I do know what a volume leveler (compressor) can do to sound.

This is just a guess, is the volume level in the audio tracks of Powerdirector at a high level?

PD seems to like lower level audio, when it burns a disk, you are probably correct that a compressor is in use during the disk creation process.

You might go into the Audio Mixing Room and lower the horizontal slider to the left. That slider is a over all level for that track.

The Audio Mixing Room has a slider for each track that has audio.
Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Quote: I hadn't noticed this before, because it's the first time I've produced a music video with PD9.

What file format did you produce the music video in?

Quote: But a compressor is an audio production tool that pulls up the level of soft passages and squashes down the volume of louder passages. When over-used, it can squash the life out of music, make it all artificially about the same volume throughout

This sounds very similar to other issues observed with Dolby Digital in PD which is default in many profiles. I'd maybe try a custom profile with LPCM and see if it corrects the issue.

Jeff

Quote: I do know what a volume leveler (compressor) can do to sound.

This is just a guess, is the volume level in the audio tracks of Powerdirector at a high level?

PD seems to like lower level audio, when it burns a disk, you are probably correct that a compressor is in use during the disk creation process.

You might go into the Audio Mixing Room and lower the horizontal slider to the left. That slider is a over all level for that track.

The Audio Mixing Room has a slider for each track that has audio.

Hi, Carl - Thanks for the reply.

That is good, logical, and excellent suggestion. I'll make another copy with the imported audio track at a lower volume. It probably is hitting some kind of ceiling in PD9, and the program is pushing down the peaks.

Like everyone who produces music in a home studio, I make sure my tracks are at a strong, healthy level, coming in on the average just a hair under "0" DB, the optimum high level. It could be too much for PD9's limit. I do wish the program wouldn't do that, but with the suspected invisible compressor in the chain, they're just making sure the average user doesn't end up with distorted sound.

Unfortunately, I already uploaded to You Tube,- but I'll either replace it with a new copy if it comes out better, or I may try You Tube's service of replacing just the sound track, using the original 2-track master.

EDIT: Ah, just came back from You Tube. The sound track replacement thing isn't what I thought it was. They just provide some canned music to put on your video if you want. Nooooo thank you. I'll try a new video export tomorrow as per your suggestion, Carl.

Thanks again.

Randy B.

Quote:

Quote: I hadn't noticed this before, because it's the first time I've produced a music video with PD9.

What file format did you produce the music video in?

Quote: But a compressor is an audio production tool that pulls up the level of soft passages and squashes down the volume of louder passages. When over-used, it can squash the life out of music, make it all artificially about the same volume throughout

This sounds very similar to other issues observed with Dolby Digital in PD which is default in many profiles. I'd maybe try a custom profile with LPCM and see if it corrects the issue.

Jeff

Oh, Hi, Jeff---Didn't see your reply earlier. You must've been writing when I was replying to Carl.

I produced it as an MPG 2, highest quality settings possible in all areas, including audio. It's a custom profile - I'll have to look and see if Dolby Digital is on, I'm not sure. Thanks for the tip!

Randy B.

Like everyone who produces music in a home studio, I make sure my tracks are at a strong, healthy level, coming in on the average just a hair under "0" DB, the optimum high level.

If you have not yet uploaded a new copy to Youtube,
you might try setting the audio level at -3 DB or even -6 DB, then try that level in PD.

I personally like to do my audio levels at -3 to -1 DB peaks.
When I use Audacity, I do the levels at -1 DB peaks maximum.
Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Quote:

Like everyone who produces music in a home studio, I make sure my tracks are at a strong, healthy level, coming in on the average just a hair under "0" DB, the optimum high level.

If you have not yet uploaded a new copy to Youtube,
you might try setting the audio level at -3 DB or even -6 DB, then try that level in PD.

I personally like to do my audio levels at -3 to -1 DB peaks.
When I use Audacity, I do the levels at -1 DB peaks maximum.

I did some experimenting this morning, making several different copies of the project, with the sound track progressively lower. The faders in PD9 don't have pro audio style db meters, so I couldn't pinpoint lowering by 3 to 6 dbs. What I did was change the default volume of 50 to 40, then 30. These new produced files didn't sound any different - I didn't use anything to actually measure the volume, but it sounded the same to me in the version I did yesterday and these two versions I did today. So - I didn't upload a new version to You Tube since there was no improvement.

BUT--this is very interesting - I checked the You Tube version to do some comparisons with these various produced versions I had of the project. At You Tube- despite the compression they do to videos, the sound was better--!--?!--- There was the slight grunginess to the sound, as there always is on You Tube, and the video quality was slightly pixilated, that was to be expected. But it's as if the sound was re-expanded somehow - The moments in the track which sound suddenly squashed, which is the sound of a compressor suddenly being kicked in - that's basically not there in the You Tube version - It actually sounds better. So, I'm content, and will leave it at that.

--Side note, Carl, about mixing. - When I produce my music in Cakewalk/Sonar, I keep the volume to around -3, like you're saying you do in Audacity. But that mix coming out of Sonar then needs to be Mastered. We leave the original mix at around -3 dbs in order to have head room left for the final mastering. I use Sound Forge for the final work on the 2 track master, and that's when the signal is brought up to near "0." I aim for between -.3 and -.1 dbs, so there's still a tiny bit of headroom to compensate for players that clip at lower levels than they should.

Anyway - I'm happy enough. But I'm still surprised to see that PD9 squashes signals like this, without the user having any control over it. As I said earlier, I am sure that the designers put that invisible compressor in to make it easy for users to avoid getting distortion. Without the compressor, users could easily get into the red, have horrible digital distortion on their tracks, and they'd be frustrated. This way, it's really hard to get distortion in PD9 - it's more fool proof. It's just pretty harsh on sensitive audio material.

Randy B.

rbowser,

The faders in PD9 don't have pro audio style db meters, so I couldn't pinpoint lowering by 3 to 6 dbs.

Maybe you would like to have DB meters show a relative level on your computer.

This meter uses the stereo mix to show the digital audio level on your computer, it is affected by the volume level of your Windows volume slider. (The source is selectable).

http://minorshill.co.uk/pc2/meters.html#digital

It is a good visual of the audio level however.

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Quote: rbowser,

The faders in PD9 don't have pro audio style db meters, so I couldn't pinpoint lowering by 3 to 6 dbs.

Maybe you would like to have DB meters show a relative level on your computer.

This meter uses the stereo mix to show the digital audio level on your computer, it is affected by the volume level of your Windows volume slider. (The source is selectable).

http://minorshill.co.uk/pc2/meters.html#digital

It is a good visual of the audio level however.

Very neat, Carl - Those meters look very helpful. Thanks!

Randy B.