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Making Audio of different projects have consistent volume/outpul level
Please help. I’m tasked with creating videos to post on display monitors throughout the company. I create the projects in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. I adjust each clip’s gain to hit right below redlining. Therefore, I try to do this with each clip within each project. But when the videos are displayed on the monitors, the volume levels of them are different… which serves as a huge problem because of the lack of consistency with the different videos’ volumes. I obviously don’t have audio training, I’m just trying to figure it out on my own. Please let me know what I’m doing wrong. Thanks for the help.
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5 Replies
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If you are making level changes on the timeline, are those level adjustments making it to the output?
Do you not need to do a audio mix down to create a file of the nex volume? I do t use that software .
What is the play back medium. Files or DVD etc?
PeterPost Production Dubbing Mixer
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Peter, The audio is very low that’s being imported into the timeline. The level adjustments are happening… but it’s a crap shoot on whether one project’s volume will match the next project’s volume. I export the project as a mp4 file.
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OK
If you are ensuring that every bit of every clip is reading on your meters at the same level (or near enough) then the difference on playback can only be1) Caused by different types of sound Ie if you have lots of bass energy causing a high meter reading, but the tv speakers just arent designed to cope with that bass, then they just wont replicate it and whats left after subtracting the bass could be very little. So have a liten to the audio and see if its comparable.
2) you are only making the initial audio hit the metered peak, not all of it. are you riding / adjusting the levels throughout?
3) is your playback system in stereo?
If its mono there may be a phase cancellation issue going on. This could be caused by out of phase recordings, mix, or cables running to the tv??
4) Are all the tvs set up the same and correctly?A piece of software you might like to try is levelator. Google it. Its free and places everthing at the same value. Its effects can be pretty good.
Peter
Post Production Dubbing Mixer
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Mariam, Keep in mind that every audio source is different as Peter said. Just as everyone’s voice sounds different and resonates at different frequencies, every recorded voice and piece of music will sound different as well. So, you can’t go by the clip meter to set everything the same. Most meters only measure peaks, not actual sound level over time. You want to set the “loudness” to the same level, not just the peaks. The best way to do this is to LISTEN! Levelator is a good solution if you don’t have an audio post engineer to help you out, it will add some dynamics compression and limiting to to achieve a better result than no processing at all. I also sometimes use an SPL meter to tell me how loud the source actually is (there are many free SPL meter apps available for iOS and Android). I add a limiter to the mix and push the source level until the SPL meter tells me that (over time) the level is what I’m going for. If you don’t use the limiter, you may find that you have clipping in some projects.
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Without standards you will get lost in about 5 minutes. Use the meters consistently and check with your ears weighed against a model that you know sounds good. Engineering only can result in questionable sound even though the specs look perfect. So a combination of meters, measurement, and human ears is required.
Kyle
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