Is the main volume a temporary or permanent?

Xpred wrote on 3/15/2004, 11:30 PM
What I mean is.... in the past, I've used programs where the main volume is like the volume knob on the speakers -- it's not necessarily the real volume of the sound, it's just the volume projected by the speakers, so it is loud.... I want to know if the main volume is the actual volume, like if you set the main volume highest, and export it back on the tape, it would be at the highest and not just loudness for the speakers. I seem to have a problem in Vegas of finding the correct volume because I have so many audio clips of different loudness, so raising the main volume saves me some time, but I am wondering if this is the permanent effect. I hope this makes sense.

Comments

Caruso wrote on 3/16/2004, 2:31 AM
Not certain what you mean by "main" volume, but you can control volume in two ways (that I know of) - at the track level, by using the slider at the left of each track, or by inserting an envelop on the track and raising and lowering the resultant line. If you have split any clips or if you have separate clips on the timeline, you can use an envelop to control volume for that clip only. At anypoint on the timeline, you may double click the line representing the envelop to create a node. If, for instance, you created two nodes, you could raise or lower the volume between them without affecting the volume ouside the nodes.

This is controlled by the envelop editing pointer which is located just right of the normal edit tool (it's at the top of your screen unless you've moved all those tools somewhere else on the screen).

Play around with it and you'll see how it works.

Vary the volume using either of those tools (slider or envelop edit tool), and the effect you hear will be retained by Vegas when you render your piece.

Good luck.

Caruso
ibliss wrote on 3/16/2004, 2:45 AM
All of the volume controls in vegas have an effect on the rendered output level except the dim button found on the mixer window.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/16/2004, 5:08 AM
And the preview audio slider. It is just for preview video/audio from the trimmer/explore.
DavidPJ wrote on 3/16/2004, 7:22 AM
I believe xpred is referring to the Master Bus Output Fader slider. I have to admit I'm a little confused about this too.

I presume the Master Bus Output Fader affects the volume level of all buses and this volume level will be stored with the project. It's not just a "termporary" volume used for just playback. Double clicking on slider will reset the volume to 0db. Track level volume and audio envelopes can also be used depending on the need. Please clarify my understanding.

Thanks.
ibliss wrote on 3/16/2004, 8:08 AM
David -
Yes, you are correct in your assumptions, though it might be more correct to say that it effects all audio passing through it rather than the level of all busses - sometimes busses aren't routed through the master bus.

There are occasions when you have created several busses and choose to render the busses indivually as wav files - in this case the master volume does not have influence on the level of the audio passing through the sub-busses.
LarryP wrote on 3/16/2004, 10:16 AM
You can right click on an audio event and select switches->normalize. This will maximize the volume for an event. Do this to all the events and you will have more uniform volume.

View the master fader and make sure the peaks don't go above "0" or into the red.

Also check out the PDF manual for "volume envelopes" which give you finer grain control.
ibliss wrote on 3/16/2004, 10:41 AM
"Normalize.... ....Do this to all the events and you will have more uniform volume.

Not always true.
Catwell wrote on 3/16/2004, 2:56 PM
The master fader is the last in the chain of volume controls. If you add FX you can also control levels there. However you need to keep the levels from clipping anywhere in the chain. If you create a clip in an FX you cannot remove the clipping by lowering the master fader. The distortion introduced will still remain. You must reduce levels before any point that would raise them to clipping.

You have set the gain structure throughout the entire system.