Using Audacity… 2.3.2 and 2.1.0…I prefer the older version…
I do a lot of simple live recording of bands using a Zoom H2…taking the stereo out
from the mix board…I have the mix guy put the vocals in left channel and all the
instruments in the right channel…works ok…not great…but ok…
I get a lot of strong “peaks” in my files… Audacity.pdf (52.8 KB)
Hope this attachment works…it is a screen shot of Audacity and the “peaks” I get on some recordings…
In order to normalize this file I have to work down each of these peaks individually…take time…
Audacity has a compressor but no limiter…when I compress it will only compress to the extent of the strongest peak…
Meaning I don;t get a full compression…
Is there some kind of limiter I can get to cut back on these peaks…maybe an “add-on” for Audacity or some other software that
I can run the file thru first…
There is a [u]Limiter Effect[/u]. You may have to go into “Add/Remove Plug-ins” to make it show up.
In my “limited” experiments, it appears to be very good. It appears to have “look ahead” because I didn’t see the wave shape doesn’t change when set to “hard limit”. At some point it was updated and I don’t know if your older version has the improved limiter.
Having some second thoughts about this. You can’t overload the recorder and have Audacity magically put the show sound back together. Once you overload the recorder, the digital converters make up their own sound and it’s not pretty—but it is permanent.
I see from your graphic posting, none of the peaks go all the way up and down so you should be OK.
You might like one of the other tools in audiobook mastering: RMS Normalize. You have to install that one.
It sets loudness. We use it to set Audiobook reading loudness to about -20dB and Limiter to squash tips and peaks to the -3dB limit. It doesn’t matter the initial volume and it does it all without affecting voice quality and without compressor pumping.
More questions…
In Audacity 2.3.2…
Effects > there is Add/Remove…
When I go there…it show Limiter as one of the choices…and it is enabled…but does not show up in the Effects list…
What do I need to do…
It appears that there are 2 types of plug-in’s…Nyquist and LV2 and maybe VST…I have absolutely NO idea what these do…
Do I want to install any of these plug-in’s regarding my problem…???
In Audacity 2.1.0 there is no Effects > Add/Remove Add-In’s…and no Limiter in Effects…there is however a Leveller…which I use quite a bit…
But Leveller is NOT in 2.3.2…and also 2.3.2 is missing Edit > Select…can these to functions be added to 2.3.2…???
What is the Audiobook Mastering Suite…I’m not googling anything that I think might be what you are talking about…
Note that the Effects menu has a dividing line. Effects above the line are built-in effects (in alphabetic order). Below the line are plug-in effects (in alphabetic order). Audacity’s “Limiter” is a plug-in effect, so it appears below the line. By default, Audacity has about 18 plug-in effects listed below the line.
That’s the long, inclusive version. If you’re comfortable with Audacity, all you really need is the Process steps.
That’s very much for voices and is tailored for Audiobook Requirements. For example, you would never use the equalization step for music because it’s job is get rid of most bass notes. You might say, “Who would want that anyway?” You might if you’re using a home USB microphone which, through manufacturing shortcuts or outright defects, makes up its own bass notes.
There is a reason Leveller show up under Distortion Effects. Other tools and processes sound much better and the developers were going to shovel Leveller out the door, but we said there was no better way to get Taxicab Voice, 2-way Radio Voice or Air Traffic Controller Voice distortion.
If you’re getting desirable work with it, then you should keep using it, but just know that it’s an older, brute-force tool that intentionally creates distortion to get it’s job done.
In Audacity 2.3.2…I found the Limiter…below the dividing Line…Thanks Steve…
Since I know absolutely NOTHING about using this tool…
If one of you could take a look at my original post where I put the graphic in…
Judging from that graphic…could you suggest a starting point for the Limiter settings…
I have read thru installing Nyquist stuff…not sure yet if I’m gonna do that…as understanding 'mastering" that is getting the file
ready to burn to CD…cut an LP…stuff like that…
My simple recordings on my H2 are made at a small venue…seats 100…that have acoustic artists…blues…folk…bluegrass…no electric
instruments…all I’m doing is making a recording for posterity…about 80% of these bands do NOT have any recordings…I pull out the tracks and do what I can with them…and give the band the raw file to do with as they please…maybe I should be taking it further with mastering…I need to study that some more…
First, Amplify the entire track with the default settings in the “Amplify” effect. This will bring peaks up to 0 dB.
Then I’d suggest trying the Limiter with it’s default settings (as shown in the manual: Limiter - Audacity Manual)
If you want a stronger effect, reduce the “Limit to (dB)” to a more negative setting. -6.0 will limit to about half the track height.
