Wiki page creation request - Making It Louder!

[RuthieG]

Thank you for your kind words, but I don't actually understand the science behind what I am doing at all, and doubt whether I ever shall. I should like to help with these guides, but I am so tied up with many other things at the moment, that I can't see myself having any time until well into the New Year.

Thirdly, In Audacity, the microphone output volume slider bar is obviously the first thing to point out, but what about the plus or minus gain built into Audacity?

I have always been very wary of using the Gain control, because it has no visible effect on the wave form and it is very easy to exceed the maximum permissible volume and cause clipping i.e. distortion. I prefer using the Amplify effect because it has the safeguard of the "Avoid Clipping" box.

I have just applied +36 dB using the Gain control to a track with minimal (actually invisible) volume and you are right - it brings up the audible volume nicely. But I still can't even see the wave form, so it would be impossible to edit.

Ruth

[philchenevert]

My dear RuthieG. Sorry you are so tied up with many things right now. I hope they are all pleasant and fun things.

Of course you are right about the Audacity gain. Using it is a shot in the dark until the file is exported, when the results of the applied gain become visible and audible. In fact, it is very strange that something like that, which is built into the program and not an add-on effect is NOT immediately visible when applied. Hmmmmmm? Oh well forget it and lets just use Amplify.

Anyway, here are two sample videos I've done. This would be my approach to instructing new recorders about the basics of microphone usage, generating sufficient volume, noise reduction, and the 50 other things that flummox people new to computers and/or recording. The Wiki pages are wonderful and extremely instructive; this would just be another arrow in our quiver. Some people respond better to short videos than to written instructions. (like me) The number of videos that could be produced is of course limited only by the need and our imagination. (and my imaginative spelling! geee, I am embarrassedddd)

1) The Volume slider in Windows XP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtScmmkGzXE

2) Desirable audio strength in Audacity & the Audacity volume slider: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd6Tvx8jKYg

Done without a real script (and with lots of lip smacking and popping ) they are presented merely as samples of How To videos that could be produced.
I am working on a microphone usage video and VISTA, Windows7, and Ubuntu volume control ones as well. and noise reduction.

[philchenevert]

Here is another video I just made describing how to set the technical items in Audacity the way LV desires them:

Setting LibriVox Audacity Tech Specs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqmCOxOs_pM
Once again, this is a test video that only LVers can access, to see if anyone thinks it would be worthwhile to develop a series of these as an adjunct to our Wiki pages explaining how to do things.

Oh, and I am also working on the original project of condensing and simplifying the current LV wiki explanations of increasing volume. There is such a LOT of wonderful information on our wiki and it is all so interrelated that it's not easy to decide what is essential and what is not.

Oh well. Perhaps my many years as a bureaucrat were only preparation for this, eh?
or maybe not.