ITunes 12.1 freezing upon launch due to "determining audio volume"

Question

My (Late 2011) MBP running Yosemite is freezing when I launch iTunes. It is 12.1, the latest version. Upon launch, it says "Determining Audio Volume" and is on the first of my several thousand songs. The spinning wheel eventually pops up and I am forced to forced shut-down my mac by holding the power button. I can't delete iTunes as it is "required by the OS" and I can't open it and go to the preferences to uncheck "soundcheck" because it freezes the entire mac upon launch.
Anyone experiencing the same issue or know what might fix it?
Thanks

Answer 1

I had the same problem, but I think I've found a cure.
Even though Sound Check was disabled in preferences, iTunes would insist on Determining Audio Volume everytime it was launched. But there is also a 'Sound Check' preference in the Burn CD dialogue.
To turn it off you need to select a playlist, hit the Burn Disc button (bottom left) select Audio CD as the disc format and un-check 'Use Sound check'
Then you must hit the 'Burn' button (if you don't it will not remember the new settings) You can then cancel the burn by clicking the X in the itunes player window.
This has cured the problem for me