AUTO level the audio

[blueisland]

Is there any plugin that can auto level the audio (on average to 0db)

I have a lot of clip of people talking with various level and it would be useful to automatically level the audio.

It would be useful

Ray

 

[Mutley Eugenius]

Ray,

What you're telking about is called 'Normalizing' audio.

It's not in SE but if you download GoldWave audio software you can import the rendered audio and normalize it in 2 or 3 clicks, and then save it again, then re-import it back into SE. You can then re-marry the audio & video into one clip by aligning them and creating a new subproject with them, which will then be treated as a clip.

 

[Adam_LightPlay]

There is a compressor filter, "Comp/Expand" under the Audio Effects.
I'll crank up the volume so the lowest audio gets up around -3.
Then set threshold to -6 and ratio to somewhere around 10.
Then any sound over -6db gets reduced 10:1 . i.e. loud audio that would be +14db, would be 20db over the threshold, so it would be reduced by a factor of 10:1 so it would only be 2 more db above the threshold, or still -1db.

 

[blueisland]

Thanks for the replies.

I will play with the comp/expand filter, on first try I did not get it though.

Maybe NT could make a normalisation filter for us.

You never know!!

 

[lcress]

Thanks for the replies.

Maybe NT could make a normalisation filter for us.

Ditto! A Normalization filter would be great.

Its a pain to export a wav file, import it into a 3rd party audio utility, fix it, write it back out, import it back into SE and reattach it to the video.

Long way around the barn to the front door just to fix the audio peaks.

 

[donx]

There is so much more you can do with a stand alone audio program (I use Wavelab) that could never be condensed into an automated plug-in.
Panning, Level balancing, EQ, etc.
An audio program will give you far superior final audio to edit to. It will also run the VST plug-ins more reliably. I would hardly expect any video editing program to do it as well.

 

[lcress]

There is so much more you can do with a stand alone audio program
Panning, Level balancing, EQ, etc.

Agreed, Don. Also, a 3rd party audio program offers noise reduction as well. My tool of choice in the past has been Sound Forge if I really need to tweak the audio track.

However, if I have a talking head interview that has a couple of overdriving peaks in it, I will use Control Panel to keyframe the levels. This is still quicker than exporting the track out to an audio utility and then reimporting.

Maybe there is a way to write a Toolshed routine to average out the peaks?

 

[radams]

Just a thought....since SE 2 now supports VST plugins...see if there is a normalizing filter....then you could do this all in SE...though I do agree with Don...that for sweetening, and doing better audio post...I would use another audio application to do so...there are many out there.

Note: taking a rendered file from SE to other applications and back again isn't difficult.

The issues come in when you want to keep the individual clip's and all the NLE layers/info....

This is where I would like to see better integration with other apps and workflows...such as audio enhancement/sweetening.

Cheers,

 

[Quiet1onTheSet]

Note: taking a rendered file from SE to other applications and back again isn't difficult.

The issues come in when you want to keep the individual clip's and all the NLE layers/info....

This is where I would like to see better integration with other apps and workflows...such as audio enhancement/sweetening.

Hear-hear, radams!
The uber-cool free app known as Audacity comes to mind, although Sony Sound Forge is top-of-the-heap for me.

:beerchug:
Q1

 

[Walk Worthy]

At the first wedding I did, I plugged an mp3 recorder into the sound system at the church. The recording was blown out, as I did not put an input control between the system and the recorder. Using the mixer in SE2 I got it to sound better, but not even close to normal. My question is: would a program such as GoldWave take such a blown out recording and bring it back to virtually normal? For $19 per year, it would be worth it...

 

[Quiet1onTheSet]

At the first wedding I did, I plugged an mp3 recorder into the sound system at the church. The recording was blown out, as I did not put an input control between the system and the recorder...

Perhaps that's the reason it was blown out; and perhaps not, Walk Worthy. Is it possible you had an impedance mismatch between the house audio gear's output you tapped as an input to your MP3 recorder?

I'm inclined to imagine that your MP3 recorder has a high-impedance input, and perhaps you utilized a high-level, low impedance output from the house mixer.

As a general precaution when connecting two mismatched audio devices, it's usually a more workable "mismatch" -- to go from a high-impedance output on one device, into a low impedance input of another (rather than the other way around).

That said, I'll leave the rest to others, who might offer some bit of insight on what software you might consider trying, so as to attempt to salvage some useful representation of that distorted audio; but if the particulars of my "impedance mismatch" assumption is correct, you'll likely not get it back to "virtually normal" -- only perceptibly improved, IMHO.

By the way, Goldwave(tm) appears to be cheap enough to give it a whirl, but from reading their site about the product, which seems ideal for copying phonograph discs to computer in the form of .mp3 files, from their literature, regretably, I see no reason to even hope that Goldwave(tm) has the ability to clean up the type of audio distortion problem you've encountered.

Here's a list of Goldwave(tm) "Restoration" routines
• remove pops/clicks?
• remove hiss, hum, and buzz noise?
• change the bass or treble?

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[donx]

Distortion of that type is similar to blown out video. Getting it back to audible isn't really possible. You might be better off going to your camera audio and boosting it until it is audible.

 

[xpycm]

...As a general precaution when connecting two mismatched audio devices, it's usually a more workable "mismatch" -- to go from a high-impedance output on one device, into a low impedance input of another (rather than the other way around)...

I agree that it might be an impedance mismatch... But isn't it the other way around?.. If you load high-impedance output to low-impedance input, you do a short circuit, you even can blow out the outputting device. Just look at typical specs of any audio unit: e.g., Line Output impedance - 1K; Line input impedance - 470K. For Mic level input impedance - around 600 Ohm because mics are much lower impedance loads...

In your case MP3 recorder, probably, had a mic level low-impedance input, and you connected it with a high-impedance board output: both signal level, and impedance mismatch - need at least an in-line attenuator, like -50db value...

 

[Quiet1onTheSet]

I agree that it might be an impedance mismatch... But isn't it the other way around?..

Woah. That statement I made was altogether backward indeed, xpycm. Thanks for setting the record straight. Low impedance output to high impedance input is acceptable, whereas high to low is potentially disastrous.

:twak:
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[Walk Worthy]

I was afraid I'd hear bleakness in the refrain... Bummer. It's all relative isn't it. Start with a great negative (photographiclly) and you get a great possitive. Back-end resusitation can only go so far.... Thanks for the replies.

 

[dweinkauf]

Sounds like an impedance mismatch to me as well. I run into this a lot when I'm interacting with PA systems. I carry with me a Whirlwind Imp2 Direct box on shoots to match impedances. Sometimes I connect the box to a PA output (high imp) and then into my wireless mic transmitter (low imp). That way I can receive sound anywhere in the space I'm filming with the correct impedance and without wires.

 

[Quiet1onTheSet]

... Sometimes I connect the box to a PA output (high imp) and then into my wireless mic transmitter (low imp). That way I can receive sound anywhere in the space I'm filming with the correct impedance and without wires.

Absolutely brilliant, dweinkauf.

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