> One of the best additions to Vegas.

Yes, yes it was . . . Not a Bell nor a Whistle just giving us the basics - and WORKS too!

Grazie

Well it did take a bit of jumping up and down to make it usable but I'm now using it a lot.

Bob.

use the limiter in the wave hammer plugin.

You can reduce the cough but don't try to eliminate it.
Since your camera is AVCHD Lite, the audio is already AC-3, so there is no point in using PCM in your DVD.
Render the audio file separately to avoid recompression in DVDA.

You can reduce the cough but don't try to eliminate it.
If the cough is "between words" of the speaker -- in an otherwise empty space -- you *might* be able to eliminate it almost totally.

Use the volume envelope to (smoothly) cut the volume where the cough is -- including some extra time for the echo -- then copy a short section of some nearby "empty" audio and put it on an audio track below this one, so that it fades in and out just as the cough fades out and in.

But this only works if the cough is isolated and doesn't occur while somebody is speaking.

"you can mark a loop region and just pull an envelop down and Vegas will create a 4 point duck"

That's a new one on me, I can't find it in "help". How do you do this?
d

daryl, you need Vegas Pro 9 for this new feature.

Mike

Yes, I have that.
d

daryl, Bob's description was a tad vague :-)

This feature is active as soon as you enable a volume envelope (shortcut key is V).
Highlight the desired area of the timeline and click the Volume envelop line once only.
4 points are automatically added, 2 at the beginning and 2 at the end of the time selection.
Points 1 & 2 are created 1/2 frame before and after the start time.
Points 3 & 4 are the same at the end point.
Note that the two middle points are offset from the start/end by 1 frame only so if you want to have a slow fade in and/or out, these will have to be adjusted manually.

If you want to see something weird, though, try this:
Create a selection area and change the volume which will add the four points.
Now create a new selection area with a couple of those points inside the new selection area.
Next try to adjust ONE of the nodes in the selection area - it creates four new points instead of just adjusting the one node.

These limitations are why I like the fourpoints script that Edward Troxel created.

I've been using Edward's script for a long time now and find it a lot more useful as you can adjust the fade in/out times by changing the length in the script.
I modified it and saved out versions for 1/2 sec. and 2 sec. fades (1 sec. is the default) as this is what I use the most.

Mike

Another trick to increase volume in addition to all of the others mentioned here is to pull that event's audio onto its own audio time line, raise the volume up all the way on that event using envelopes then go to the track header and push the gain there also. That got me what I needed on a low volume event.

As for the Vegas 9 envelopes within region method, see Spot's VASST tip over on You Tube. There are a couple of new ones just posted about 10 days ago and one talks to this specifically.

Hope that helps.

Randy

Don't forget to check "Normalize" while audio track is selected.to get level up to a workable level.

If you have SoundForge that is where you should work on any audio that needs a lot of correction.

"If you have SoundForge that is where you should work on any audio that needs a lot of correction."

I agree. Also I agree with above about ducking the cough, if a bit isolated from speech, and blending a patch of ambient sound from elsewhere in the track to cover the duck.

Thanks rs170a, 'ppreciate it.
d

"Note that the two middle points are offset from the start/end by 1 frame only so if you want to have a slow fade in and/or out, these will have to be adjusted manually."

The 1 frame offset can be changed. I have mine set to 6 frames.
It's in Options>Editing from memory.

Bob.

"Since your camera is AVCHD Lite, the audio is already AC-3, so there is no point in using PCM in your DVD."

There is a point to using PCM, avoiding another generation of lossy encoding.

Bob.

The 1 frame offset can be changed. I have mine set to 6 frames.

That's indeed where it is.
Thanks again Bob.

Mike

You should try ”The Levelator”. Read more about this program here:

http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator

You have to convert your audio to a wav-file.

Jøran

If you have Sound Forge it is better to use the Normalize in there because it will use RMS and do a better job of averaging. Also Sound Forge gives you greater control over what is affected and what is not.

Once you raise the gain you are going to want to lower the noise floor. For that you will need noise reduction software. BIAS Sound Soap 2 does a nice job and is inexpensive. iZotope RX is even better but is more expensive but it can also remove the cough even if someone is speaking over it. I had to remove a chair falling over in the middle of a memorial ceremony and RX very impressively removed it. Newer versions of Sound Forge come with Sony's Noise Reduction plug-in which is also very good. Having some form of noise reduction software in your kit is a must for shooting on location.

~jr

I am surprised to see people recommending normalizing. In the Pro Audio world, normalizing is kiss of death. It is far, far better to use a high-quality limiter. Or is this just a myth?

Andy, the RMS Norm method in Sound Forge is good enough to be considered a clean, effective (if simple) limiter. If I need more control, I use Wave Hammer. But I've turned out some really nice live CDs in half a day using the method. The 'hard ceiling' of other normalizers is what gives them a bad rep.

That being said, JR's noise reduction comments are right on the mark.

@ Bob, I agree on your recompression comment. I was responding from the original question of whether PCM will improve the audio quality from AC-3 source, which we know it won't. If there is room on the DVD for PCM, there is certainly no harm, and avoiding recompression is one valid reason to do so.

I usually don't worry (or think) about one transcode to AC-3, regardless of the source. It just comes with the territory in my workflow, since I would like to use every bit of available dvd space for video, not uncompressed audio.

Thanks for all the responses, really appreciate it. Lots to learn on the audio side too!

Presume you are able to normalize the entire project and then use envelopes to make mods such as to lower background music for voice & then restore?

Sound Forge is a bit expensive for my budget. In addition to the other suggestions, I've seen mention of Audacity. How does that perform for normalization or cough type sound dampening/removal?

As mentioned, the normalization in Vegas adjusts the PEAK LEVELS, not the average (RMS) saturation, which affects the volume we hear. Think of a TV program and a commercial break. They both have the same PEAK volume, as required by law. Yet the commercials sound twice as loud as the program.

If you are going to do this in Vegas, careful compression (and a lot of listening and adjusting of levels) is your answer, and it's going to take some time.