Topic: first recording

[sweatboard]

I made my first recording last night, Drive By Truckers - Knoxville.  I was hopeing to get some advice on a good audio editing program.  I errored on the side of caution with the levels and I need to bring them up now, I have to crank my radio to listen to it.  The Bass is also really heavy.  What do you suggest I use to fix these two problems that is somewhat easy to use.  Also, I changed my levels drastically about 4 songs in, is it easy to fix it so all the tracks play at the same volume?  Thanks,

Brian

[audBall]

I made my first recording last night, Drive By Truckers - Knoxville.  I was hopeing to get some advice on a good audio editing program.  I errored on the side of caution with the levels and I need to bring them up now, I have to crank my radio to listen to it.  The Bass is also really heavy.  What do you suggest I use to fix these two problems that is somewhat easy to use.  Also, I changed my levels drastically about 4 songs in, is it easy to fix it so all the tracks play at the same volume?  Thanks,

Brian

Way to go on getting out there and taking the plunge.  +T  Sorry for the troubles, though.  I had similar experiences on my first tape about a month or so ago.  I use Soundforge for audio editting...seems to work pretty well.  My tape was boomy too and I wasn't using any shockmounts which I believe was partially the reason.  The venue was pretty boomy(I mean I could feel the vibrations in the core of my body) and I'm thinking the low frequency vibrations ran straight up my mic stand into the mics.  With soundforge (or other similar audio programs) you can boost the gain.  All in all, you'll learn as you go.  You'll improve your methods..trust me..

[sweatboard]

So does increasing the gain in soundforge also make the bass less heavy, or am I stuck with really heavy bass. 

[dgodwin]

you can use some sort of low frequency filter to help make the bass less boomy.  Some people prefer you leave the recording as is, and let them eq the playback. If you share the recording, just make a note of what you did to it.

[sweatboard]

About 1/4 of the way into the show I turned my levels up from about the 10 o'clock position to about 1 o'clock.  What technique would I use to fix the first part of the recording so that it matches up with the end part where I turned the levels up?  I'm getting soundforge so if anyone knows how to do it with that program that would be great.

[admkrk]

About 1/4 of the way into the show I turned my levels up from about the 10 o'clock position to about 1 o'clock.  What technique would I use to fix the first part of the recording so that it matches up with the end part where I turned the levels up?  I'm getting soundforge so if anyone knows how to do it with that program that would be great.

normlization probly works the best. just keep try ing different settings until you get it right. someone else will probly come along and explane it better, just don't forget the undo button if you go too far.

[dgodwin]

About 1/4 of the way into the show I turned my levels up from about the 10 o'clock position to about 1 o'clock.  What technique would I use to fix the first part of the recording so that it matches up with the end part where I turned the levels up?  I'm getting soundforge so if anyone knows how to do it with that program that would be great.

You'll need to do this steps, for each time you adjusted the levels.  I would probably just use the boost/cut feature vs. normalization, but both would probably work.

[sweatboard]

So I just need to normalize or boost/cut the section that is low to match the other part?  Then Normalize the entire thing?

[el gato]

that sounds like it should work

good luck

[JasonR]

For fixing the volume change, here's what I do:
1 - figure out how much you'll be boosting levels of the latter section (the louder one) to bring them up to 0dB (or close if you're of that religion).
2 - figure out how much you'll be doing likewise for the early section (the quiet one).
3 - now find the section of audio where you increased the volume.  Hopefully if you evaluate the section just before and just after the change, they'll match approximately the overall difference in #1 and #2 above.  If not, start there and begin to play around a bit once you understand what's happening.
4 - Apply a fade out across the section where you increased the volume.  For example, if your early levels were about -18dB and brought them up to around -12dB, you'd apply a fade out starting with something like +18dB fading out to +12dB in order to both correct the volume change AND normalize this section.
5 - Then select the early portion and normalize it, and then likewise with the late portion.

For sample accuracy, you'll probably find it easiest to cut up the audio into chunks (three of them in this case) and apply the changes as seperate wave files... which can then be stitched back together.

- Jason