Real-time audio preamplifier application

Edin1 wrote on 10/27/2005, 6:15 AM
I apologize if this may seem unrelated to Vegas, but I use my laptop for editing, and sometimes when I play back the finished video, the audio volume is not high enough, and I have turned all of my audio playback controls up.
I know Vegas has those controls, but I need to play this from a media or DVD player.
Sometimes I need to show it to more than one person, and it's almost impossible to hear it.
I am wondering if there is a little program (freeware prefered) that preamplifies the audio in real time, on the fly, so that it can be sufficiently loud when it reaches the speakers. Some of my audio files are loud, and I can hear them sufficiently well, so it is only an issue of making audio louder before going to volume controls and speakers.

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 10/27/2005, 1:47 PM
How about using external powered speakers?
Edin1 wrote on 10/29/2005, 4:05 PM
Well, it would sort of defy the purpose of portability with laptop.
johnmeyer wrote on 10/29/2005, 4:19 PM
Well, in re-reading your question, it's true you were asking for software that would pre-amplify. Unfortunately, since such a thing doesn't exist, I immediately assumed the hardware solution. The problem is, that once your waveforms are making the maximum excursion possible (which you can tell from the waveforms in Vegas) then there isn't anything you can do to make them louder, short of applying some sort of compression. If this is what you want to do, and you don't mind altering the character of the sound, then simply apply compression in Vegas.
Edin1 wrote on 10/29/2005, 5:25 PM
Basically, some audio is pretty weak, and my laptop's speakers are kind of strong enough to deliver something close to decent volume, so I am just trying to fill that volume up to its maximum.
Winamp has exactly the thing like that, which is a Preamp control located in its Graphic Equalizer window, and allows pre-amplifying the volume by ±12dB. I guess I should be using Winamp.
kentwolf wrote on 10/29/2005, 6:30 PM
If you have Vegas *and* you have Sound Forge, you could quickly open the audio (copy) in Sound Forge, normalize (or otherwise) it, then the audio is just a "take;" original stays in tact.

To do this doesn't take very long at all.

Just a suggestion...
Steve Mann wrote on 10/30/2005, 12:41 AM
Buy a headphone amplifier.
farss wrote on 10/30/2005, 3:35 AM
If you've got Vegas and SF on the PC just add the WaveHammer FX to the audio bus master and use the Voice (or is it Speech?) preset.
If that don't blow the cones out of your laptop nothing will.

Bob.