Are you sure that the volume decline after a few seconds is really in the rendered file? I think it is quite possible that the problem in this case is not in Vegas but instead lies elsewhere.

Here's how to check whether or not Vegas is the culprit: put the rendered file back on the Vegas timeline and then look at the waveforms in the audio file. Do you see the overall "power" of the volume declining (you can see this if you zoom all the way out)? Also, as you play back in Vegas, enable the sound meters and look at what it shows. Is the volume really declining?

I sometimes have exactly the same thing that you described, but it is caused by my Creative Technologies SoundBlaster "X-Fi Titanium" sound card. It has some sort of strange leveling algorithm which is not exactly AGC, but which does sometimes turn the volume way down after 2-5 seconds. I think this is due to an interaction between the card and the external power amplifier which has its own old-fashioned volume control. My solution is to keep the external amp turned all the way up and then control the playback volume with the Windows mixer control.

john, thanks for the reply. The timeline is how I determined that SVP was causing the problem.

In my first post I thought youtube might be the problem but in my 2nd post, after rendering, in the timeline I saw that SVP 11 was causing a spike right when the video's audio started. Or maybe not a spike but the correct volume was suddenly squashed.

Just as described in my first post. I'm going to revert to SVP 10 and see what happens. There's just too many problems with 11. It may be that way with 10.

Any here recommend Adobe After Effects?

Addendum: Here's an image that shows the problem.

http://chazms.com/sony_vegas_pro.gif

Holy mackerel Batman!
What precisely were your render settings?

This is very strange.

Could you try a simple test:

Load a wave file - uncompressed.
Set all gain to unity and no pan.
Render to a new track.

Does the problem manifest itself?

If you invert phase on the new track, does sound cancel out?

What is the original media type that shows the problem ?

What format are you rendering to?

Any fx on the master bus? Any envelopes? Any fx on tracks or events?

Peter

SonyPCH, using these settings (HDV 720-30p (1280x720, 29.970 fps)) everything seems to be working fine. Using (HD 1080-60i (1920x1080, 29.970 fps)) is causing all the problems. My camera is HD so I don't know why I can't use these settings. Thanks for all your replies.

Oh, what is set gain to unity? And far as the audio, I do nothing to it. I'm a musician, record, mix and master all my songs using a DAW. I want no enhancements other than what has already been done to the music. Just want a true recreation.

So it just the one video rendering format. What are the audio reed during settings for the template you are using?

If you render just the audio using the same settings, does the problem persist?

What is the exact source media for both audio and video?

The more details of the settings that cause the problem, the better I will be able to get QA to reproduce and submit an issue against.

Peter

Audio and video settings are at -

http://chazms.com/4vms11/video-audio.htm

SVP 11 won't let me just render audio so I can't answer that question.

Source media for audio is wav. For video, MTS. Sony HDR CX 100 camcorder.

Windows 7 64 bit - Intel Core i7 930 @2.8 GHz - 6 gig mem

Thanks for your assistance, Peter.

Are you stating that VP11 will not allow you to render a wave file. ("Render as> Wave") Try disabling the video track too, via mute or delete.
'Unity gain' is 0.0dB, on both the volume envelopes and faders. On some hardware consoles, 'Unity gain' is notated as "U" on the fader scale.... Not to be confused with 0dBFS which is the maximum amplitude level without clipping, indicated on the peak meters.

"I'm a musician, record, mix and master all my songs using a DAW"
And you don't understand 'unity gain'? Audio 101. Read up.

rraud, never once heard the unity gain expression. I understand 0 db fine. You can read up if you like. I'm doing fine with my DAW.

Addendum: Also, I had earlier muted the video clips to try and render as a wav file. There is no option to render as wav. I was able to render as a wav file using "Real Time Render." After doing this and bringing the rendered wav to the timeline, it is as it should be. No drop in volume. This was done using the highest settings in File | Properties | Audio.

I found a solution that will work. At "File | Properties | Video" changing "Field Properties" to "None (progressive scan)" from the default of "Upper field first" makes it workable. Audio is how it should be.

Template "Custom (1920x1080, 29.970 fps)" works fine doing that. But when rendering, the only choices available are -

Main Concept AVC/AAC (*.mp4)
Sony Tablet
Internet HD 1080P

But "Internet HD 1080P" looks good and sounds good on both VMS 11 and SVP 11 so I'm happy.

Now if something can just be done about the jerkiness when previewing my video on SVP 11. With VMS 11 it's fine.

"There is no option to render as wav"

I cannot understand how you've lost that capability.
In the Render As dialog by any chance have you selected Show Favourites Only?

Wave (Microsoft) (*.wav)

Option should be there or else you're just not scrolling down far enough to find it in VP11.

Bob.

farss, yes, there is an option for that. After clicking "More filter options" on the Render As" window "Audio templates only" appears. Checking that and unchecking all the other options it appears. I had actually found this location earlier but hadn't unchecked "Video templates only."

I will rerun to the earlier render to see if audio only is the problem. But I'm actually satisfied with what I described in the post above. Thanks for your reply.

 

only half the audio is rendered