[MEncoder-users] Volnorm

[James Hastings-Trew]

When encoding a DVD to some other format, I often use -af volnorm=1 to 
bring up the volume of the audio. A problem I am having with it, 
however, is that if the movie's audio starts out quietly and builds very 
gradually, the volume jumps quite suddenly from one value to the next, 
leaving the opening of the movie with these abrupt audio level changes. 
Is there a more graceful way to achieve the same result (automatically 
scaling the volume of the source file) within Mencoder or is this it?

Example movies that exhibit this behavior: There Will Be Blood, Corpse 
Bride. Both start out very quietly and build the music gradually, but 
Mencoder keeps the audio soft and then suddenly the volume jumps up to a 
louder value.