Topic: amplifying song intros more than the actual song

[DisturbedPyro]

just taped a couple last weekend and the musical intros before the songs actually start are a lot quieter than the song itself. i want to amplify the intros to make them louder but you can hear where the recording changes where the over amplification takes place. what is the best way to blend the change to make it less noticable? or is there a better way to make the intros louder without resulting in that sudden change when listening to where you made it louder? thanks in advance

[DSatz]

Disturbed, when you make an acoustical recording you pick up everything in the room, including the sound of the room itself. That's usually the giveaway when you try to boost some particular part of the recording--all the other sound (such as the noise and reverberation of the room itself) comes up in level right along with what you intend to boost, and that change is easily audible.

You might try using a low-pass filter to separate out the rumbly part of the room tone (say below 80 Hz), copy that to one set of tracks and keep it at a constant level while you take the sound above 80 Hz and raise it by a few dB (maybe 3 or 4), then mix the two back together.

But such a modest boost probably won't be enough difference to justify the effort. That's the corner that most two-mike live recording puts you into--there are only a few types of adjustments you can make afterward without ruining the credibility of your recording. Slight adjustments are less risky in this way than big ones, so when you have a moderate or large problem it often becomes a question of "can I alter this enough to be worth the trouble and the risk," and often enough the answer is no.

--best regards

[cybergaloot]

I've done it before on an introduction but I was lucky in that there was an obvious "clean" point to start and end the section I amplified and there was no noticeable jump in background noise. You could play around with the envelope tool and see if its would be too noticeable or not. But I think DSatz is correct, its usually not worth the effort.

[dean]

I usually boost it a touch, just to help, but not enough to make a noticeable difference in room sound.  Also, if the band starts the song with a sudden burst of noise, it's much easier to get away with a bigger bump.

Another method I've heard of but not yet tried is the "volume envelope".  I've seen Brian Skalinder address this in some detail...

But overall, DSatz is correct.  There's not much you can do but some tinkering, and sometimes nothing.

[DisturbedPyro]

this "volume envelope"...is this in audacity or another program?

[cybergaloot]

this "volume envelope"...is this in audacity or another program?

Audacity has it but others have similar tools. It allows you to choose points in the waveform and ramp up or ramp down a selection. Check the help files for whatever program you are using.

[DisturbedPyro]

ok ive been messing around with the envelope tool in audacity. now when i raise the envelope up, and the peaks go past the 1.0/-1.0 field, thats going to cause clipping isnt it? so i have to make sure i riase the bar enough to amplify it but not too much so that it goes out of that field, right?

is there a way to set it so that the envelope will stop right before clipping so i dont have to check each peak myself to make sure its not too high or low someplace?

[cybergaloot]

You can adjust the amount of amplification in the envelope by grabbing the handles (the dots at the points where the envelope "ramps" begin and end) and dragging them back down. See: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/envelope.htm

Note: the envelope can go off the scale as long as the actual waveform doesn't.

Note 2: Not all clipping is evil, I often amp my recordings up so that the "spikes" go over 1.0. Those are usually momentary cymbal strikes and clipping there isn't noticeable to my ears. Anything more than a spike clipped will be noticeable though. YMMV

[Scooter123]

I've been using GoldWave for many years now.  This is what I do.  And I almost always boost introductions.  I make the tapes for me to listen to, and unless the recordings are somewhat normalized, I can't hear the 30 introduction, without getting up off the couch, and boosting the stereo, which is retarded in my opinon.

First, you will hear a part during which the guitar, drums or something comes in or the musician puts his mouth closer to the mike.  Make a mental note of that, and you might see a slight bump in the wave file dynamic range.

GoldWave, and I'm sure others have it too, have the ability to frame that area in a general sense, then once framed, to focus in on that exact area, full frame.  Once you see it, I place an end marker at that exact location.  Go to the beginning of the song, and place your start marker. Then expand that area to full frame, and adjust the markers with your eye.  Then hit the increase volume preset to about 120-150%.  

Thats all thats needed.  

If you want to "blend" the volume in at the end; then go to a point about a half second in front of your point, place an end marker, and increase the volume by 110%, then at the point, place an end marker, and increase by another 110%, then at a point about a half second behind the point, place the marker, there and increase by 110%.  Actually GoldWave has  preset for that too, but I do it manually.

GoldWave is about $30 and offers on line forum type support if you need it.

[Brian Skalinder]

I don't believe Audacity will check peaks for you.  And yes, hitting 1.0/-1.0 on Audacity's scale is clipping.  You can change the scale to DB, if you wish.  Notes on this, and more, here:  http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,71191.0.html.

As you've already found, you could adjust the volume in the quiet sections using the Amplify function, but that would result in sudden increases/reductions in volume, and wouldn't sound very good -- no transition, just an instantenous gain change.

The goal with the volume envelope is to adjust the volume in a flexible way for the quiet section(s) only, and to not adjust the volume of the rest of the recording.  When you first turn on the volume envelope, the yellow line comes in at a baseline of 0 dB, i.e. no gain change.

I've attached an Audacity screenshot to illusrate the flexibility of the volume envelope.  As you can see in the first gain change in the attached image, the volume envelope will allow you to add all the gain, all at once -- just like using the Amplify function.  This results in a squared off transition.  Very distracting during listening.  The volume envelope also allows you to control the slope of the gain change.  See the 2nd example -- it's not a vertical transition from no gain to full gain, like in the first example.  Instead, it's a more gradual, but still linear, transition.  This may suit your purposes, it may not -- play around, use your ears, decide if you like how it sounds.  Finally, the 3rd example shows an example of a curved transition.  You can apply a single curve, controlling which way the curve bends.  You might opt to use two curves, like more of a sine wave.  Up to you.  Note:  I didn't apply the volume envelope in these examples for listening -- they're strictly a visual aid.  The actual volume envelope slope / curve may (will) be different for your application.

You may have to play around with it a fair amount to get the transition(s) the way you like.  But it can be done.  It won't work wonders, but it may make the recording more listenable without having to reach for the volume knob during playback.  And remember, less is more.  The goal (IMO) is not to raise the level of the quiet sections so they're equal to the loud sections, but to simply reduce the difference in volume between the loud and quiet sections.

Alternatively, instead of making the quiet sections louder, you could reduce the volume of the loud sections.  The volume envelope will do this -- just imagine the attached screenshot, but with all the volume envelope points inverted.  But there's not much point in using the volume envelope to reduce the volume of the loud sections.  Instead, you could try compression.  Compression will reduce the difference in volume between the loud and quiet sections.  Links to info on compression here:  http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,117279.0.html.

[DisturbedPyro]

thank you all so much for the help. the envelope tool did the trick. its not a colossal change in the volume lvl of the intros but its enough to be worth doing. thanks again