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Audio compression. How?
I have a track with music on it and a second track with speech.
No matter what I do, I can’t seem to get the speech track souding nice and ‘loud enough’ while also properly hearing the music from the music track.
It’s as if the levels of the music track need to be real low, then you can’t hear themusic properly, or for the spech to be louder which then it may distort.
Anyway someone mentioned to me that I need to use some form of compresson.. Can someone explain how I can do this on both the tracks please?
How is it that TV broadcasts seem to have everything at the same audio level?
-Frank
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6 Replies
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The proper workflow is to lower the music. This is called “ducking the music” because it “ducks” down behnd the vocal. You use a volume envelope on the music track to lower the music when the voice over is talking and bring it up when it’s not. If you have Vegas Pro 9.0 you can just make a timeline selection for the duration of the VO and drag the volume envelope down and it will make a 4-point duck for you. With other versions of Vegas you will have to manually create the 4 points.
You can also use the Track Compressor on the VO track to give the voice more punch and have it appear to be louder without actually make it louder. I believe the track compressor has a preset for speech that you can use as a starting point.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Thanks for your response… Yeah I have been ducking the music as you suggested.
I think I need to compress the speech track, you’re right. I just have no idea how to use the compressor.
Will try your suggestion on the speech preset.
Otherwise do you know of any good links of learning how to use that compressor in Vegas?
-Frank
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Will try your suggestion on the speech preset.
Actually that preset is in Wave Hammer Surround (which you could also use). The closest in the Track Compressor is [Sys] 6:1 compression starting at -12 dB.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Wow, Cool John! That four point duck tip is one of the best I’ve seen in quite a while. Thanks. Danny Hays
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Wow, Cool John! That four point duck tip is one of the best I’ve seen in quite a while.
Yea, that was introduced with Vegas Pro 9.0. One of the Sony guys showed it to me while I was out at NAB and my jaw just dropped. Ridiculously simple implementation to a nagging problem of adding 4 points individually. I use it all the time now. Glad I could pass it on.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
You can use the Track EQ to create a “notch” on the music track to keep the music from stomping on the VO. Basically, you drop the volume on frequencies which are in the frequency range used by voices. That range is fairly narrow. If that is still not enough, then you can reduce the music volume.
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