In last stage of editing a project with fifty-five pieces of audio...some is music, everything from rap to an old Marvin Gaye song, plus numerous chunks of voice, some of which is very hot and some of which is bit low.

Up to now in these types of projects I have adjusted every piece of audio individually; very time consuming. Usually after burning a test DVD I still have to go back and adjust something.

I experimented with using "Dynamic range compression setting of Music Standard on a similar but smaller project yesterday and it seemed to even everything out...

Is there a tool or any setting in Vegas, that will even everything out?

Try experimenting with WAVE HAMMER. I think it'll do what you need.

Bill, what is it? A plug-in?

fiurst of all ensure all yoru pieces are normalised.. (rght click normalise) this shoudl boost your signals up to the RMS threshold... this will give you the headspace to play around with levels..

wavehammer is a good one, but there are plenty of other plugins for mastering audio, such as Waves and TCNative.. these are direct x and VST audio plugins which can either work in realtime on the track level, or can be processed offline (on the clip level) then reimprted without skipping a beat if u use an app like soundforge (or even audition)
Vegas/forge will create multiple takes of said audio clips depening on whether your opening a copy in soundforge, or whether your opening the original.. sometimes however, it just pays off to go it manually..

This looks like the beginning of a new and terrible learning phase. I hate this.

I have SoundForge 8 but have never even installed it....give me a hint where to begin...do you start out with all audio at the original level and render it in a particular format (I am guessing .wav, but at what settings) and then open it in Soundforge?

Thanks in advance.

Another question....it has never before occured to me to use the peaks of each piece of audio to quickly eyeball and even out audio...is this a reliable method of getting volume levels under control, or are the peaks not a true indicator of actual volume? Anyone know? I'm going through this project now and lowering everything to where the peaks are about the same size and then using an audio volume envelope to raise the the quiet sections. I cannot believe I haven't thought of it before...it's really too obvious...any reason not to start out this way?

Just normalize the audio and save yourself a lot of work.

Just normalize the audio and save yourself a lot of work.

Peak Normalization or RMS? Peaks are not a good indication of level and peak normalization will not even out the level between pieces. If the selected audio has a spike in it and you normalize that to 0 or .2 db below digital 0, the RMS level will still be low compared to other pieces.

I have found that the best method is to manually select and lower the spikes(like an ess sound or a gun shot) then normalize. Then I playback each piece and listen at low volume to determine what jumps out. Then repeat the manual process. Very time comsuming.

I have not found a plug-in that will do this automatically.

Here is a utility (http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Category_Utilities/) that does do this automatically, but it doesn't work in all NLE's or DAW systems.
check out the freebies, they're really powerful, and the paid-for software is at an awesome price too.

BTW Glenn, I'm with you; Normalization shouldn't be a "normal" part of the audio processing practice.

....it has never before occured to me to use the peaks of each piece of audio to quickly eyeball and even out audio...is this a reliable method of getting volume levels under control, or are the peaks not a true indicator of actual volume?...
Although the display can be generally helpful in finding the quiet and loud in your tracks, all volume adjustments should be done by ear. It isn't really about volume, it's about perceived loudness, your ear is the best tool. (accurate monitors help.)

Thanks for the assistance. I will check out the utility Douglas recommends. Seth you are correct about volume vs. percieved loudness.

I used the peak indicators on project to make initial adjustments and it is an excellent starting point. I then went through listening to burned DVD and everything was so close only needed minor adjustments which were easy and quick to make.

BTW, is Wave Hammer only part of SoundForge, and will anyone recommend as to whether it is worth installing to use for sound on NLE projects? I have the program but haven't used it before.

Douglas, thank you for the link to the exact page of the BlueCat utilities I should try...you are most kind...the utilities are intriuging and I'm going to dowload them now! What an excellent resource this place is.

BTW, is Wave Hammer only part of SoundForge, and will anyone recommend as to whether it is worth installing to use for sound on NLE projects? I have the program but haven't used it before.I use it for the final processing step for audio for video that we publish weekly on the web. Works great!

Note that the compression/limiting settings vary depending upon the target. A movie theater can have wide dynamics. Radio broadcasts to car stereos need a lot of compression. TV broadcasts are less compressed than radio. DVDs are less compressed still.

I compress to a medium level for the web, considering that people often listen on cheap speakers near their noisy PCs.

Jon, How do you use it? Do you render an audio file into a particular format eg., .wav and then bring into SoundForge? If you use .wav, is there a best setting?

Thanks

Jon, I just watched your Sword of the Stone and Action Trailer...fantastic...I loved the soundtrack...everything.

Jon, How do you use it? Do you render an audio file into a particular format eg., .wav and then bring into SoundForge? If you use .wav, is there a best setting?Hi Jeff,

I just apply WaveHammer as a plug-in on the Master in Vegas. Previously, I mixed softer and applied more compression. Lately I've been mixing a bit hotter and compressing less, just using the "Master for 16-bit" preset.

Just last night I finished Webisode 5, which includes 40 seconds of "Waltz in a Shooting Gallery", as well as my latest techniques.

http://colonelcrush.com/movie/index/00030501#3

The real trick is EQ'ing your tracks in a way that lets the dialog be clear, while still being able to mix up the foley, sfx and music.

I run two EQ profiles in additional busses. One is for dialog, the other for music. I route the foley/sfx though the one that makes more sense for the given scene/cue. If someone is talking, the foley/sfx is routed as music. If there's no dialog, the foley/sfx gets the dialog EQ, so it doesn't step on the music.

Dialog:
* SMALL bump around 250 Hz (add warmth)
* Smooth dip around 600 Hz (room for music)
* Smooth dip around 2400 Hz (room for music)
* Smooth bump from 5000 to 15000 Hz (add air)

Music
* Medium Bump around 80 Hz (add impact)
* Smooth dip at 300 Hz (voice fundamentals)
* Smooth dip at 1200 Hz (consonants)
* Smooth bump from 2400 Hz to 15 kHz (add air)

It's amazing how much louder you can run everything and still have it intelligible with the above settings. The voices are crisp, and the music, though a bit hollow, can be a bit louder, yet still stay out of the way.

Bill I installed Sound Forge and am playing with Wave Hammer...it is a great program...thanks

Hey Jon,
We must have been posting at identical times...thanks...is there a separate download for WaveHammer only so that it can be applied to Vegas? I;m really enjoying playing with it in SoundForge...it has huge possibilities, I can see.

Jon I just found the Wave Hammer plug in...excellent. I'm dealing with 50 pieces of audio spread over 5 timelines...any reason not to to render into a single .wav file and use compression to smooth out?

WaveHammer works either way. I just put it into the master, but you can render and apply it offline, if you prefer.

I guess the advantage would be that you can render an uncompressed master, then hammer it with different settings for your studio, a DVD, broadcast, the web, etc...

Just make sure that your output never clips. WaveHammer plugged into the master is a nice lazy-man's solution, since it automatically limits - you don't have to sweat the possibility of clipping on that one peak.

Given that we release a video a week, we like lazy-man solutions. Time is precious!

I see...didn't realize WH could be plugged into the master...I like your way of doing it, but am also going have fun playing with Sound Forge...thanks..