Need help normalizing audio level

Jeff9329 wrote on 7/11/2016, 3:33 PM

Hey guys, I need some basic help. I haven't done hardly any editing in the last 2 years and my old brain is losing it.

I have a clip where the audio is a very low level except for one loud bang in the middle of the clip. Because of the loud bang, the normalize wont bring up the audio and I dont want to just bring the level up and distort the bang.

So which audio event effect do I use to bring up the audio? I just cant remember.

Thanks

Comments

ChristoC wrote on 7/11/2016, 3:43 PM

One way:
Split the audio either side of the loud bang (put cursor on either side and press S key), then Normalize each side (right-click, select Switches | Normalize). Afterwards adjust cross-fades at the split boundaries to get smooth transitions between clips and also adjust the Gain of each of the 3 clips as necessary....

richard-amirault wrote on 7/11/2016, 6:41 PM

Or you can insert an audio envelope. Then put three edit points one in right front of the spike, one right after, and one at the peak. (expand the timeline to make this easier)

Then pull down the spike to whatever level you'd like.

Jeff9329 wrote on 7/11/2016, 9:10 PM

Thanks you guys.

Working on it now.

wwjd wrote on 7/12/2016, 9:06 AM

the above is the best way to deal with it.

but keep this in your arsenal as well. it is distortion free no matter how you set it.

http://loudmax.blogspot.com/

Arthur.S wrote on 7/12/2016, 11:37 AM

This is another one. http://download.cnet.com/The-Levelator/3000-2170_4-197650.html

riredale wrote on 7/12/2016, 11:39 AM

Is there a way to specify a particular boost in db? The rubber band only boosts up to 6db, and besides I want to see the envelope.

john_dennis wrote on 7/12/2016, 12:40 PM

"[I]Is there a way to specify a particular boost in db?[/I]"

If you right + click on any point on the volume envelope then select the option "Set to" you can type anything you want. Unfortunately, someone at Sonic Foundry must have been big Eagles fans because all you'll get is 6 db.

"You can check out anytime you want but you can never leave..."

chap wrote on 7/12/2016, 1:22 PM

The "best practice" for this would be if you had sound forge installed as your audio editor. You could Right click and "Open in sound forge", then use a graphic fade at the point you want to reduce, and then normalize the whole thing.

Note that this is destructive editing, unless you "Open COPY in sound forge" which will save the new version as a "take". You can toggle between takes by right clicking as well.

If you don't have sound forge then do the other steps.

Jeff9329 wrote on 7/14/2016, 3:48 PM

Thanks for all the help. That project is done. The audio was okay.

I still wish I could remember what device/plugin I used to use. It had a bunch of sliders to set gain and min/max levels. Worked great.

musicvid10 wrote on 7/14/2016, 7:29 PM

Did you have the fader panel in Vegas open?
Its a worthy but seldom a mentioned feature in Vegas Pro.

JohnnyRoy wrote on 7/15/2016, 9:48 AM

> "...but keep this in your arsenal as well. it is distortion free no matter how you set it. "

+1

Thank you Greg! I just downloaded this and it works great. I was going to say use the Track Compressor or Wave Hammer but this Loudmax plug-in is also very good at compressing the signal to even it out.

~jr