Topic: Sony Vegas help!

[atxwolfattack]

hey guy,

So finally i found a program that handles matrix recordings very easily. My only problem is, i don't know how to add gain in Vegas and actually SEE how much gain is being added. In Audacity, when you amplify a track, it amplifies it, then it updates and shows you the waveform with the gain added. But i can't seem to figure out how that works in Vegas. I noticed that if you grab at the top of a clip, and drag down, it removes gain, and it shows it. I mean, i could use the volume slider, but then you have no idea if you are peaking your audio track besides the mixer which only tells you while the audio is playing. grr.

It's just annoying, i would rather not have to go into Audacity, amplify the audio, export a new wav, then bring it into Vegas, if possible. Any help greatly appreciated!!!

[atxwolfattack]

So it seems i have found the "normalize" event which normalizes the audio, works for me. This may just be a general question but i didnt think that just by having multiple channels i would be peaking in my master levels? When i have my mic recording channel turned on, my levels are fine in the master controller, and when i only have the soundboard recording turned on, the levels are fine, but when they are together, it brickwalls. I didn't think this sound happen. Guess i can just turn my master controller down until it isn't brickwalling?

thanks.

[rowjimmytour]

So it seems i have found the "normalize" event which normalizes the audio, works for me. This may just be a general question but i didnt think that just by having multiple channels i would be peaking in my master levels? When i have my mic recording channel turned on, my levels are fine in the master controller, and when i only have the soundboard recording turned on, the levels are fine, but when they are together, it brickwalls. I didn't think this sound happen. Guess i can just turn my master controller down until it isn't brickwalling?

thanks.

Bingo I use master control to set levels for matrix recordings and then I fine tune w/ SF 8 but you could do it in Vegas.

[KLowe]

FWIW....you can mix tracks in SF 8.  I used to use vegas and soundforge for my matrixes....but finally learned a way to mix tracks in SF 8 alone...and it is hella easy and will save you a ton of time and head aches.

[atxwolfattack]

so basically, you are saying the tracks in Vegas don't mix, they just keep amplifying on top of each other? It seems like when i use to do matrix's in audacity (super inefficient) i could have tons of audio tracks on top of each other and they would not make the audio level go way crazy. In Vegas, each time another audio track is added, it starts boosting the volume way past 0db, even if the audio tracks do not clip.

Is there a way to fix this, some sort of box i need to check to mix the channels?

[rowjimmytour]

so basically, you are saying the tracks in Vegas don't mix, they just keep amplifying on top of each other? It seems like when i use to do matrix's in audacity (super inefficient) i could have tons of audio tracks on top of each other and they would not make the audio level go way crazy. In Vegas, each time another audio track is added, it starts boosting the volume way past 0db, even if the audio tracks do not clip.

Is there a way to fix this, some sort of box i need to check to mix the channels?

You can add and subtract gain from each track w/ gain bar under each track but what I do since I prefer SF is set the master volume only to peak around -6dB - -3dB(24 bit recording) or if 16 bit close to -0dB as possible and then I use track mergeand use SF to fine tune from there.
Peace

[yousef]

so basically, you are saying the tracks in Vegas don't mix, they just keep amplifying on top of each other?

I'm not sure what you mean by 'mix' - it sounds like what you want is that when you drop a new track into your matrix, you want the program to drop the level of each track so that their combined output never goes over 0dB - right?

But I'm not sure how this could work in practice, unless you always wanted an arbitrary 50:50 mix of your two sources - not something that would sound good in all, or many, cases.

What I would do is:
 -drop your tracks into Vegas (and do all your time-stretching etc)
 -play the whole thing through with the master control backed off to the point where you aren't clipping/distorting
 -use the volume envelope on one or both of your tracks to adjust the relative mix so that the best sound is achieved throughout
 -re-adjust the master slider so that you're peaking around 0dB
 -export your matrix as a stereo wav

It can be a long, tedious process but the benefit of mixing your tracks like this is that if, for example, you were mixing soundboard and audience sources, you could, say, dip the audience tape during quieter songs when the crowd might be getting intrusive and boost it at the end of songs to get a bit more audience appreciation in there.

Of course, I may have totally misunderstood what you were asking, in which case please move along, nothing to see here...

[Roving Sign]

So it seems i have found the "normalize" event which normalizes the audio, works for me. This may just be a general question but i didnt think that just by having multiple channels i would be peaking in my master levels? When i have my mic recording channel turned on, my levels are fine in the master controller, and when i only have the soundboard recording turned on, the levels are fine, but when they are together, it brickwalls. I didn't think this sound happen. Guess i can just turn my master controller down until it isn't brickwalling?

thanks.

Its clipping in this case - not brickwalling.

When you combine sources - frequencies will either be in phase and reinforce (get louder) or be out of phase and cancel (get softer)

You have to back the volume off each source before you combine...In Audacity I just move the volume fader down 3db...thats usually enough - sometimes 6, depends on the sources.

If you are using 24bit - just leave your self some headroom when recording...

For 16 bit I try to record at max and then reduce in post...

[Gordon]

is there a way in vegas (or wavelab for that matter) to easily calculate how much stretch to do?  I've never had to do any on any of my matrix's but am doing my first video project (synching cam audio to sbd) and it's gonna have to happen.

[stantheman1976]

In Vegas you can do it visually by comparing like points in the audio tracks.  I usually zoom into a significant point at the every end on the original audio, find that same event in the new audio and then adjust slightly until they match exactly.  You can get a dead on match this way.

[tgakidis]

I just got vegas and i am trying to sink a sbd with an audience.  I have the whole show as two seperate tracks (not broken into songs).  One hour+ aud track and one hour+ sbd track.  I am happy with the levels and have lined them up perfectly at the start.  When i go to the end, the tracks are off just a bit.  How do i line these up?

Thanks, Ted

[stantheman1976]

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,101809.msg1357570.html#msg1357570

Thi explains matching a video and an audio source together.  The process is exactly the same for two audio tracks.  Just ignore anywhere it talks about using the video as reference.

Are both your sources digital?  If either came from an analog device they won't match up easily.  Analog recorders have variable speed and the difference from one source to another won't be constant.  Digital devices work at constant speeds so if there's a difference it will be a constant difference and easy to fix.

Also, when you match both sources in Vegas the combined volume might cause clipping in your final output.  You will need to eitehr use some type of limiting plug in or reduce the level on each track a bit until it doesn't clip any more.  Once they're lined up play the loudest part of the recording and adjust each source a bit while watching your master volume.

[tgakidis]

Thanks....

[RebelRebel]

is there a way in vegas (or wavelab for that matter) to easily calculate how much stretch to do?  I've never had to do any on any of my matrix's but am doing my first video project (synching cam audio to sbd) and it's gonna have to happen.

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,44486.msg573088.html#msg573088