Fixing volume issues when not speaking into Mic

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hi,

I’m editing audio from a webinar where the presenter keeps turning his back to the microphone to write on a white board. Other than locating each spot in the audio and amplifying it, is there a global effect that will adjust for this type of issue, e.g., Normalize maybe?

Thanks,

Mike

2

There’s a “Level Speech” plug-in: https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Nyquist_Effect_Plug-ins#Level_Speech
This is a “Nyquist Plug-in”. Installation instructions are here: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/installing_effect_generator_and_analyzer_plug_ins_on_windows.html#nyquist_install

3

Thanks Steve,

I’ll give this a try tonight.

I’m assuming that it looks at surrounding audio and applies the effect to level out the sound relative to that. So would I apply this to the whole of the audio track that contains the problem audio or just locate sections where it needs to be adjusted and apply it there?

Thanks,

Mike

4

You may want to test on selection that has a mix of loud and quiet (“Ctrl + Z” to undo), then apply to the whole track.
It’s not a very sophisticated effect, but it’s very easy to use.

5

This might also be a good place for Chris’s Compressor if it’s still available.

https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/chriss-dynamic-compressor-plugin-for-audacity/

Chris wrote it so he could listen to opera in his noisy car. It’s a look-ahead compressor that evens out volume variations and does a remarkably good job with wild volume swings.

I used it to process a raw podcast so I could listen while walking around the neighborhood.

The only shortcomings I know of is the need to paste a chunk of sound on both ends so Chris will have something to “chew on” before it hits the end. Chris doesn’t like running off the end of a show. Cut off the extra later.

I use the default settings except the first value, compression ratio from the default 0.5 to 0.77 and it simulates the local broadcast station processing.

I may not run any more. I’m having a hard time getting it to install in Audacity 2.4.2.

As we go.

Koz

6

Still there (attached).

dynamic-compressor-for-audacity-1.2.6.zip (1.5 MB)
Koz

7

You understand that what’s going to happen is the voice may or may not stay stable, but you’re going to get a tidal wave of background noise roaring in and out behind the lecture.

These tricks aren’t “free.”

Koz

8

Thanks Koz,

I’ll give that compressor a try too and see which option works better for this talk.

Interesting stuff.

Mike

9

For a long time I recorded the “Car Talk” radio show off-air and either burned it to a CD for the car or a Personal Music Player for hiking. It had all the usual FM radio noises, but it was livable. I had high hopes when they started offering the shows on-line. No more FM noise.

Yeah. And no more FM Transmitter Compressors and Processing, either. One of the performers mumbled in his beer and the other had a thermonuclear laugh.

Over time we figured out how to adjust Chris’s Compressor to even things out and that one setting change was a remarkable match to KPCC-FM. The only restriction was that running off the end of the file thing, but that didn’t affect me very much because the file boundaries took up the slack.

It’s not likely to get fixed because Chris reached End-Of-Life a while ago, although I see there is a new version available and there seems to be someone working on it. 1.2.6 is the last known working version.

I need to may attention to that development.

Koz