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19 Sep 07 - 04:31 AM (#2152462) Subject: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: GUEST,JTT Someone has sent me a CD with a .wav file of some of his work, and it's very faint. I saved it in iTunes and converted it to MP3, and put it on my Shuffle, but it's so faint that I can scarcely hear it. Of course, I can play it on the computer, but I'd like to listen while walking by the river. Is there any easy way to increase the volume of recorded files? Thanks in advance for all the kind and polite help I know I can expect from Mudcatters. |
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19 Sep 07 - 04:36 AM (#2152466) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: Joe Offer Hi, JTT- There are any number of sound editing pckages that will do the trick for you (and help you record LPs to CD, and all sorts of stuff). I've had good luck with packages from Roxio and Magix. Sound Forge worked pretty well for me, too. Sound Forge came free on a Sony computer, and I got big rebates on the Roxio and Magix packages. In other words, they're cheap. There may also be a freeware program you can download, but I'm not really familiar with freeware. -Joe- |
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19 Sep 07 - 04:46 AM (#2152470) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: mattkeen Audacity is free and a very good audio editor Just Google for it |
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19 Sep 07 - 05:07 AM (#2152477) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: GUEST,JTT Ah, I have Audacity (should have said, my puter's a Mac). Thanks very much. But could I ask for a little more help, please? I'm importing the MP3 into Audacity. When I've done that, how do I make it louder? Sorry to be such an ungeek; I'm a simple soul. Last week I watched six episodes of Heroes back-to-back because I couldn't get my neighbours' DVD player working and was lured into the evil toils of Channel 4. |
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19 Sep 07 - 05:13 AM (#2152481) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: GUEST,JTT Oh, and another question - what file format does it need to be for me to be able to play it in my car CD player, please? |
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19 Sep 07 - 05:46 AM (#2152486) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: GUEST,JTT Found an online answer, but I can't find the amplifier filter mentioned in Audacity: "Audacity! It's a great open source audio tool. Guessing your file is a mp3 file, download the audacity and the lame library and import the file. Select all the track and use the amplifier filter :), then export." |
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19 Sep 07 - 05:58 AM (#2152491) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: treewind You might as well start with the .WAV file you were sent originally. Load it into Audacity Press Ctrl+A (or use mouse, menu: Edit | Select All) Then select menu : Effects | Amplify The Amplifier effect will work out the maximum gain possible without clipping. You might as well accept that and let ot do it. Then from the File menu, "Export project as .WAV", tell it where to save the .WAV file and you're done. You can Export as MP3 if you actually want an MP3 Anahata |
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19 Sep 07 - 06:07 AM (#2152498) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: GUEST,JTT Oh, thanks! That works. But how do I now turn the amplified file back into an MP3? Sorry to be so dense. |
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19 Sep 07 - 06:08 AM (#2152499) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: GUEST,JTT Oh, wait, you answered that - export as MP3 if I really want an MP3. I do indeed - it's the only format that'll play on the Shuffle, isn't it? (Or is it?) |
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19 Sep 07 - 06:12 AM (#2152500) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker a common 'one step' option for wav files in sound-edit software menues is "Maximise" ..it might make it sound better.. might not.. |
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19 Sep 07 - 06:40 AM (#2152512) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: treewind Maximize is the default setting for the Audacity Amplify effect. You can then set it to different gains if your want to. Very slightly more work for more useful functionality. It's often a good idea to leave about 0.5dB headroom in case the peaks cause overshoot in any further processing. I have a normalize command line tool on my GNU/Linux system that does the same, and very handy for quickly bringing a batch of files up to the same peak level: $ normalize *.wavCouldn't be simpler! Anahata |
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19 Sep 07 - 07:07 AM (#2152519) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: GUEST,Darowyn If you are concerned about quality, the cause is already lost, whatever sound editor you use. The person who sent you the Wav file should have recorded at the correct level for a start, then Normalised it before burning. If you do this then the digital recording uses all the 16 bits of data available to record the instantaneous volume of the track every 44.1 thousandths of a second. If the signal recorded was 24dB down, the last four bits will always be blank, and the recording will have random errors where the sound level is not quite a round-number value. That is noise, and it is now part of the recording. When you boost the signal, you boost the noise as well. Incidentally, "Maximise" does more than boost the levels. The term is generally used to include a type of compression which aims to keep adjusting the amplification all the time to keep the signal close to the maximum the whole time. In other words, it is turning down the loudest bits and turing up the quietest, reducing the dynamic range. On the other hand converting to MP3 involves some compromises on quality anyway, so it may not matter to you. Cheers Dave |
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19 Sep 07 - 07:20 AM (#2152529) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: mattkeen Not all thats true Dave - though your point that the level was too low in the first place is obviously valid. I quite often record at a lower level than before (in yea old analogue times) as with 24bit recording there is so much headroom that you can make use of the increased dynamic range. I (along with many others recording acoustic music) never normalise or in fact compress anything. I do however automate the level down for the hot spots - a sort of manual compression I suppose. |
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19 Sep 07 - 07:44 AM (#2152544) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: GUEST,JTT Thanks, Dave. Hmm. I've given up and just listened to the programme on speakers - and if it levelled out the sound, the Audacity amplification would certainly have spoiled it, as it uses different levels of sound woven in through each other to create an extraordinary effect. However, the next one I'm listening to isn't so fancy; I'll try it on that. Thanks for all this great help, everyone, it's so useful. |
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19 Sep 07 - 03:47 PM (#2152889) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: treewind Whatever some other program's "Maximize" effect may do, the Audacity "Amplification" effect certainly does not compress. It simply raises the level of all the selected sound by the same amount, exactly like turning up the volume. There is a compressor in Audacity too, but that's a quite different effect. And a hard limiter if you really want to squash it... Anahata |
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19 Sep 07 - 07:26 PM (#2153059) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: GUEST,JTT Hmmm. I'll try using Audacity's amplifier and MP3 exporter on the next lot I get. Thanks! |
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03 Oct 07 - 05:27 AM (#2162564) Subject: RE: Tech: Louder! Louder! Louder! From: GUEST,JTT Further on this, I've now put a CD into my Mac and imported the contents into iTunes. I tried playing it, but the speakers are in the living room and I'm eating breakfast in the kitchen, so I brought the Mac into the kitchen and set it to play through the computer's own internal speakers. While it plays loudly enough on the speakers, I can scarcely hear it on the internal speakers. I tried going to Get Info on the file and upping the volume choice, but it didn't make any discernible difference. Hmmm. |