Im using the latest version of Audacity and want to preview and apply MULTIPLE effects. It seems you can only apply one at a time. Actaually what Im trying to do is attenuate the input to a Waves EQ plugin which is indicating (on the plug in) clipping. I want to use the Amplify effect before the plugin to reduce the input gain. So I really have 2 questions in here 1) how to apply multiple effects blocks simultaneously and 2) I have good levels in Audacity as I preview this EQ plugin, but the Plugin level indicates clipping, so I want to find a way to lower its input signal. I assume that can be done with the Amplify block. I don’t want to reduce the level in the Audacity timeline and leave unused headroom there.
That’s right. Audacity processes (changes) the selected audio immediately. It is not a “real-time” processor (like many Digital Audio Workstations) that apply effects “on the fly” while playing back the original unmodified audio.
Provided that your tracks are in 32-bit float format (default), then you can simply apply a negative amount of amplification to the audio to reduce the level, then apply your plug-in effect, then, if necessary, amplify the resulting audio back up to whatever level you require. Note that when working in 32-bit float format, you can safely amplify the audio up and down thousands of times with no loss of sound quality.
Yes I’m in 32 bit mode so I suppose I can losslessly change the gain of my 24 bit material by (8*6db) 32dB. Right?
I tried my waves plug in the audio editor that is part of Premiere. It works fine there, and the level meters of Premiere display the same levels as the level meters in the plugin. I wonder why with Audacity there is a difference between the two level displays. the plugin is displaying the plugin output and Audacity is displaying the Audacity level. they should be the same. Any idea why not? Anyway I can lower the gain into the plugin using Amplify and then normalize back up in audacity.
Normalize and Amplify are both volume controls that pay attention to the blue wave peaks. They have slightly different talents. Normalize can change volume different for left and right in a stereo show for example. They’re not doing anything particularly magic.
If you apply the Waves EQ plugin in Audacity do you get the resulting waveform at the level that was displayed in the Audacity meters when you previewed?