How to boost audio levels.

Hey guys, i'm kind of a newbie to FCP, I've been editing a lot lately w/ Canopus Edius.... I have a question on how to boost my audio levels of a clip. Is it true I can only raise the level of a clip 12db? I can't find any other place or filter to gain the audio. In Canopus Edius you had 12db of timeline reference then you could drop on filters to gain it. Hopefully I'm just overlooking something...
Thanks for your time

There are several options for you
1. soundtrack pro
2. double up the track and boost both
3. Crank it up, export it, reimport it and crank it again.
4. Put on the parametric eq filter and punch the whole thing.
5. Any combination of the above.
Keep in mind that you are also raising the noise floor and it will begin to sound unnatural. Best solution: audio engineer on set.

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Boosting audio Levels

I am using an ION iTT USB turntable to import LPs into my Macbook Pro. It seems to work well, but the audio levels are low. I'm recording on Analog Ripper and when I "Rebuild Trace" it seems to boost them somewhat, but not enough. When checking my "Import" source as USB in my Macbook Pro there is no input level adjustments possible. Any suggestions on how I can boost the sound so that I don't have to crank the volume on the CD Playback unit up so high?
thanks.

Two thoughts:
First check Audio MIDI Setup utility and see if you can turn up the voluem there.
If not, you might look at using an Audio Editor that offers a "Normalize" function, which will boost the volume:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/GBFAQ.html#audioeditors
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How to match audio levels across tracks?

I'm creating a CD of two-person conversations to use for language study--30 conversations in all. There are several different voice sources; all of them were recorded in a studio, though at different times and places, with small variations in audio levels.
For each conversation, I start by putting each voice in its own track in the timeline. Then I go into the mixer to balance them. While playing the tracks, I check to make sure that the overall volume is just short of maxing out in the Out 1 channel strip; if the red peak indicator comes on, then I lower the volume slightly in the offending track. Once everything is OK, I go back into the timeline and use Export Mix to save the conversation. I go through this same procedure for each of the 30 conversations.
I thought this would result in 30 tracks which have the same overall volume; however, when I burn these tracks to a CD and play them one after another, there is enough variation between tracks that I am forced to fiddle with the volume on the CD player.
What's more, some of the tracks are a bit softer than I'd like. I want to be able to play the CD in a classroom and be sure that all students can hear it clearly. Yet, while I was mixing each track, I made sure to run the volume up as far as possible without causing clipping.
So my question: Have I done something wrong? Is another step needed to get separate tracks to match levels? If so, is this done within Soundtrack, or is it done when burning to CD? And how does one get the tracks even louder without causing clipping?
I'm quite new to audio work, so any help would be greatly appreciated!
Dual 1 GHz Quicksilver Mac OS X (10.4)

I just did a similar project, and I must agree that compression is your friend! It's also an art form. I recommend you search the web and find an introduction to the concept.
You can think of it like this: You set a "threshold", and the compressor automatically reduces the volume of any part of the track gets louder than your threshold. This can have the effect of making the quiet parts of your track louder without letting the loud parts clip.
Of course, there are trade-offs. Go too far, and you'll squash out all the dynamic range from your audio. Also, making the quiet parts louder means making the noise louder too!
Play with it and see if it helps: Click on the "*" button on the track, and add the Soundtrack Pro Compressor effect. Click the "Advanced..." button for the effect, and click the "Show Presets" button. Under "User Presets, Vocal Compressors" you'll find some good starting points. Try them all and see what kind of effects you get.
Once your tracks are balanced you can experiment with putting a single compressor on "Out 1". It can help you get the level of your whole mix up without inducing a bunch of clipping.
Yo should also experiment with the "DeEsser" which helps take the edge of "sss" sounds, among other things. It might be very useful for your project. Take a look at the presets and listen to what they all do. If you use both DeEsser and Compressor, you should probably put the DeEsser first.
When you play with effects, it's good to strive for moderation and to give your ears a break once in a while. Also a good idea to listen to your results on multiple speakers. It's easy to get carried away and make your audio sound very unnatural!
Have fun!

How to adjust audio level on timeline?

Hi,
I want to adjust the audio level using the pen tool on an audio track of the timeline... and I've done it before, but I can't for the life of me remember how. I've imported a voiceover, and have a separate track with the background music. How do I adjust the music level up/down at the point where the narration kicks in/out?
Thanks very much!
Vic

Click on the Clip Overlays button (the zig-zag line at the bottom left of the Timeline window). That will give you a pink line in the middle of your audio tracks where you can use the pen tool.

How to boost audio ipod

Hi & good day,
I need to how to boost the audio on my ipod nano (latest ed.).
This is because in the car, the audio is not sufficient,
is there a way to increase the audio on my ipod nano beyond the max. ?
with best regards,
Omar K N
(Stockholm, Sweden)

I'm not sure this is going to help, but try to convert the songs to a higher bitrate (ei. 128kbps)..... iTunes can do that for you. You don't have to use or download any other software from other third-party site.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1550

How To Track Audio Level by Keyframe Numerically

Hi,
I want to change the track volume from time A to time B by submitting numeric values for track volume at time A and B, and let Premiere alter the track volume accordingly when playing back. Basically, how do I update the value of the keyframe numerically ? How is this done ?
When I place the time cursor in timeline and adjust the track volume in audio mixer and then hit the add-keyframe rhomb at the track head, then it creates a new keyframe, but not with the value of the track volume in the audio-mixer. Unless it was the very first keyframe i've created.
I do not want to alter volume keyframes by dragging, that is not working precise enough to even come close to the targeted volume setting.
I also do not want to record live track-slider changes in the Audio-Mixer.
At http://help.adobe.com/en_US/premierepro/cs/using/WS1c9bc5c2e465a58a91cf0b1038518aef7-7f35a .html i saw "Adjust track volume with keyframes", but wasn't able to find any " ... Track > Volume from the drop-down menu at the head of the clip in the audio track", seems that corresponds to clip volume again and not to track volume.

Well, you may not be happy with my answer, but it is the only way I know of to enter the level by typing a number.
If you set the Track Mixer for that particular track to "Write" and enter the number you want, let's say -6 dB, then you press the play button on the timeline, when you stop the playback, the keyframes will have been set to that level. You can left and right arrow to get the job done also.
You may find that you will want to move the keyframes around after doing that, and you have to be careful not to overwrite the other keyframes, but it does work.

How to finalize audio levels in songs?

what do you do when you're done and getting to the end of mixing your song?
I thought i was told to throw a limiter on your master track to make sure you don't peak and go to high, but when i do that, it sounds awful. it sounds like it keeps trying to limit to much stuff.
but at the same time, if i make sure that all my individual tracks don't peak by putting limiters on them, then i look at the master, i see that i'm still peaking and going into the red. idk how to make sure my final output isn't going into the red without making everything sound awful and compessed so badly.

Haven't done that myself so can't be sure but do know that you can make a copy of the first song/file with different start/end times (method used to make two tracks from the hidden song scenario)and the copy will only be as long as the time specified. So you could always burn from the copy.
Hope that makes sense

QuickTime Export Boosts Audio Level

Hi folks,
I'm working on a DV-NTSC project in which I have received a fully maximized audio track
that I put in the timeline without any processing. I am now exporting the movie
using QuickTime - Current Settings.
The resulting movie should have the AIFF audio exactly the same as the original mix,
but it's consistently hotter. Since the mix is already maximized, that means I get clipping.
I found that when I export using separate tracks the volume is exactly the same.
Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing?

OK, tried the suggestion from Jonas on avoiding 'Export' and used the render queue instead and... Viola! Worked like a charm.
I went back and scrutinized the differences between the two and found the problem; the export settings were set to 44.1khz for the audio vs. the 48k for my render queue setting. I changed the audio to 48khz for the export settings, tried it again, and this time the problem was gone.
Thanks again for the tips and ultimate solution.

I want to attach an external speaker to boost audio level for certain sites with low audio.

I have a Pavilion g7*1237dx Notebook pc.
Does it have bluetooth?

Hi,
Based the following link, No:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&dlc=en&docname=c03072347&lc=en&product=5199554
You can use a dongle (USB - BT) for your machine.
Regards.
BH
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Adjusting audio levels

Hi
I'm working on material where the footage has been filmed by different people and (lucky me), the audio levels are not consistent. On a particular one, the sound level on the camera was turned down so low (I presume) that after capturing, it is barely audible. (and no, there is no chance of refilming the footage!)
I have whacked up the level within FCP but this is obviously causing me problems because you can hear that buzzing noise (dont know the correct term!) that you get when you turn the volume up of something.
I have sort of tried to apply the audio filters here and there to see if it makes any difference but because I'm unfamiliar with terms like frequency, band width, gain etc, I don't know exactly what should be adjusted.
Any ideas would be really useful
Cheers
Jenny x

If you are using FCP 5, then you should take advantage of Soundtrack Pro. You can boost audio levels (normalize) and remove ambient noise/hum/etc.
You can get a taste of how to reduce noise in the STP Quicktour:
http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/soundtrackpro/quicktours/noisereduction.html

Boosting audio - quick solution anyone?

Hi there - I remember in a back issue of iCreate that you could boost audio levels further by exporting and re-importing an audio clip. In theory you may do this over and over.
Can any one shed any light on how to achieve this?
I know its in a back issue and i thought it would be quicker and easier to ask the pros here.
Thanks guys.
Pete in London

You could also download the free trial version of Sound Studio ..hmm, thinks: is the free version still available?.. or Audacity ..which is free!.. or any similar audio editing program.
Then double-click on the extracted audio clip to get the name which the computer calls it (..probably 'Voice 01', or some such..) as distinct from any name which may appear on it if you renamed the video clip before extracting its audio.
Then start the audio editing program, and click on File and Open, and navigate to where the audio clip is stored: that means inside your Movies folder (probably), inside the name of your project, and inside the Media folder within that. (..If trying to find your audio clips just from your Mac's Finder window, right-click, or ctrl-click on the name of your movie, and choose 'Show Package Contents').
Once your audio clip has opened in Sound Studio, Audacity, or whatever, you can adjust the audio level as much as you want, as shown here, but using the 'Filter' and 'Amplify Volume...' menu.
Then use File and Save, and that immediately makes alterations to the original clip within iMovie (..the extracted clip called 'Voice 01' or whatever).
You'll be able to boost the audio that way as much as you could ever want.
HOWEVER: be aware that boosting audio boosts all that bit of audio. So if you have a person talking quietly, boosting it will also boost any background sound which may be present, such as wind noise, general hubbub of conversation in the background, clock ticking, car engine running, or whatever else was on the original audio. So boosting it won't separate a quiet voice from background noise. If boosting the audio also boosts background hiss, you may be able to filter out some of the hiss using the Filter menu in Sound Studio, or whatever audio program you're using. If that doesn't do it, an expensive program like SoundSoap may (..or may not..) be able to remove a constant background noise such as hiss, rumble, fizz, etc, but can NOT remove variable things like background conversation, background music, wind noise, etc.
So boosting imperfect audio just makes the imperfections louder!

Boosting audio tracks in imovie6

i have a project (due on monday!) which i cut in imovie6
all is going well. the client approved the ruff cut on friday. during playback on their projection system i did notice that some of the audio levels need to be boosted. the problem is according to imovie i can't boost them more than the 150% i have them presently set at. is there a work-around?
i read that i can send the tracks to garage band do the volume boost, send the "newly boosted" tracks to itunes and then import them back into imovie. the problem is that w/o access to timecode it is nearly impossible for me to synch the tracks. any thoughts?
thanks in advance
be well
rob

Hi robfilms - this discussion may help:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1934851&#1934851
Also, there is a free audio editing app called Audacity, which can be used to boost audio levels:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15063

Adjust audio levels between keyframes

Hello,
What is the shortcut to adjust audio levels between keyframes (in sequence)? I know the shortcut CTRL ] [ , but this shortcut adjust audio level for entire audio.
I also know I can drag up and down the levels between keyframes using mouse. But some months ago I saw a tip ( from Steve martin) showing
how to adjust audio levels between keyframes using a shortcut..and better,in RT. but I forgot what is the shortcut.
thx

there is no shortcut command for this in FCP, you need to use the mouse to drag the audio level up or down
perhaps its another application your thinking of?

Monitoring peak audio levels?

In FCP 3, I relied on audio meters to ensure that my peak audio levels never went above -6. The meters "remembered" the highest level registered. I could play the entire timeline and come back 30 minutes later and know exactly the highest audio level reached. Now in FCP 5.1, the peak audio level stays on the meter for only about 3 seconds, then resets itself. So, the question is, is there a way to simply measure the peak audio levels to ensure that my program is broadcast safe. Thanks in advance...Brian

I think if you export your final track to soundtrack pro and then normalize, you'll acheive what you're trying to do. You can define how high the highest peak should be. Normalize will not change the relationship within the audio just raise everything the same amount. But, that said, how you perceive audio levels is subjective and levels need to judged with both the meters and your ears.

How do I boost audio??

I have a project where I've blended some audio bytes with a music soundtrack. The problem is that my audio is too faint, and I cant really bring up the volume anymore on it. Isn't there a way to duplicate the whole audio track and stack them so I can boost the overall volume of the audio? So, when I try to simply duplicate that track, it duplicates it but throws all the audio off to the right. I need it to line up with all the track above. Make sense? Please help!
Thanks!

Chris Owen1 wrote:
How do I boost audio
Of course, that could mean "how do I steal audio" depending on which definition of "boost"...
I have a project where I've blended some audio bytes with a music soundtrack. The problem is that my audio is too faint, and I cant really bring up the volume anymore on it. Isn't there a way to duplicate the whole audio track and stack them so I can boost the overall volume of the audio? So, when I try to simply duplicate that track, it duplicates it but throws all the audio off to the right. I need it to line up with all the track above. Make sense? Please help!
Don't do that!
All audio is relative, in a mix. So the way to boost a single track is to lower everything else.
A few tips:
• 1st, your original audio file might be too low to begin with, which might be causing some of the problems. You want to record a hot enough signal, loud enough to begin with, without clipping (going into the red) that it gives you all the volume you need to work with without distortion.
• 2nd, having recorded it, whatever it is, you can apply compression in order to make it sound louder within your mix. Choose the compression effect, and play with the settings. It will let you squash its overall dynamic range, and therefore raise its average level, making it sound louder overall. The last stage of the compressor, makeup gain, allows you to boost its output. If you don't understand exactly how it works, it might be worth it to play with the settings and research "audio compression" through google for more explanation.
• 3rd, lower the level of the other tracks (so they are softer, relative to the track you want to make louder), and then raise the main level of the entire mix, so the whole thing is louder again.

How to boost audio levels.

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