Sony SoundForge's Smooth Preset Wave Hammer equivalent in Audacity?

[Ranx]

Greetings all…

I’m trying to learn how to use Audacity as a replacement to Sony SoundForge, or at least the few regular functions I use frequently when mastering live shows to release as podcasts.

All I ever tend to do to a raw WAV or AIF of a live session is the following steps in this order, and I’d be very grateful if you could help me find the equivalent features (if they exist, or whatever would achieve the closest result) in Audacity.

1. Place markers at the exact start and finish of the section of the audio I want to keep (before deleting the excess to leave just the show and none of the set up soundchecks or crowd leaving the venue).

2. Normalize left channel.

3. Normalize right channel.

4. Select all audio (both channels) and apply Wave Hammer using presets Smooth or Medium (so the audio is boosted to nice and loud levels for listening back on car stereos or personal stereos, so that quieter dialogue or music parts are nearer the volume of the loudest parts) and the waveform looks more consistently the same level throughout.

5. Normalize both channels together.

6. Apply five-second fade-in at the start.

7. Apply five-second fade-out at the end.

• occassionally I need to place multiple markers throughout the entire recording and delete portions in between those markers, such as for songs I don’t have the rights to release yet which were featured within the show. I there a way to do this too?

Thank you very much for your help, and big thanks to all the developers for giving us a free SoundForge equivalent.
I hope to hear from you soon.

[steve]

1. Place markers at the exact start and finish of the section of the audio I want to keep (before deleting the excess to leave just the show and none of the set up soundchecks or crowd leaving the venue).

Select the audio that you wish to retain,
then “Edit menu > Remove Special > Trim Audio” (or “Ctrl + T”) Edit Menu: Remove Special - Audacity Manual

2. Normalize left channel.

3. Normalize right channel.

https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/normalize.html

6. Apply five-second fade-in at the start.

Select the first 5 seconds of audio,
then apply “Fade In” effect.
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/fades.html#linearfade

More complex fade types may be applied with the “Adjustable Fade” effect: Adjustable Fade - Audacity Manual

7. Apply five-second fade-out at the end.

Select the final 5 seconds of audio,
then apply “Fade Out” effect.

Alternatively you could use the “Studio Fade Out” effect (Fades - Audacity Manual)
or “Adjustable Fade”.

occassionally I need to place multiple markers throughout the entire recording

Sounds like a job for “Labels”: Label Tracks - Audacity Manual

and delete portions in between those markers

Label the parts that you wish to delete (with “Region Labels”) then,
“Edit Menu > Labeled Audio > Delete”

[steve]

and apply Wave Hammer

What is “Wave Hammer”?
If it’s a “limiter”, then: Limiter - Audacity Manual

If it’s a compressor, then there’s Compressor - Audacity Manual
though you will probably find a better compressor as a VST effect (see: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/installing_effect_generator_and_analyzer_plug_ins_on_windows.html)