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Need Recommendations on Audio Level limits
I’m working with Vegas Movie Studio 6 and DVDA Studio 3. I’m very weak on the audio aspects of VMS and hope that you kind folks can steer me in the right direction.
I’m looking for advice on the best way to get my final DVD product to have sound levels similar to what I experience on commercial DVDs.
Example: I’m working on a video shot at a friend’s birthday party that took place in a noisy restaurant. My first attempt at burning the DVD required that I turn down my Yamaha amplifier to a -40 dB volume. Normally, I have commercial discs play at -30 to -25 dB.
I’ve seen comments here about using normalize in the switches section. I highlighted the entire audio track and set the limit to -5 dB and then hit normalize. The next disc was better, but still on the loud side. Short of experimenting on some DVD-RW’s, can anyone give me some advice on what they use as a limiter on the recorded audio? What do you use as the limiting dB value? I don’t want to send this disc to our friend and have it blow her out of her chair on start up!
Thanks!
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4 Replies
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I hope you’ll get more answers because I am not familiar with Vegas Movie Studio, but IMHO -5 is not enough. Personally I go between -6 and -12 db. Some pros use -21db camera settings when they shoot.
You can use a limiter but first I’d right-click on the track header and put in a volume envelope. Watch your meters that they don’t go into the red. I think the limiter is to prevent clipping only.
Hopefully some of our audio pros here can add more.
AllenASX Media Group, Inc.
https://www.asxvideo.com -
Just like Allen i’m not familiar with Vegas Movie Studio but don’t start with normalizing and limiting. Start with your volume level. You might try to simply turn down your levels until they are bearable.
Normalizing and limiting are two very specific audio tools. First normalizing is a pretty bad to begin with and is almost never used in professional audio. And a limiter is simply a way of not exceeding a certain pre-set level. Used lightly it will be transparent – used poorly and you’ll likely get a pumping effect (audio volume goes down quickly any time something loud happens then rises again until something loud happens, etc). Using the limiter in this situation might actually make everything louder. Limiters are most often used in trying to gain volume:)
My guess is, and i could be wrong, is that the levels of your subjects are hard to hear in relation to the background level of the location and you raised the master level to be able to hear your subjects.
Welcome to hell. It would take a considerable finesse and experience to correct such a problem – not software or effects. I don’t know the extent of Vegas Movie Studio’s audio capabilities, but i doubt it could correct this.
sorry,
mike -
Thanks, guys, for your assistance. Assume that VMS is pretty similar to Vegas Pro. When you talk about turning down the levels, what is the best way to approach this, especially over multiple clips?
What I am really trying to achieve here is to simply get the final recording’s sound level to more closely approximate the levels found on movie DVDs. My final produce is simply too loud across the board. I need to turn the volume on my receiver way down (down from the volume level I would use with a studio-produced movie) to prevent being blasted out of my seat.
Also, I know some clips are entering the red zone in the graphic display in the mixer.
So, I’d like to get those audio clips out of the red zone. Second, I’d like to reduce all levels, uniformly across all clips, as the entire production is too loud.
Thanks!
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So, I’d like to get those audio clips out of the red zone.
VMS appears to have volume envelopes so that’s what I’d use.
Second, I’d like to reduce all levels, uniformly across all clips, as the entire production is too loud.
Lower the Volume level using the Track level fader.
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