Normalize multiple audio events

JohnAsh wrote on 8/9/2015, 3:59 AM
I thought I had come up with a clever trick. To try and balance my audio, I have been Normalizing audio events as I go along (these are the audio part of camera scenes). Doing a batch by "Select all events to end" then right clicking and 'switches', 'normalize'. From time to time I forget to normalize so I go to the beginning of the project, select all the events on all of the audio tracks and click the normalize switch.

I have just discovered that by doing this, I am not switching it on or off but toggling its existing condition. So I have now ended up with loads of audio events with the switch on and others with it off. I cannot right click and adjust properties on multiple events.

Eeek! Do I really have to go through them all and check them one by one? There MUST be a way of doing this in this very expensive piece of software? I do find that the simplest things I want to do are not covered and the many hundreds of other features I never use!

If I select them all in the project list, I can access properties but there are no audio options in there.

Anyway I hope someone can help me out of my state of gloom. Thank you!

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 8/9/2015, 6:19 AM
Try this:
Copy one event (with the switch set the way you want), then select all events and "paste event attributes".
JohnAsh wrote on 8/9/2015, 12:24 PM
Fab. Thanks. I'll try it. It had actually crossed my mind, vaguely, then, in my despair, forgot it again.

Thanks again!
Chienworks wrote on 8/9/2015, 9:18 PM
I wouldn't do this either. You'll end up adding the same volume level to all the events. If you select them all and normalize Vegas finds the loudest peak in the whole bunch and only raises all of them according to that one peak, which means that clips that perhaps should have been raised more won't be.

If you normalize one and then paste it's attributes then Vegas again raises all of them by the same amount, but if that one you did first is overall low any other clips with higher peaks will be driven into distortion.

It's best to do them one at a time, individually, unless you are absolutely certain you have some with identical peaks and do only those in individual batches.
wwaag wrote on 8/13/2015, 2:27 PM
IMHO, here's a better way. I have a script that renders each selected audio event in Vegas and adds it as a take (in other words, it creates a copy). Then open Sound Forge and create a batch job that applies whatever normalization you want (I prefer normalizing to an Average RMS (loudness) rather than Peak level which is done in Vegas.) Run the batch job and now all of your audio events are normalized the way you want and you can always go back to the original.

wwaag

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JohnAsh wrote on 8/16/2015, 4:23 AM
Whoops. I tried pasting the attributes as suggested, before I read the rest of the comments.

But... all seems well. I have gone through the clips at random to manually change them and the effects seem the same. So I am happy with the result, I think. The volume levels I'd set manually remained as they were, thankfully.

I do appreciate all the advice given.
musicvid10 wrote on 8/17/2015, 9:01 PM
Kelly was speaking from an abundance of caution.
Unless you paste something you didn't intend to change, it works quicker than almost anything else, and you can always Undo if you get unintended changes.
Geoff_Wood wrote on 8/18/2015, 6:30 PM
Or an alternative view. If after normalisation any level change is likely to be made, forget the normalisation and just do the volume thing instead straight-off !

geoff