Hi there -

If each audio recording is on a separate track (I'm assuming it is), you could simply adjust the track level in the Audio Mixing module.



For myself, I'd prefer to modify the levels in an audio editor before bringing the clips into PD.

In PD Ultra (and Deluxe), there's an audio normalisation feature. On mine, these buttons appear to do nothing. Maybe someone else could enlighten us on that... which, according to the Help file, sounds like it's JUST what you need.

Cheers - Tony
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Thank you Tony :

Quote: In PD Ultra (and Deluxe), there's an audio normalisation feature. On mine, these buttons appear to do nothing. Maybe someone else could enlighten us on that... which, according to the Help file, sounds like it's JUST what you need.

Cheers - Tony

The terminology in the help system is inconsistent, but after a little experimentation I got it sorted out:

Add the "nature" clip to track 1 twice.

Open the audio mixer room.

Position the scrubber in the middle of one of the clips, and move the vertical slider in the mixer room. Watch what happens to the horizontal line in the audio clip: a new ball will appear, and the line will bend at that point.

Now position the scrubber at the beginning of the other clip, and move the vertical slider. The entire line will move.

Move the horizontal slider back and forth, and watch what happens to the lines. The lines in both clips will both move, but not at the same speed: PD tries to keep the relative volume levels of the two clips unchanged.

Add a clip of your own that has a substantially higher or lower volume than the other two.

Click on the normalize button. The horizontal line that you "bent" will straighten out; the horizontal lines in the two identical clips will move to the same level; and the horizontal line in the third clip, the one you brought in from elsewhere, will move to a different level.

Now here's the big disappointment: so far as I can tell, "normalize" only works on one track at a time. Jerry Schwartz

Thank you Jerry -

Thorough investigation & explanation. I get it now.

In other NLEs, similar tools balance audio levels between different tracks (say, voiceover & music).

Anyway, disappointing or not, I appreciate your explanation.

Cheers - Tony
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Quote: Thank you Jerry -

You're welcome.

Quote: In other NLEs, similar tools balance audio levels between different tracks (say, voiceover & music)

The more I think of it, normalization between tracks seems less useful. I would think that you'd want to equalize each track, and then mix the tracks at different, appropriate levels. I don't see how a program could figure out what balance you want.

What I would do is normalize each track, and then use the "track gain" (horizontal sliders) to balance the tracks. Then if, for example, you needed to lower the music level to allow the voiceover to be heard you could do that the usual way with keyframes.

I've never had a reason to do precisely that, but it seems straightforward enough. Jerry Schwartz

Another option would be to edit the clips together, leveling the audio as best you can, then producing the video but omitting the actual music track (so you just get the vocals). Then add the produced video back into the project and use it to replace the individual vocal tracks. You could then normalize the single, combined vocal track as a whole.

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