A LONG time ago I asked in here how to take the normal MP3 files for an audiobook, and reduce the amount of volume variation. It’s just spoken word, and I want it to NOT get so soft I can’t hear it, or so loud it’s painful. To add to the fun, I have hearing issues and wear hearing aids, so it’s even MORE important 'cause when the audio gets soft it just disappears.
Clarity is really important because my comprehension is compromised, but clear speech at a volume so low it’s nonexistent is worthless. And turning up the volume so the really quiet passages are audible to my assisted hearing makes the LOUD passages like an ice pick into the ear.
I got some replies, and played with some things, and it all got WAY too complicated. I wound up, in version 2.2.2, creating a chain that takes all the files in an audiobook and does some normalization, then exports the MP3 files. It doesn’t work very well.
Recently, I decided to try again. I put 3.3.3 on the PC, and I downloaded and MAY have installed the current chriss dynamic compressor, but even after listening to a really long audio, looking for the 60 seconds I needed in the 43 minutes, I never got it to work in audacity. I DID get it to run one time standalone, but it just crashed when I tried it on a file. There’s a Readme, but it’s an md file, and nothing on the PC appears to open it.
I tried the plugin manager in 3.3.3, but have no idea HOW I’d actually get the is in the folder in the zip file to be a plugin.
Back to 2.2.2 where I could use chains, and have it run against all the files in the book. I did compression at the defaults, then amplify to set the peak to -2db. This makes the volume of the audiobook only somewhat softer than the radio so I don’t have to turn the volume up a huge amount to listen to the audiobook. Which otherwise is a problem when I turn the book off and go back to the radio, which is then so loud the entire car vibrates and we’re back to the ice pick in the ear.
But, when Audacity does the export to MP3 it SAYS it’s doing it at 2Kbps, where previously it was doing at 128 kbps… And takes over a minute to export a file… I have no idea if this is a problem or not. I had my wife listen to the output and she thought it sounded OK, and less sibilant(?) and “scratchy” than a lot of the TV audio. So, I’m not sure if what I’m doing is correct or not.
Anyhow, after all that, I’m looking for a simple, idiot-proof way of taking an audiobook, and reducing the amount of volume change that happens. AND increasing the volume of the “flattened” speech so I don’t have to drastically increase the volume to listen to the audiobook, then get blown out of my seat when I switch back to the radio.
If chriss dynamic compressor is a better approach can somebody tell me how to get it into Audacity and what settings would be best for my situation?
I’d PREFER not to reduce the quality of the playback than necessary, but it has to be simple and something I can apply to all the files in the audio book (which is easy in 2.2.2 and I have no idea how in 3.3.3.)
So is there a simple, ordinary-non-audio-expert-person way, in Audacity, for me to do this?
