View Full Version : Automatic Volume Control


Joe Voorhees
November 6th, 2008, 01:03 PM
Hello Everyone,

This isn't production audio based but I did not know where else to go...

I have a scanner listening to multiple frequencies and it all goes to one speaker, some channels are very loud while others are soft. I have been turning up and down the volume based on what I needed but its getting rather annoying now and I am looking for some sort of signal processor or interface box to go from the source to the speaker that will level out the audio to a preset DB... Does anyone have any ideas?

Thank you,
-Joe

Steve House
November 6th, 2008, 05:18 PM
Hello Everyone,

This isn't production audio based but I did not know where else to go...

I have a scanner listening to multiple frequencies and it all goes to one speaker, some channels are very loud while others are soft. I have been turning up and down the volume based on what I needed but its getting rather annoying now and I am looking for some sort of signal processor or interface box to go from the source to the speaker that will level out the audio to a preset DB... Does anyone have any ideas?

Thank you,
-Joe

Compressors do what you want but it hardly seems worth the cost for listening to a scanner. Probably cost you more than you paid for the radio.

Ty Ford
November 6th, 2008, 09:33 PM
Steve's right. TV viewers have been suffering from this for a long time, but TV stations don't want to pay for someone to ride gain in master control.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Joe Voorhees
November 6th, 2008, 11:57 PM
Hi Steve/Ty

Thanks guys, that's what I figured and was hoping there was some other option out there I was missing. I've used automatic gain controls and compressors before in a studio but they were designed to be mounted in a rack, and like you said not exactly cost effective!

Oh well, figured I would throw it out there and see what happened.

Thank you for the quick replies.
-Joe

Marco Leavitt
November 7th, 2008, 08:52 AM
I wonder if there is some real time mixing freeware out there? Just a thought. I guess you could use Audacity for this, but you probably would have to be actually be recording. Are you on a PC or Mac?

Marco Leavitt
November 7th, 2008, 09:13 AM
Jackle&Hyde AGC (Automatic Gain Control) VST Effect (http://devilswhisper.com/agc.htm)

Joe Voorhees
November 7th, 2008, 04:39 PM
Marco,

I had not thought of using software to do this, that's a great idea! I've got an old laptop kicking around here somewhere... I have to pull it out and see if I can use that.

Thanks!
-Joe