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signal strengh

Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:30 pm
by plabegue
Hi.

I'm a new use of audacity so please apologize.

I want to measure the signal force of a bipper. I have build a system to record the signal, and I have already visualize it on audacity. I have seen that 2 vertical ruler are available (in my case). I have tried both of them (the waveform and the dB waveform) but in both cases the signal I get is maximum (from -1 to 1 or from 0 to -36dB), so i can't know if my signal becomes louder.

I may not be so clear and/or have miss something in the program.

Can someone (try to :D) help me?


Pierre LABEGUERIE @ESECO SYSTEMS.fr Web3.0 and Web4.0 appliances for videosurveillance, security and risk protection http://www.eseco.fr

Re: signal strengh

Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:12 pm
by kozikowski
Sound will not become louder than "1" (100%) or 0dB on the other scale. Digital audio is measured from maximum of 0 and down. There are no positive numbers. Standard broadcast test tone in Europe is -18. In the US, it's -20.

You can force sound to get louder than that, but you will cause distortion and damage as the blue waves on the timeline change shape. You an make your show get louder with the compressor tools. The best compressor tool that increases loudness and doesn't change the show too much is Chris' Compressor.

Chris's Compressor
http://pdf23ds.net/software/dynamic-compressor/

Koz

Re: signal strengh

Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 9:47 am
by plabegue
Using an ampli I have made and playing with the microphone volume of the PC, I get an average signal to start with, so I can see when the sound is louder or not.

The point is I have taken a average signal too loud, so I can't tell which signal is the louder, some value being more than -1.0 but I can't see that.

But, when I read my "track" with audacity, the power of the sound is related with the strengh of the recorded signal.

So I was asking myself, is it possible to record the "track" while I'm listening to it?

Thanks

Pierre LABEGUERIE @ESECO SYSTEMS.fr Web3.0 and Web4.0 appliances for videosurveillance, security and risk protection http://www.eseco.fr