I’m partially deaf in the right ear and my digital audio player can’t increase the volume enough on that side. So I’d like to edit the right side to make it louder and I’m wondering if I have to worry about audio quality from doing so. And are there different methods to achieving this in audacity?. Or is it just one simple method?. Thanks
Volume adjustments don’t damage quality unless you go over 0dB and clip (distort) and that will likely happen on most recordings if you simply boost the right channel.
I recommend running the Amplify effect first, and accept the default to normalize (maximize) the volume.
Then **[u]Split Stereo Track[/u]**y so you can edit left & right separately.
Then select the left (bottom channel) and run Amplify again, this time entering a negative value to reduce the volume until it sounds right.
I assume you mean to make that louder overall?. Because my digital audio player has plenty of power to get loud it just doesn’t have in it’s software to lower the left side or increase the right side enough for the disparity.
Iassume you mean to make that louder overall?. Because my digital audio player has plenty of power to get loud
Well yes… Most recordings are already normalized/maximized and in any case you won’t be able to boost the volume in your bad ear that much (without digital clipping) so you’ll have to lower the volume in your good ear and you might need all of the volume you can get.
Alternatively, you can run the Amplify effect (if necessary) after rebalancing the channels. That won’t change the balance as long as you make it a stereo track again before Amplifying.
Ok. Thx for explanations.
Augh sorry. What do you mean by clipping exactly?.
[u]Clipping[/u] is “overload distortion”. You get digital clipping when you go over 0dBFS digitally, or if you try to get 110 Watts out of a 100W amplifier, etc.
Audacity can actually go over 0dB internally without clipping but by default it will show a red waveform, warning you that you can end-up with a clipped file when you export or you can clip your digital-to-analog converter during playback.
Audacity has pre-scanned your file and unless you click Allow Clipping the Amplify effect won’t allow you to push the levels into clipping. But there are things (like boosting the bass) that can push the peaks over 0dB, and in that case Amplify will default to a negative value to bring down the volume.
Whats the point in splitting the stereo?. All I did was change the balance with the first option I saw with the slider and exported it shown in this picture. Is there a downside to doing this method?.
