I'm new to this software and I have a movie project that has clips from multiple cameras, and the audio levels are different, how do I balance the audio across the clips. A link to a video on how to do this would be useful. Any assistance would be appreciated. I'm currently using Vegas Pro 23 on am Omnibook X Laptop.
the audio levels are different, how do I balance the audio across the clips
Start with adding 'volume envelopes' To view the envelope envelope (line on the track), press the "V" key. You can add points to raise and lower a track's level at different points on the timeline. The same goes for the audio sub-masters and master . You can also enable a volume track envelope in the track header if the "V" key does not work.. A 'Gain' adjustment on the audio events can be used to attenuate the volume of an event (drag the top line of the event downward). A compressor/limiter plug-in will also help even the levels out. Vegas includes the Track Compressor. If included with Vegas, the Wave Hammer plug-in is a two-stage comp/limiter that can be very effective .. but can cause distortion if used to excess, which btw, emulates the sound of a vintage UA-1176 FET compressor which can be desirable on music tracks. There are also more third-party compressor plug-ins available than I can count.. free or otherwise. Compression and/or limiter plug-ins can be applied to audio events, tracks, sub-masters and master bus as needed.
btw, welcome to the Vegas users community @Jerry-Cain.
@Jerry-Cain Suggest you start by taking it scene by scene with each camera's video and audio on it's own track. Then try and get roughly equal peaks on the audio track meters using the audio track volume sliders. One way to do it is to play each scene through. I usually do it by bouncing a wav render to Sound Forge and running its statistics function to asses both peaks and loudness. Once I get levels into the same ballpark, I then use compressor/expanders to even out wide variances and/or adjust loudness. But only if necessary. Then fine tune phrases that need it with volume envelopes.
I believe you left out an important point, is it music or speech. I would start with simple normalizatio of all clips (music and speech), you can this to "all" clips by selecting all, right click and select "Switches/Normalize". If using VP23, I would select "Auto Normalize". Although mentioned above, I would never compress music. My 2 cents, good luck.
@Jerry-Cain As Howard mentioned, a good start is to have your different sources on different tracks, this way you can first mute all tracks except the one you are audio judging (or solo the track is also possible), adjust the general audio level of that track on the track header whilst keeping an eye on the master bus volume meters.
Next do the same for the other tracks, and finally all together.
If some individual audio events are still to loud, lower them individually, if some audio events are sounding to low,
use "Auto Normalize" as Rich suggests, but personally I would only use it individually, not on all, on only those audio events which sound a bit 'feint' (low volume). The normalize is a bit tricky, sometimes it boosts to much, and you need to move the individual audio event level down again after a normalize.
I do not do "compressor/limiter" stuff, that is way to advanced for my ears or brain!
Normalizing events in Vegas is usually a good idea but does not work well on clips with inconstant level, for instance, an event that has one load peak and the rest of it is low will not help much. In that case, I will use Sound Forge to even out the slip or file first. If 'Open copy in audio editor' is used, a new takes is created with just the events duration, OTOH,, with 'Open in audio editor', the entire file is opened.and if saved in SF, the edit is permanent.,so there is no going back.. unless there a back-up of the file is available..So it is best to use 'Open copy in audio editor' unless you are absolutism positive the edits) are perfect.
@Jerry-Cain This long thread covers many of the concepts that you need. Don't let the "Broadcast Delivery" dissuade you from reading it.