SOLVED~Track Matching (normalising) of Video Files?

[viking1au]

Hi; something I would like is if Audacity were able to match (or normalize) audio track levels in DVD authoring, to achieve an average level match of audio tracks. - No readily available software seems to offer this. - Rgds.

[steve]

I presume that you want to match the same "loudness" in each of your tracks?
If so, there is an experimental plug-in here that you might like to try: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 58#p167758

[viking1au]

Not quite. I want to apply something like this to a dvd video project before burning with something like DVD Styler. - Problem is that all the video clips are downloaded from the internet and audio volume is all over the place. I don't mind converting the audio into AAC or Flac, (I use Linux) but the idea is to ultimately burn a video, and have all the audio tracks at a similar level, or loudness.-- Recently I tried PiTiVi to do this, but it is extremely slow and at the end of the day, does not really work. The idea is good though. - One simply drags a video onto the timeline and it is split into Video and Audio tracks on the timeline automatically. - From there it is possible (?) to increase or decrease the various audio track levels. - Trouble is, it does not seem to work too well, but the idea is great. It just needs a bit more work. Thought of Audacity as I have put approx 50 12" vinyl L.P.'s onto computer using it, and I like it. - It simply needs to also accomadate matching audio levels within a DVD project. This would be great. --RGds.

[steve]

Audacity only works on audio. If you import a video file into Audacity (requires FFmpeg to be installed) then Audacity will import the audio component of the video. You could then use the aforementioned plug-in to process each of the files and export as WAV files. You should then have a series of WAV files that are all about the same loudness. The files can then be imported into your video editing program to replace the original audio track.

Note that the plug-in is designed for music. For other types of audio you will need to try it to see how well it performs.

Recently I tried PiTiVi to do this, but it is extremely slow and at the end of the day, does not really work.

Try kdenlive http://www.kdenlive.org/

[viking1au]

Audacity only works on audio. If you import a video file into Audacity (requires FFmpeg to be installed) then Audacity will import the audio component of the video. You could then use the aforementioned plug-in to process each of the files and export as WAV files. You should then have a series of WAV files that are all about the same loudness. The files can then be imported into your video editing program to replace the original audio track.

How would this plug-in compare with the Normalise tool that is already there in Audacity (2.0.3) ? I took your suggestion & tried out Kdenlive. It works well and previously unknown to me, has a seperate track for the audio. The double arrows to get back to the start of a project are very slow though. Otherwise good. - Rgds.

[steve]

How would this plug-in compare with the Normalise tool that is already there in Audacity

"Normalize" looks only at the peak level (highest or lowest excursion of the waveform), whereas the plug-in tries to assess the "loudness". Peak level can be very different from how loud it sounds.

[viking1au]

O.K. - Not at all good at programming so getting the replayGain thing does not look possible for me. - There are semblances of it in Synaptic but they appear to be development files. -- Tried the Normalizer & it simply leads to distortion trying to creep in, when trying to lower the volume levels on higher register sustained vocals. Will be nice if they include these files in an updated version.

[viking1au]

AOK using both Audacity & Kdenlive. - My fears of losing 'lip synch' unfounded. It all works well. - The main tools in Audacity for levelling, or nomalising, track by track, were a mixture of Compression, Normalise, Amplify. A the end of the day, it has left me with 23 videos that had badly matched audio that now play as a DVD with audio tracks that all seem to 'belong'. - Also, not one problem with lip synch. - I had never used Audacity to do video work before & I must say, along with Kdenlive & DVD Styler, it is impressive. - Regards all.