Audio levels question

[Philip Younger]

Newbie to Vegas Pro 9!

I have completed an edit which contains several audio clips in addition to sound recorded through the camera - essentially voice-overs to clips and stills.

The problem is the levels, on running the finished edit the audio levels go up and down a fair amount, so I wonder what is the best, easiest, quickest, most correct method of levelling the audio so the viewer isn't straining to hear or being blown out of their chair!

[Don Bloom]

there are many ways to fix flucuating levels in Vegas. The first thing is to set a top level, probably about minus 12db on the master bus. I use the track EQ in the track header and set it to minus 3db then set my audio track to a bus (A) and set that bus to minus 6db using the audio FX Track Compression. On the Master bus I set that to minus 6db as well (nothing can "slip thru") and use an envelope to adjust the levels as needed. If possible use mulitple audio tracks for the different parts of the audio and set each track to a seperate bus. A,B,C etc and use the envelopes to adjust. If you only have 1 audio track then you only need one bus and that gets routed to the master.
You could also use the "normalization" but you'll need to play with that a bit and keep in mind that normalizing the track might not work as well since any higher peaks will throw it off.

[Philip Younger]

Thanks for the answer...... I guess I need to do a lot more reading, it all sounds rather complicated

[Don Bloom]

naw, it really isn't complicated just gotta play a bit. Oh I forgot to mention the FIRT thing to do to help balance levels. In the audio track header on the lower slider, right click on it and there are levels there. IOW, you can set it to; ADD, -3, -6, Film Levels, and Constant. I generally start at -6 so that will lower the track level to that. By setting the Track EQ to -3 and the bus level to -6 things can be kept pretty much in control and using the envelope setting the points where needed you can really control the highs and lows. Before setting the envelope set all the limiters and then play the audio to see where your levels are really at.
If you goto Edward Troxels site which is all things Vegas and go to the newsletter archives, one of them, I'm sorry I don't remember which one it is, has an article about setting audio levels. Good reading.
If you have anymore questions fire away.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Philip

Great advice from Don!! If your levels are varying quite a lot from clip to clip then it's probably a good start to drop a volume envelope onto the audio track to start with!! (Insert on the top menu and you will find the audio and video envelopes there) With weddings I can have audio from loud applause right down to a nervous bride speaking in barely a whisper so sometimes my audio volume envelope line is all over the place and I have to drop the level for loud bits and boost them for quiet ones!! Take a look at help and how volume envelopes work and that should get you started...I usually aim for around the -6db mark on the master level!!

Chris

[Philip Younger]

Chris, I'm sure you are correct regarding Don's advice..... I just didn't realise how much of a novice I am with Vegas!! Buses? envelopes? I haven't got my head around those concepts yet.

I see Douglas Spotted Eagle has just released Vegas Pro 9 editing workshop, in th UK, which I have just ordered to help me get to grips with all this terminology

[Don Bloom]

Phillip,
Spot is a top notch guru with Vegas. You can't go wrong with any of his stuff. Also check the Vegas help menu (F1) and read away. Lots of stuff there about busses, envelopes, levels correction and such. You might also go thru the Vegas orum here and read up all that pertains to your question regardless of which version is being talked about as many if not most of the basics of Vegas are still the same as they were when I started with Vegas 2.

[Philip Younger]

Thanks Don, I've been reading the help file about buses and envelopes and my copy of Spotted Eagles book arrived this morning (good old Amazon!)..... looks like this weekend is going to be with books!

[Marcus Martell]

Wow Don, u r a mine of information.....
Hope you understand that a lot of people like us never uses those settings and the most try to play with envelopes...
for example i'm editing now an audio of a press conference that seems very low, what i did is to insert an envelope and try to adjust the volumes. Waht about the bus?Never used em...
and i'd like also to know when u record with the internal mic of a camera , what are the levels limit on the volume?I mean u don't have to reach 20 on the status check of an fx1 for example?
Gracias

[Don Bloom]

Well there are lots of ways to tackle the problem of low level audio so let's start with a bus first. It allows you to do more finelining of each audio track instead of just running everything to the master straight out. So if you don't have a shortcut on the toolbar over the master audio bus, goto INSERT>AUDIO BUS and drop one in there. Now go to the track header where the audio is and you'll see the square button by the space to name the track. Click on that and you get the choice of master or A. Highlight A and now play the audio. YOu should see the levels in both the A and Master busses. The next thing I do and it's just my preference is to go back to the track header and on the lower slider right click and I choose minus 6 as my level set for that track but in this case you might want to use -3 but don't use ADD as that will build levels on top of each other if there is more than 1 track. To build the ,levels go to the Audio FX and find the Volume FX. I use it at event (clip level) and I build the level from there and then once it gets close to where I want it then I use an envelope to fine line it OR if it's one big clip I can use the levels slider on the bus (not the master bus). Most times for voice I try to keep my average to -12db.
If you get started with this I think it'll come together for you pretty quick and easy.
HTHs

[Marcus Martell]

don i m trying 2 follow you;thanks buddy!U r awesome
when u say:"To build the ,levels go to the Audio FX and find the Volume " what do you mean?Where are audio fx?
I'm stucked here...

[Marcus Martell]

Other question:
when i go to the lower slider and i right click, what does Film stand for?
thx buddy, u can't imagine how happy i am to discover all these functions

[Don Bloom]

OK first right click on the audio clip or event and in there is 'non-real time fx'-thats audio, sorry I should have said that before. When you open that up there is a whole bunch of audio effects and Volume is way down at the end of the list. It's all alphabetical. Actually I would suggest you play around with all of them at one time or another to get to know what they all can and can't do. You'd be surprised how a little tweak here and there can make a hugh difference in the sound quality.
IIRC film level is a louder overall effect and raises the levels across the whole track but it's been so long since I looked at it I can't swear to it. I pretty much have a "preset" of which FX I apply and how much of them I apply to each track depending on what the job is and what the levels are to start with.
When I first switched to Vegas version 2 a long time ago I learned by trial and error and really played and played with everything both audio and video to try to figure everything out. I still don't know 1/4 of what guys like Edward T, Mike K, Spot and Seth B. know.
Play around don't be afraid it won't bite or at least not too hard!
O|O
\--/

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Marcus Martell

...and i'd like also to know when u record with the internal mic of a camera , what are the levels limit on the volume?I mean u don't have to reach 20 on the status check of an fx1 for example?
Gracias

Unless the sound source is really peaky, you probably want to peak at -12db on the status check for most dialog.

[Marcus Martell]

Guys for example:
what about i have wind that crashes on my microphone, which fx do u sugget to cut this bad sound?
OH MY, how many fx over there....