Stereo Wav->Ac3 - without changing volume

tadpole wrote on 9/14/2003, 11:19 PM
I finally found a copy of softencode - can't afford v4.0 yet :(

Don't care about 5.1 sound.. just want a smaller audio file so i can get more video on my DVDs.

I have a simple stereo .wav file (with levels just as a i want them) but converting to ac3 seems to lower the volume too much.

Searched & read many posts on this but really can't find a definitive answer on how to make a simple stereo AC3 with settings that preserve the original levels of my wav file.

Please help.
I have changed 'Dialog normalization' level from -31db to -1, and it did help dramitically - but curious what other settings can help out??
(ie changing the default 'compression charateristics' = Film: Standard" -to->'none')

thanks!

Comments

tadpole wrote on 9/15/2003, 7:04 AM
Ran into a few more posts on this subject - consensus seems you have to 'tweak' the settings for each paticular source file...
(not really excited about this prospect as i am no audio guru)

Curious though - if i drag a pcm wav file into ReelDVD, it automatically converts it to stereo AC3 and it sounds just dandy (only setting to fuss with is the bitrate setting under the project properties)

Still in search of simple default setting for wav -> stereo ac3 file while maintating origianl sound levels... help :)

John_Cline wrote on 9/15/2003, 8:53 AM
Changing from "Film: Standard" to "none" will do the trick.

John
tadpole wrote on 9/19/2003, 9:59 PM
Thanks again for the help JC..

i would just like to follow up on this post - so the next guy having the same problem doesn't get mislead by my post

I said: "I have changed 'Dialog normalization' level from -31db to -1, and it did help dramitically - but curious what other settings can help out??"

Ok, i lied. sorry. It never helped - read several other posts which stated that it did help, so i just said i did it so nobody would post follow ups saying it again.

One would think volume would get louder if as you go from -31 to -1, but its actually the OPPOSITE!

The AC3 decoder will perform attenuation of 31db + your Dialog Normalization level.. (attenuation ~ turing volume DOWN)

So, if change your Dialog Normalization to -1.. then the decoder will attenuate your volume by -30 (31 + -1) resulting in a very soft dull audio track.

As the JohnCline mentioned, changing the Dynamic Range Compression = none, DOES help keep the original sound level.

Dynamic Range Compression only works when your Dialog Normalization to the correct level.......

um.. hard to explain.. this link will do a better job explaining then I
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56020

PS - if i mistated anything here please post... i am still far from expert on this subject.