I build a Jukebox that plays hourly broadcasts on schedule all weekend. Some web sites don’t seem to understand what the Dolby-Tone was invented for as some broadcasts come in at a low volume while others come in very loud.
It would be really nice if I could enable an AGC in Audacity to even out these levels to some extent.
Yea?, Nay?
Audacity doesn’t apply effects, filters or corrections during recording.
In post we can totally help. Chris’s Compressor was intentionally designed to even out production variations in volume. He made it so he could listen to opera in the car.
https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/chriss-dynamic-compressor-plugin-for-audacity/
When I use it, I bump up the first value, Compress ratio from 0.5 to 0.77. When I do that, the processing is a ringer for the local radio station.
Koz
Thanks for the insight. I looked at the link and realized that it won’t help in my situation.
I wonder if I can put something to monitor the volume before the signal gets to Audacity.
I wonder if I can put something to monitor the volume before the signal gets to Audacity.
Sure. I use a small sound mixer. That’s it on the left, behind the white headphones.
Even the smaller mixers have some sound metering, although as you get smaller, they’re harder to read.
This is a tiny field mixer near the bottom.
There’s still going to be a short gap while the operator figures out how loud the piece is going to be and corrects it.
I build a Jukebox that plays hourly broadcasts on schedule all weekend. Some web sites don’t seem to understand what the Dolby-Tone was invented for as some broadcasts come in at a low volume while others come in very loud.
This is where we find exactly what you’re doing. You’re really subscribing to on-line music sources and saving them on your local machine. It’s unattended and the volume variations just kill you. Did I hit it?
Koz
“This is where we find exactly what you’re doing. You’re really subscribing to on-line music sources and saving them on your local machine. It’s unattended and the volume variations just kill you. Did I hit it?”
For the most part, yes but it is not by subscription, per se. I have the URLs included in my Juke Box and it tunes to the web site as needed according to schedule. If I am in the same room, I can adjust the volumes but when I am out in the gardens using wireless head phones it gets messy even through I have local volume control.
The weekend is recorded for a one time replay should I be out for a few hours.
The pic shows about 12 hours of recording. It was started at 7:40am so the changes in volume per station don’t line up with the hour marks. Some stations, especially KTOO is always over loaded.
I got nothing.
The broadcast transmitter and its processing is a wonderful thing. you can drive around the city for a week and even change stations without touching the volume control. I enjoy one radio show both broadcast and podcast. The broadcast show is perfectly level. The podcast is almost unlistenable from volume problems.
Recently, some podcasts I take with me hiking feature the show and interstitials at wildly different volumes.
I know I’m going to find that podcasts and other on-line products are produced completely automated and nobody programmed the services to pay attention to volume. Or better, they pay attention to the single company’s standard.
Koz
I just discovered that Windows has an equilization option.
https://www.howtogeek.com/115656/3-ways-to-normalize-sound-volume-on-your-pc/
It was just enabled and now I will have to see what it does…
There are also apps for phones and portable devices.
