Trying to solve this audio problem, got a solution?

Xpred wrote on 3/14/2004, 7:35 PM
Here's the deal. I have one video clip with the audio track loud and the other video clip audio track very soft and quiet. The solution I did was MAX out the MAIN VOLUME (left side panel) for the WHOLE audio track, then turn down the gain for the audio/video clip that's loud, and turn up the gain to max on the other clip that's soft. I was wondering is there another way? I think theres also another way in which you can use the volume envelopes to minimize the volume at certain points, but all these solutions require the main volume to be maxxed out -- therefore, the intial volume is maxed out super loud, and you must then dub down the rest of the clips that have "above normal" loudness in order to compensate and equivocate the softer clips, right? I guess the ONLY way to do this would be raising the volume manually of the softer audio clip on another audio editor such as SoundForge or something?

Comments

Catwell wrote on 3/14/2004, 7:48 PM
I would normalize each event. Right click on the event, select switches, and select normalize. You can set the peak level that you want the sound to reach by going to options, prefernces then select the audio tab. There you can set the level for normalize.
Once the events are all normalized you can use the volume envelope to adjust the individual sections to your taste and then use the volume slider to keep the overall level of the track where you want it.
Watch out! you can easily put the track into clipping after you normalize by increasing either the volume envelope or the slider.
I find that I often need to split an event so that I can normalize sections of it seperately. For example, the applause after a string recital is often much louder than the music. I split off the applause and then normalize the music by itself to arrive a an appropriate level.
Xpred wrote on 3/14/2004, 7:58 PM
Awesome... normalize is pretty good, but what does it do exactly? I'm a little confused and what is the normalize peak level? I don't know how to set or what to set that for.
Catwell wrote on 3/14/2004, 8:18 PM
All normalize does is to raise the loudest peak in your event to whatever value you have set. Usually it will bring it right up to just below clipping. It does not compress or alter the audio in any way except to set it to the maximum level possible without clipping.
When you set the level in the audio tab of preferences, you are telling vegas how loud you want the maximum peak to be. I think the default is -0.1 dBFS, or one tenth of a dB below clipping.
Normalize is good way to get all you audio in the same general range. However it is not perfect because it only sets the peak. The average level may vary considerably.
Xpred wrote on 3/14/2004, 8:38 PM
Is there anyway to do, within Vegas, like a noise filter to remove hiss or unwanted background noise/anything of that nature or do you need another program?

Because now the thing is that the two audio clips are of equal volume, but not necessarily of equal clarity. It seems that I was bad at a few shots where the voice wasn't loud enough and if I raise two or more clips to the same volume, the original-softer-clip will now have tremendous background hiss noise to compensate for the voice... is there anyway to fix the problem as a whole... like perhaps after you're done with the final editing, anyway to make it so the whole track will be equal or some sort of audio effects to do this?
Catwell wrote on 3/14/2004, 8:53 PM
You can apply the noise gate but it will leave you with silence that will jump out at you. You need to maintain the ambient noise in the background or it will will really sound weird. Also it is very difficult to adjust the noise gate so that you do not lose the softer parts of the voice.

The best approach is to use Noise Reduction, another Sony program or plug in. It is not cheap ($279 from Sony). You can get a program called Audacity at the right price (free) which will do noise reduction but not nearly so well as the Sony product. You might try it out as an introduction to the tool. Sony offers a free trial on their product but it is only good for a limited time. It is however, the full working product.

ADDED:

You may still not be able to really solve your porblem. If the sound you want to save is at a similar level to the noise, you can't get the voice seperated from the noise and you may not be able to salvage the audio.
Xpred wrote on 3/14/2004, 9:08 PM
Does Noise Reduction plugin work with Vegas?
Catwell wrote on 3/14/2004, 9:16 PM
Yes.
Xpred wrote on 3/14/2004, 9:48 PM
Ok, I downloaded the trial, but now I get this weird beeping every few seconds -- is this a result of the demo mode or what?
craftech wrote on 3/15/2004, 6:09 AM
Try BillyBoy's tutorial 6 and 7 and see if those simple methods will do it for you.

http://www.wideopenwest.com/%7Ewvg/tutorial-menu.htm

John
Xpred wrote on 3/15/2004, 6:01 PM
Ok, I downloaded Noise Reduction. Now my question is, is there anyway to apply noise reduction to only one section of the clip or one audio clip? It seems that I have to click the plugins, but that changes the plugins for the WHOLE TRACK ... if I want to do it for a single clip on that track, how do I do it?
wobblyboy wrote on 3/15/2004, 6:14 PM
In Vegas you have to drop the clip on a new track and apply noise recudtion to that track. If you have Sound Forge you can edit in Sound Forge and apply noise reduction to just that clip.
Xpred wrote on 3/15/2004, 6:20 PM
Ok, how would I just copy the whyole AUDIO track (not video) or slide the audio track down a few tracks?