Ripping Mark Knopfler's One Deep River in Atmos

[LuvMyQuad]

So this problem has come up for me before, but the new Knopfler album is a great example of how to do this.

The album itself is 12 tracks long. There are also 5 bonus tracks. All are in Atmos. The 12 tracks are ripped as Title 2. The bonus tracks are ripped as Title 4.

What I want is a single continuous MKA file with all 17 tracks and a cue file for playback in Kodi.

How I did it:

1. Rip all the Atmos tracks to MKV. You will get 2 titles.
2. Title 2 is the main album. It will show 13 chapters. The last chapter is a few seconds of silence. I deleted it using MKVtoolnix chapter editor.
3. Now append title 2 (now 12 chapters) to title 4 (5 chapters) using MKVtoolnix. The result is a single MKV file with 17 chapters. MKVtoolnix recomputes all of the proper chapter times.
4. Load into Music Media Helper (MMH) Using the chapter editor, create the cue file. I had to manually type the last 5 titles into the clipboard as I couldn't figure out how to copy and paste them. Check the cue file before continuing.
5. Using MMH, remove the individual chapter indexes.
6. Finally, load back into MKVtoolnix to convert the MKV To MKA.

It is a bit complicated, but it works. In total it took about 25 minutes. I'm sure it can be streamlined.

Comments are welcome.

 

[Sal1950]

It is a bit complicated, but it works. In total it took about 25 minutes. I'm sure it can be streamlined.

I love the idea, sure would appreciate a streamlined version.
Reading your tutorial makes my brain hurt. LOL
Thanks LMQ

 

[marpow]

So easy to do in Jriver.
Add files, name album the same, retag the track numbers for the bonus tracks. See screen shot.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

So easy to do in Jriver.
Add files, name album the same, retag the track numbers for the bonus tracks. See screen shot.
View attachment 104722

First off, those are the stereo tracks. I would just rip those to FLAC.

Did you break the Atmos into chapters? If not, did you append the two MKV/MKA titles together? You could just keep the two titles separate, like "One Deep River" and "One Deep River - Bonus Tracks" using a separate cue file for each one.

 

[marpow]

Yes, I know I showed the stereo, was meant to be an example.
With the Atmos I did as seen in screen shot.
First screen shot in Atmos full album, notice above highlight.
Second screen shot Bonus tracks.
In Jriver all I need to do if listening to MKV Atmos, the full album, main and bonus, is play the full album, right click the Bonus "Add To Playing Now" and wala, now plays back as one. Or I could do by retagging like I did with the stereo.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Or I could do by retagging like I did with the stereo.

Do you need to break into chapters to go that route?

 

[marpow]

Do you need to break into chapters to go that route?

Yes, I use MMH and select "Split And Rename Concerts". Only for Atmos.
Then select Split MKV File--Output MKV.
Once put into chapters>use MMH Music Brainz for track titles, then fill out right side form, Artist, Album, year, etc.
My situation, JRiver I do not need a CUE file.
@HomerJAU Garry, created a JRiver Sidecar, for tagging.
He can explain better, I don't pay attention to the hows, just the end result.
I can send screen shot process if really interested.
When doing the same for stereo or MCH to FLAC I use MMH "Extract Audio From MKV" MKV to FLAC.
No need for a JRiver sidecar or a cue file when doing the MKV to FLAC conversions.

 

[marpow]

Sometimes, gapless recordings, Abbey Road, etc, I just use the full MKV root file for playback and JRiver will playback an MKV gapless, or I can use a m4a non video file, split into chapters for gapless playback.
I am stubborn and prefer all Atmos to be MKV, just my thing. I am always able to find a work around.

 

[HomerJAU]

My situation, JRiver I do not need a CUE file.
@HomerJAU Garry, created a JRiver Sidecar, for tagging.
He can explain better, I don't pay attention to the hows, just the end result.

JRiver doesn't read MKA.MKV tags. The workaround is to create a small xml file with the music metadata (tags). MMH does that automatically.

When JRiver loads the new MKA/MKV files it reads the xml files and loads the tags. Simple.