Normalising audio - is audio below the 'target' affected?

Post by **jparnold** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 5:16 am

I fully understand what normalising audio means (adjusting amplitude to ensure peak amplitude matches a 'target') but what happens when there are three audio sources and they have been balanced (ie audio from the video clip plus background music plus voice track).
What do I do?
What I am getting at is that I may have adjusted the overall volume from the video clip (either above or below 100) and I may have used 'rubber banded' adjustments to the background music to change the volume up and down between added commentary (voice) so that the music volume is reduced during commentary and increased when no commentary.Is VS smart enough to keep these balances the same when using 'normalise'.

Or are only the 'peaks' reduced if exceeding some target (whatever that may be) and if the peaks are below this target no changes have been made?

Lastly is there an easy method or normalising the entire 'movie' without having to add the audio filter to every single video and clip 'clip'?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 5:49 am

People will obviously have their own views and practices on this, but frankly, I have never -- not once -- bothered with normalising audio in my projects. I don't really see the point if, as you (and I do), you adjust the volume of the original soundtrack, your voiceovers, and background music or sound effects etc so that you get what sounds to your ears as though it is a good balance. And I can't say I have been disappointed.

That being said, the only place I know where you can normalise the whole audio is on the final page of the burning module as part of the burning process.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 7:59 am

The way I normalise audio is to export the entire audio track as a WAV file (From the Share Tab).
I then open the WAV file with Audacity and use the Normalise option in Audacity. An alternative is the "Envelope" tool which is graphical and so you can "see" what is happening.
Then save the normalised audio track as a new WAV file which is then imported into VideoStudio replacing the original.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:29 pm

Maybe this will help:

Understanding & Using Audio Filters