Hi all,
Firstly many thanks for letting me subscribe to this forum.
I am currenctly using the latest version of Audacity on windows 10.
I am a fairly new user who is also Visual Impaired so I use a screen reader to access it, therefore I am equally a member of the Audacityforblind list.
However I have a question which no one seems to be able to help with.
Basically, I have recordings of meettings done via ms teams where all members are at different levels so I am trying to make the voices all at the same level.
I currently use CM levelator but this means that I have to go from MP4 to Wav then do levelator then back to audacity to get a 32 KB MP3 file to send to my clients via Email.
So how do I bring everyone up to the same level. I have tried Level Speech but it just makes me louder rather than the other clients.
I know Chris’s compressor plug in was suggested as a levelator alternative for Audacity but it is saying after installing that plug in “Plug in mal formed”
So if there’s a levelator alternative for audacity or a way of evening out the volume of voices I would be extremely grateful for any assistance.
I have also tried AGC plug in but no joy.
Many thanks
Chantal
Have you tried the new & improved “LevelSpeech2” …
Hi all,
Firstly many thanks for all your help as I’ve been trying to solve this since January. Unfortunately I have just tried level speech2 but it makes me louder than before, but I can hear the clients now.
Upon listening to the file it sounds terrible as there’s like a massive echo as if we were all in a tunnel so does anyone have any ideas how to get rid of the echo.
Is there not a levelator plug in for Audacity which does the exact same thing as the one from the conversation network as that does the job it just doesn’t support MP3 files hance why I need to work with Audacity which is much more accessible with screen readers too than levelator.
Equally, sometimes there’s long pauses in the recordings while people find books ETC so is there a way to remove those or do I just have to edit the pauses out of an hour long recording.
Many thanks and sorry for the endless questions!
IMO removing echo after it is created is not possible.
If everyone in the group uses headphones that could prevent echo being created.
There are echo-reduction “enhancements” on Skype/Zoom/Windows which can reduce the amount of echo created where people are not using headphones/earphones.
Maybe two passes with different tools are required, e.g. with a compressor/AGC, then a limiter (with make-up gain).
( I believe that’s how levelator does it )
If you attach some audio to a post here, (or post link to some), we can advise on the tools & settings necessary.
Truncate silence (a native Audacity effect) will reduce “silence”, (“Silence” being audio below a user defined threshold).
You are the exact reason I started using Chris’s Compressor. There was one on-line show where one host mumbled in his beer and the other had a laugh rated by the nuclear regulatory agency. It was impossible to listen in the car.
This is release 1.2.6 that I was able to make work.
compress.ny (16.9 KB)
Make sure your machine doesn’t try to add .txt to the end of the filename during the download.
If it still doesn’t work, I’ll try some more tricks.
When I’m using it, I change the first user variable, Compress ratio from the default 0.5 to 0.77. When I do that, Chris produces a radio show identical to a local radio station and their transmitter compressors.
When you launch it, it will say “Compress dynamics…”
Koz
Chris has one bug. It’s a look-ahead compressor and it doesn’t like falling off the end of a show. It could lose its mind and create trash the last second or so. In my case, I always trimmed off the end of the show anyway, so it never bothered me.
Chris won’t be fixing it. He’s like…dead.
Koz
Hi all,
I am using MS teams for the meettings, as I am not permitted to use Zoom.
As requested here is the link to the latest file although it does vary from week to week.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3gyt1etrc5sz9i6/Remote%20Braille%20group%2026th%20July.mp3?dl=1
Many thanks for any help as I am a totally new beginner to this sort of thing but really want to learn.
On that example Levelator® can be substituted by LevelSpeech2 on these settings …
levelling amount 40%
risetime 0.020
falltime 0.100
limiter threshold 0.7
Followed by Normalize to -6dB
[ I would normalize to -2dB, rather than -6dB, then make the mp3, if it has to be 32kbps ].
Truncate silence exceeding 0.5 seconds shortens the playback time by ~20%, see attached
Hi many thanks indeed for this,
Will this work for all recordings as I use both zoom and ms teams regularly.
Do I still need Chris’s compressor I know this is daft but what is the difference between level speech2 and the compressor effect which was mentioned.
kind regards
Chantal
If you apply Audacity’s “loudness normalization” to -22.5dB RMS before any other processing,
then the results should be consistent … Loudness Normalization - Audacity Manual
[ Why -22.5dB RMS ? : Your audio “Remote Braille group 26th July” has an RMS of -22.5dB ].
No. Chris’s Compressor was designed for music. It can be used on speech, but IMO LevelSpeech2 does a better job on speech.
If you need more loudness, replace the step “Normalize -2db” [immediately after Levelspeech2] with Audacity’s Limiter on:
SOFT limit
Input Gain Left 0
Input Gain Right 0
Limit to -2dB
Hold 50ms
Make-up gain NO
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/limiter.html
LevelSpeech contains a compressor and a limiter, (a limiter is also a compressor, but with a very fast response time).
So LevelSpeech effectively has two compressors, one operating on a short time-scale, <1/100th of a second, and another operating on a longer time-scale , ~1/10th of a second.
The Levelator® also applies normalizer, compressor & limiter. I think it would be possible to create a Levelator® macro for Audacity which automatically applied loudness normalizer, compressor/levelspeech2, & (optional) limiter, i.e. automating those steps … Macros - Audacity Manual
Hi all,
Firstly, I cannot thank you enough for all your assistance.
Secondly, although I have copied and pasted the settings into a text file for each effect that I need, would anyone be willing to create a micro plugin like levelator for audacity so I can just use 1 pplug in with all the settings in.
It would be easier for me as a totally blind user and I am sure other users would benifit too.
I did have a look in the manual but didn’t really understand it.
The good news is I have Chri’s Dynamic compressor working, but treaver said level speech2 was better for voice but would like all settings that Treaver suggested in a plug in which I can just copy/paste into Audacity plugin folder and just use it via the effect menu to apply all settings mentioned previously.
Attached is a macro called “Level8or+4” which does Loudness normalization to -22.5, LevelSpeech2 at 40% & threshold 0.7, soft Limiter -2dB, then export as MP3.
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/macros.html#share
The only problem is it is not possible to specify the mp3 quality in the macro, so it will export at whatever mp3 quality setting that was last used, (e.g. 32kbps).
The MP3 generated by the macro ends up in Documents/Audacity/Macro-output.
[ I called the macro “Level8or+4” because the mp3 produced is about 4db louder than Levelator® ]
Level8or+4.txt (274 Bytes)
Attached is same macro, but now with truncate silence added,
set to reduce any silent audio longer than half a second to half a second.
Name of this macro “T-Level8or+4”, (Truncate is the first step).
T-Level8or+4.txt (400 Bytes)
Hi many thanks for that,
One thing I found is that when I used your levelator 4 micro it made me really loud and sounded very echo like rather than turning me down and the others up.
Any ideas?
Many thanks once again.
“Level8or+4” macros cannot create echo.
Inevitably the use of compression/limiter, with make-up gain, will make any existing echo more obvious when it makes everything louder,
( be it echo/reverb in your room, or, more probably, electronic feedback echo created over t’internet, if echo-cancellation is not employed )
There are echo-cancellation options built-in to Zoom, Microsoft teams, etc.
and echo-cancellation can also be in the Windows-sound, microphone-properties, enhancements, tab.
Echo-cancellation prevents echo being made, it does not remove it once it has been created.