Editing Talk Audio with various volumes

So sorry for all of you professionals because I know close to nothing about this including the lingo associated with this. Please forgive me in advance and bear with me if you will. I know only as much as I have been able to learn from online tutorials. So please if you can answer this or get me in the right direction, I would be greatly appreciative.

I have taken on the job of editing our Pastor’s sermons from church. He range varies throughout the whole wave. I have tried using the envelope tool to adjust the wave when it is too loud, and I seem to have that part down good. But my problem is when he is too low (I can’t even make out a word), I use the amplify effect and it helps, but I can’t seem to get it to balance out with the previous level. When I playback the levels change dramatically…

I tried normalizing the entire wave and removing the D.C. offset (as suggested in a different forum) and I set the new peak amplitude to -1.0. I believe this helped with being able to hear him at his lowest, but it still doesn’t solve the levels being in such contrast one another.

Try Compressor - Audacity Manual.

Please note we don’t write any online tutorials. Be aware that most online tutorials don’t say what version of Audacity they refer to. Many are outdated and some are plain wrong.


Gae