Issues with sound

Bambino wrote on 11/18/2012, 10:49 AM

I have attempted to increase the sound of part of a videoclip on the timeline. It is too faint to show any improvement when I try to insert an audio envelope. I have tried clicking on it --> Apply non real effect FX and navigating to Volume to adjust the volume slider. I have then saved the effect as a Wav file in the window that appears..
When I look in the folder where I've saved such sounds I find them labelled as VTS.OS Take 1, etc. The

I have two questions: a) if I delete the saved wav file, will the volume revert to the way it was before I tried to adjust it?
b) If the volume is still not loud enough, can I repeat the process to make it louder, or will it affect the quality of the sound?

Comments

richard-amirault wrote on 11/20/2012, 8:18 AM

It is too faint to show any improvement when I try to insert an audio envelope.

I find that hard to believe. NO improvement at all? You did put points on the audio envelope so that you can raise that segment only and leave the rest of the track alone?

Steve Grisetti wrote on 11/20/2012, 9:30 AM

Have you tried increasing the audio gain (which is very different than the audio volume)?

mike_in_ky wrote on 11/20/2012, 7:33 PM

Did you "normalize" the audio event?

richard-amirault wrote on 11/21/2012, 8:34 AM

Normalize will not help low passages ... if there are "normal" passages also on the timeline.

Chienworks wrote on 11/21/2012, 10:58 AM

Try normalize first. Often that works fine and is the best solution with nothing else needed. It certainly doesn't hurt or cost anything to try it.

There are a heck of a lot of other things that can be done. The track header allows a +12dB volume increase. A volume envelope allows +6dB. Normalizing can often work wonders, but if there are some loud peaks you may need to Split them out as individual events and then normalize the remaining quite parts. You can add a host of effects that can raise the volume. Compression and wave hammer effects can add 30dB or more easily. Even something like EQ set to flat will allow another +12dB, and raising all the bands to maximum will add yet another +12dB.

However, if adding, say, +24dB doesn't get you to a somewhat usable state then the track may be so low that it's more noise than signal and may not be worth using.

Bambino wrote on 11/23/2012, 3:23 AM

Thanks to everyone for the help. Yes, I have tried normalising, which increased the sound somewhat, and have used an audio envelope to increase the level as much as possible for the sequence of the video clip. I should explain that the clip is taken from a family archive video, circa 1988, so no chance of doing a re-shot!

Sorry, as an amateur I'm not sure what video gain is, or how to use it. And i still don't know if I can delete the wav. files I created via the FX non-real time effect menu, and if they will restore the sound to the way it was before, so I can try something new from scratch.

MSmart wrote on 11/23/2012, 9:16 AM

You could start a new project and place your original video on the timeline, all the stuff you did before will be gone.

To get better results when normalizing the audio, split the auido where there are louder parts and apply the normalizing just on the softer events.

However, applying a volume audio envelope should give you decent results.

TOG62 wrote on 11/23/2012, 10:43 AM

You might want to take a look at the free Levelator program. It does a pretty sophisticated job of adjusting sound levels across a whole sound event. To use it I would do all your editing and then export sound only. Bring that inot Levelator, export and then use that sound file to replace you original sound track.

Bambino wrote on 11/24/2012, 6:11 AM

it sounds rather a long way round, but I'll certainly give it a try if all else fails.

richard-amirault wrote on 11/25/2012, 8:27 AM

Just in case you didn't know ... Levelator is not designed for music, only voice tracks.