What could also be worth doing, is splitting the sections where the volumns changes, and just pulling the volume down on the loud bit. (same way as pulling gain down on video tracks - using teh envelops)

BUt otherwise, as mentioned, a compressor such as wavehammer will suffice

"is there one preinstalled with Vegas 6"

Yes, it's called Vegas 6, one of the most powerful audio editors available.

How do I select an audio editor? If I select a track and click on tools then "open in audio editor" I get the message that says "there is no audio editor specified in preferences."

I've searched my computer and do not have Sound Forge - perhaps it's on the disk and I never installed it. I'm using Vegas 6.

The project is basically finished and those watching can adjust the sound as needed since I'm in a bit of a time crunch for this one. However, if Sound Forge is on my install disk perhaps i can go back and get it edited and redone in time for the party.

Any other feedback would be great.

Perhaps I'm not doing this correctly but here's what I did. I split an audio track, although it loaded in the "music" section. I set each part of the track with a different volume; however, nothing changed when it was played - it all sounded the same.

Then I dragged one of the splits onto "sound effects" and lowered the volume dramatically, leaving the other on the original music line. As it played it was soft then loud, just what I wanted to achieve.

Am I sort of on the right track (pun intended) here or is there an even better way of doing this? I checked both of my install discs (the original and the one with 1001 sound effects) and do not have sound forge. If I can achieve what I'd want to do being the novice that I am, I'd be happy doing this right in Vegas.

Thanks.

What you're doing is perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with it at all, and may even be the best way to handle certain situations. However, there could be other methods that might be easier though.

If you want to reduce the volume of one split-out section on the same track, hover the mouse pointer at the top edge of the event. It will change to a hand with a pointing finger. Drag down and a blue line will appear. The farther you drag the line down the more the volume will be reduced.

If you have lots of volume changes to make, or need to have the volume fade gradually from one point to another, go to Insert / Audio Envelopes / Volume. A blue line will appear down the middle of the entire track. Double-click on the line to add "nodes". These nodes can be dragged up and down individually to adjust the volume louder or softer. You can add as many nodes as you want.

Thanks, I am going to experiment with this and see what happens.

In another post, which I did not save or print, someone commented about the "Maintain aspect ratio" and whether that should be checked or unchecked. I'm not sure if that was in Vegas Audio or just where. But if someone can tell me which is the correct setting for that I'd appreciate it. Guess I should have printed that message, huh?

I've got the hang of the envelopes/volume and it seems to be pretty easy. Thank you so much for the suggestion.

Now, I've got a question. When i slide the node up, the highest it will go is 6.0. Is there any way to make that higher/louder?

Also, is there a way to scroll in increments such as .1, .2, .3, and so forth without using the mouse to drag the nodes up and down?

Fortunately, there are only a few sections of this 35 minute video that need volume adjustment. Two are done and I'll finish the third shortly. I think this will make a big improvement in the overall final product.

The correct answer for maintain aspect ratio is, "it depends". If you want to maintain the aspect ratio then it's appropriate to have it checked. If you need to alter the aspect ratio then it's appropriate to have it unchecked. It depends on your needs and the situation.

6.0dB is the maximum increase for the volume envelope. However, you could increase the volume level for the entire track with the slider in the track header, then reduce the other notes by the same amount.

If you have an entire clip that is very quiet with no loud peaks at all you can try normalizing it. Right-mouse-button click on it and choose Switches / Normalize. That will increase the volume of the entire clip to make the loudest peak be 0dB. At that point you can reduce it to match the others instead of having to increase it more than the envelope allows.

If you want to get more advanced start investigating the compressor and wave hammer effects. These can automate evening out the volume levels.

I'm not sure about moving the nodes in increments, but you can right-mouse-button click on the node, choose Set to, and type in whatever value you want.

Thank you so much for the additional tips. It's helpful to know that 6.-dB is the maximum. I am going to print the info in this forum for future reference and I can experiment with sound more in the future when I'm not facing a deadline. I'm glad I started this project months ago or I would really be in a panic.

Thanks to the help in this forum, I was able to increase and decrease volume in about 4 or 5 select spots and although it is not perfect/professional quality, it is much improved and will be fine for the event.

If anyone is interseted, I loaded all of my home video DVDs onto an external hard drive and then loaded each one into Vegas. I went through each segment and selected clips of my son's life to compile a "highlight video" for his high school graduation party. I was able to set it to loop so that it will play continuously throughout his party. I just hope someone besides me will watch it!

Thanks again for all the help. i'm sure I will be back asking more questions when it's time for another project.

I am sure everyone knows but you can also press shift while using the enevelop tool and just draw the volume level. Vegas will then create the nodes and set their levels. It is really cool.
http://ds21.cc.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp/~eigo/temp/vegas_envelope_drawing.jpg
As mentioned above you have to add an envelope (the blue/purple line) first using right click and.....
http://ds21.cc.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp/~eigo/temp/vegas_envelope.jpg

I opened this thread hoping to find a simple answer to my first problem, which is, after adjusting the volume levels where I want them for playback by VP8, to save the video file with the adjusted audio so it will be audible with other video players. I have tried project saving as, rendering, and every obvious thing I can find, and the results all seem to come out with the same volume as the original, or no sound at all (rendering).

The original problem was shooting from too far away and not having the volume gain high enough in the original recording. I need to raise the gain for the final edited version so it can be heard when downloaded from Google Video.

The manual contains a lot of great information that I'm sure will some day be needed and understandable but right now I just need to be able to push up the volume for a bunch of video recordings.

Jon

Not sure why it isn't working for you but the answer is the Render as.. function in the File menu.
Select an appropriate video format to output, AVI, MPG, WMV etc and render the to a new file.

The audio should be rendered with the level changes you've made in your time line, similarly any FX you've added, compression, EQ etc will also be rendered in the resultant audio in the video file.

New Hope Media

I made the audio changes so the VP8 playback was satisfactory, then did a render as mpg (the original was also mpg) with a different name. But when I opened it with Windows Media Player there was no sound at all. Not what I expected from reading the manual, and now from your message.

Also generated two adjunct files, with the same name, but extensions mpg.sfl and .veg.

Is there anyone else one can ask about this?

"Is there anyone else one can ask about this?"

Yes there are plenty of people using this forum who will help but I've been using Vegas to produce corporate videos for about 6 years now, Premiere before that, and even won a sound award for a Dolby 5.1 mix I completed with Vegas so I'm fairly certain my answers will work for you ...check out
www.newhope.com.au
... but please anyone else jump in and help....

Jon

You've probably used the MPEG Template for DVD Architect which renders a video only MPEG file by default so you can render a separate audio file as AC3 or WAV for importing into DVDA to author as a DVD.

When you select the MPEG 2 as a render click on Custom and then select the audio tab and tick the 'Include Audio' box> The audio will then be included in your render.
If you choose AVI the audio is normally included without the need to select it as an option but some of the MPEG templates are set up to default without any audio.

The .veg file is a Vegas project file.

The .sfl was created because you had 'Save project markers in the media file' ticked but...If the selected file type cannot save markers internally, Vegas will save the metadata to an external file with an .sfl extension (using the same base name as your media file).

I'm currently in the Mac side of my computer so I'll reboot into Windows so I can stop working from memory and give you more accurate instructions.

New Hope Media

Jon

OK rebooted in Windows XP and I have Vegas up and running.
I'm not sure what format your original video is in but lets assume it's NTSC.
If so a simple choice is the DVD NTSC template in the Mainconcept MPEG-2 'Save as type: selection in the Render as... dialogue box.
That will output both video and audio for you compatiible with the original NTSC format video files.
That's not absolutely necessary if you are uploading it on Google, or any website, or just playing it on a computer but it will render faster if you maintain the same format as the original.
If you happen to be in a country that uses PAL, like I am here in Australia, then select the DVD PAL template.

As you become more familiar with the software you'll find other options and formats that may be more suited to uploading onto the web but at least the instructions here should work.

I'd also try outputting Mainconcept AVC/AAC (that is .mp4) for web upload as you'll get smaller files sizes with good quality.

Mostly the websites like YouTube etc convert them into Flash once uploaded anyway.

New Hope Media

Perhaps I should explain what I did to adjust the volume of the stereo recording:
1. In the lower left corner pane, for Track Number 2, raised Vol. to 5.2dB.
2. Unlocked the volume control to the left of the Preview pane and raised the volume of each track to where the levels were just short of hitting the red when peaking.
3.Right clicked on audio track on the bottom, which caused it to turn lavender, then selected switches | Normalize.
4. Then File | Render as and selected MPEG-2 (mpg).

Result is mpg file with no sound. Am I leaving out some step?

"1. In the lower left corner pane, for Track Number 2, raised Vol. to 5.2dB."

This will raise the level of the track by 5.2dB and the maximum level adjustment is +6db

"2. Unlocked the volume control to the left of the Preview pane and raised the volume of each track to where the levels were just short of hitting the red when peaking."

This is the Master Fader. Unlocking only decouples the stereo pair on this and shouldn't be necessary, or usually desirable. Raising the level on the Master will add additional level to your audio. It isn't the preferred way of achieving a good mix level but in this case I'll accept that it may be necessary to achieve what you need. Basically it WILL work but isn't the ideal method.

"3.Right clicked on audio track on the bottom, which caused it to turn lavender, then selected switches | Normalize."

I avoid the Normalize option because it tends to do things I'd prefer it didn't. The colour change in the track only indicates that the clip is selected. This should not have caused it to mute the sound and I would expect that you have played the result from the timeline prior to rendering it....yes?

"4. Then File | Render as and selected MPEG-2 (mpg)."

OK this relates to my earlier emails and you haven't indicated which template you chose in the MPEG-2 render dialogue box. As I indicated earlier some of the templates are set up to output an MPEG file with just video and no sound.

Which one are you selecting? if it says "Default" click on it and a drop down selection will appear.
I recommend trying NTSC for DVD as a first attempt, again I assume you are based in the USA hence the NTSC choice..
I'd also recommend trying to output the video as an AVI or WMV and playing them in Media Player to check if you have sound.

"Result is mpg file with no sound. Am I leaving out some step?"
Only the selection of an appropriate Template in the MPEG-2 render.

Regards
New Hope Media

Okay, problem solved. When I selected MPEG-2 the template defaulted to "DVD NTSC video stream". Who would expect that would mean no sound? I selected plain "DVD NTSC" and got the sound.

The options need to be more clear about what they mean, and default to "with audio" unless selected otherwise.

Thanks for the assistance.

Look for the video at http://www.constitution.org/mil/tx/rpt/20081115_jr2tcm.htm
after I have uploaded it (and for some reason that isn't working right now).

Jon
Good to hear you got it working.

The reason it defaults to a format without sound is so that you can produce a video stream for DVD Architect and render a separate audio stream as a separate render process either as a Dobly Digital AC3 or WAV rather than an embedded audio track in the MPEG file. In the end MPEG2 is basically a format designed for DVD though it does have other uses.

Final suggestion.

MPEG2 is a large and high data rate file format not designed for replay off the web.
If you aren't submitting it to a website that has its own recompression software, as YouTube does, I'd suggest you try another video format.

I recommend Flash FLV but Vegas doesn't do that itself and I use a separate Flash encoding program, Flix Pro, to encode my Flash files. If you happen to have Adobe Flash Professional software it comes with a Flash encoder. Just select the new MPEG you've created and export an VP6 Flash FLV file. The videos on my website are all Flash FLV versions

If not try the SonyAVC/ACC (mp4) codec for export or perhaps Windows Media for Video 9 (WMV) from within Vegas.

Regards

New Hope Media

I am considering rendering into formats other than MPEG2 but chose that initially for uploads to Google Video because I want to facilitate people downloading and burning DVDs containing them, including many who may lack any tools other than those that are commonly provided with Vista, Mac, or most distros of Linux (which is my own main platform), or any video editing skills beyond the basics. I got VP8 because I wanted a camcorder that can do HD and chose the Sony HDR-SR12. My plan is to shoot much in HD but then render it down to SD for purposes that don't require HD. But some do, such as productions to be aired on cable channels, and for that my other video editors were insufficient.

Another hurtle is to find a good way to feed the audio tracks into a speech recognizer like Dragon Naturally Speaking to get rough transcripts of public speeches I record.

My concern over MPEG2 on a website is the overall file size for upload and download along with the data rate being much too high for streaming over the web with typical MEG2 files sizes approaching 1Gb per 30 minutes duration and normal data rates of 4 to 8Mb/sec.

Also the HDR-SR12 is an AVCHD format camera isn't it so why choose MPEG2 as the SD editing format. Why not cut in AVCHD and then render to a format for upload onto the web. That way you have HD master edits and relatively smaller files sizes afforded by AVCHD files.

Besides MPEG4 is still a good option for DVD and many players now support that as a DVD replay format.

As to the ability to transfer the audio out of your video files for Dragon Naturally Speaking simply render the files as WAV or MP3 from the timeline and you'll have audio files. How you manage to import them into Dragon is not something I'm familiar with though one crazy suggestion is to play the video files off the timeline, or rendered audio files through Media Player, through your computer speakers while simultaneously running Dragon and position the mike you'd normally use to dictate into Dragon near the speakers.

Afterall you can run more than one program at a time.

There may even be a way to assign the audio output from the PC (playing from Vegas or Media Player) as the input for Dragon in Dragon's preferences.
I've done the reverse with Vegas and played audio from another program and assigned Vegas to record the PC's output internally into Vegas.

This will depend on whether Dragon allows that sort of set up but it could potentally be done.

New Hope Media