Adjusting Waveform

[Lloyd]

Hi all:
Two more issues for which I can't find answers, both dealing with how to adjust the waveform:

ONE: How do you adjust the waveform vertically; that is, how do I make what is apparently close to a flat line into a wave form which looks like the one in the manual?

TWO: How do you adjust the width of the waveform; that is, if an entire 30-minute program is compressed into one screen width, how do I adjust it to show various lengths in minutes, say a 10-minute width across the screen?

Thanks for all the great answers you folks keep providing.

Best to all.
Lloyd.

[kozikowski]

How do you adjust the waveform vertically

That can depend a bit on the goal. What are you recording? Are you recording your voice for an AudioBook?

How do you adjust the width of the waveform

You didn't tell us what kind of computer you have.

Windows:
-- Control-ScrollWheel or Control-ScrubVertical will zoom in and out from the pointer position.
-- Shift-ScrollWheel or Shift-ScrubHorizontal will shift the timeline view left and right (sooner and later).

Mac:
-- Command-Scrollwheel or Command-ScrubVertical will zoom in and out from the pointer position.
-- Shift-ScrollWheel or Shift-ScrubHorizontal will shift the timeline view left and right (sooner and later).

Koz

[DVDdoug]

ONE: How do you adjust the waveform vertically; that is, how do I make what is apparently close to a flat line into a wave form which looks like the one in the manual?

The scale goes to 1.0 (=0dB =100%) and as far as I know, there's no way to change that. But, you can use Effect -> Amplify which will pre-scan your file and default to whatever gain change is needed to bring the peaks to 0dB.

But if you have a nearly flat line, you've probably got a recording problem and when you boost the volume you'll also boost any existing background noise and that can be an issue. It's good to leave some headroom while recording, so we usually shoot for around -6dB (50%), and then we can boost after recording. But, if you get below around 25% you may have problems (depending on your hardware setup).

TWO: How do you adjust the width of the waveform; that is, if an entire 30-minute program is compressed into one screen width, how do I adjust it to show various lengths in minutes, say a 10-minute width across the screen?

View -> Zoom.

[kozikowski]

This is an illustration of a perfect voice recording.


Home microphones or recording systems generally record low as a policy because low voice can be recovered, but high voice can be permanently damaged. Nobody will come out with a stick if you record lower than that, but that's the approximate goal.

Yes, that is a graphic construction. I couldn't get everything to sit still long enough in real life to make the picture.


Effect > Amplify is a good start, but where you go from there depends on the goal.

Koz

[Lloyd]

First, Koz, sorry I forgot my data on the last post; here it is: MS Office 365 (aka MS Home and Office 2016), on a fairly new HP Laptop using Windows 10 and Audacity 2.1.3. On your previous answer, you hit the right answers dead on. I had no idea that the "CNTRL-SCROLL" and the "SHFT-SCROLL" commands existed. Each seems to do almost the same thing but the "CNTRL-SCROLL" was the one that I needed. The other seems to do the same thing but doesn't alter the height of the WaveForm in relation to a straight line. I am using a USB Samson Pro C01U Studio Condenser Mic and the flat line I was getting turned into an almost perfect WaveForm with the "SHFT-SCROLL" command in addition to changing to the MME and Primary Sound Capture settings. With a bit of touch-up using the Effect->Amplify command I think I'm OK at this point. If you have any other suggestions before I start broadcasting I'd love to hear them (I read newspapers for the blind on Sun Sounds of Arizona twice a week, half-hour program, text only --- no music, no other sound effects, no secondary adjustments of any kind -- once it's set up, all settings stay like that forever (more or less). Thanks for your help. Really appreciate it. Best wishes,
Lloyd.

[Lloyd]

Hi Kos (or whoever is the kind person answering this post); I use MS Office 365 (aka MS Home and Office 2016), on a fairly new HP Laptop using Windows 10 and Audacity 2.1.3. I record a 30-min program several times a week for people with reading and various visual difficulties, (blind or unable to handle reading material). The program is first saved in aup format, then converted to mp3, uploaded to “Central” (Sun Sounds of Arizona just outside of Phoenix) and broadcast once or more times a day after uploading.

Thanks to your recent assistance, I think I have most issues resolved but I received a strange query from our IT guy at Central yesterday. It was this. “Lloyd; can you make your programs louder?” As you had instructed in one of your earlier responses, I record at maximum volume and but I then back off a bit so the setting is about 95%. I back off because the quality seems to be a bit ruffled at 100%. I have tried changing the Effects -> Amplitude but changing this from “dead center” seems to produce troublesome side effects and I want to keep the waveform almost exactly as it is --- with one exception --- I wouldn’t mind if the Waveform is increased in height but with no other effects.

My specific question is this: On a recorded program which consists of spoken verbiage only, is there a simple way to increase the output volume but not change any other settings in doing so?

Thanks in advance for your attention to this issue and for all your previous assistance. Best wishes to all at Audacity.

Please pass my condolences to Gale’s relatives and associates (Gale was of great assistance to me several years ago).

[Trebor]

... The other seems to do the same thing but doesn't alter the height of the WaveForm in relation to a straight line...

Zooming-in on the vertical-scale makes the waves appear bigger, but does not make the sound louder ...

zooming-in on vertical-scale (does not make sound louder).gif (131.66 KiB) Viewed 718 times

Amplify, or (soft) Limiter (with make-up gain), will make it louder.