeb Community]