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Author Topic: Audacity Normalize  (Read 3020 times)

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Offline bluewingolive

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Audacity Normalize
« on: November 08, 2012, 12:21:55 PM »
Hello. I'm working on a set that has alot of talk by the artist, in between songs.  It's integral to the set, but the volume is much lower than the music.  What's the best way to handle this situation:

A.  Highlight the talk and boost gain/volume  or

B. Use Normalize on whole set?  If so, do I leave both boxes (Remove DC and amplitude to -3dB) checked.  I'm not entirely clear on those two check boxes.  Is Normalize really the right tool for handling this?


Offline Brian Skalinder

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Re: Audacity Normalize
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2012, 01:14:38 PM »
Neither amplify nor normalize are the right tool to raise the levels of talking between songs.  Amplify will result in abrupt, glaring changes in volume -- unpleasant for listening.  And normalize will raise the level of the entire set equally...leaving the difference in loudness between music and talking the same, i.e. the talking will still be quiet relative to the music.

Two options:  compression (expansion) and / or volume envelope.  Compression would reduce the loudness of the music relative to the talking.  Expansion would increase the loudness of the talking relative to the music (not sure if Audacity supports this).  And the volume envelope would allow you to customize the fade and amount of volume increases (transitioning from music to talking) and decreases in volume (from talking to music).  I'd probably opt for volume envelope.

See the sticky post at the top of the forum for links to threads about using compression and volume envelope.  Note most of the posts deal with reducing the volume of applause between songs with compression and volume envelope.  You'd follow the same approach, but instead use expansion (sort of the opposite of compression) or volume envelope to increase the volume between songs.
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Offline F.O.Bean

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Re: Audacity Normalize
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2012, 01:44:10 PM »
As always, well said Brian!
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Offline bluewingolive

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Re: Audacity Normalize
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2012, 02:11:35 PM »
Neither amplify nor normalize are the right tool to raise the levels of talking between songs.  Amplify will result in abrupt, glaring changes in volume -- unpleasant for listening.  And normalize will raise the level of the entire set equally...leaving the difference in loudness between music and talking the same, i.e. the talking will still be quiet relative to the music.

Two options:  compression (expansion) and / or volume envelope.  Compression would reduce the loudness of the music relative to the talking.  Expansion would increase the loudness of the talking relative to the music (not sure if Audacity supports this).  And the volume envelope would allow you to customize the fade and amount of volume increases (transitioning from music to talking) and decreases in volume (from talking to music).  I'd probably opt for volume envelope.

See the sticky post at the top of the forum for links to threads about using compression and volume envelope.  Note most of the posts deal with reducing the volume of applause between songs with compression and volume envelope.  You'd follow the same approach, but instead use expansion (sort of the opposite of compression) or volume envelope to increase the volume between songs.

There ya go...glad I asked...did a quick epxeriment with the volume envelope...I think I can get it to work just fine....thanks Brian!

Offline KenH

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Re: Audacity Normalize
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2012, 10:08:22 AM »
Hello. I'm working on a set that has alot of talk by the artist, in between songs.  It's integral to the set, but the volume is much lower than the music.  What's the best way to handle this situation:
I didn't realize that Barry Manilow was touring...  >:D
retired

Offline bluewingolive

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Re: Audacity Normalize
« Reply #5 on: November 09, 2012, 03:10:42 PM »
Hello. I'm working on a set that has alot of talk by the artist, in between songs.  It's integral to the set, but the volume is much lower than the music.  What's the best way to handle this situation:
I didn't realize that Barry Manilow was touring...  >:D
May a thousand camels pee in your gear bag  ;D

 

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