Help Fixing Audio Track

John222 wrote on 4/15/2012, 7:58 AM

OK, I just recorded a school musical. I recorded sound with my camcorder (external mic) and I also recorded the audio feed from the mix console. Overall the audio sounds very good. However, the school only had 11 wireless mics, so the chorus was recorded using two stage mics hung from the ceiling. The kind they use for symphony orchestras. The problem is the songs from the chorus is a little too quiet. How can I increase the level of the audio when the chorus sings. By the way the quiet areas I'm concerned about is where the chorus sings alone. Is there some way to adjust volume for just certain areas of the track? Or is there some way to use one of the Sound Forge tools or effects to tame the peaks and bring up the quiet passages? Any help would be appreciated.

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 4/15/2012, 8:39 AM

Well, you can add the Volume effect and raise its level as needed. (You may need to keyframe the effect to raise it higher at some points that others.)

If your audio level is very low, you may have to add several layers of Volume FX and adjust them accordingly.

musicvid10 wrote on 4/15/2012, 9:26 AM

A modest bit of compression on the audio track will help, start around 3:1.

John222 wrote on 4/15/2012, 1:08 PM

Thanks guys! That worked well. I added one level of volume effect (6) to the problem areas of the track and then I rendered it to AC3. At this point I imported it into Audacity and applied some compression.

Chienworks wrote on 4/15/2012, 4:05 PM

You can add compression right inside Vegas too.

John222 wrote on 4/15/2012, 6:39 PM

I know but every time I use that compressor I mess things up.

MSmart wrote on 4/16/2012, 1:52 AM

I too film school plays/musicals using a similar set up to you. I always use the 3:1 compression with auto-gain and smooth saturation checked, sometimes 6:1. If sections of the audio need additional attention, I add a volume audio envelope and raise or lower areas as needed.

In addition in have the NewBlue Audio Scrubber effects and use the Noise Reduction effect to minimize the hiss/static the external mics sometimes introduce.

Don't be afraid to use the compressors in VMS they work well.

John222 wrote on 4/16/2012, 6:52 PM

Thanks for the great suggestions! I may go back and render for a BluRay edition. If I do, I'll take the time to redo the audio with your suggested settings.