DB levels / Copy/pasting in Audacity

Post your questions & get help from friendly LibriVoxers
brownrottger
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 9094
Joined: May 11th, 2021, 5:00 pm
Location: Westford, Massachusetts USA

Post by brownrottger »

Im having a really hard time getting my recording levels to the range. When I did the 1 minute test it was fine. Then, after recording several sections, I got a message that the level was too low and to raise it by 6 dB. I'm utterly lost. I use Asus laptop Windiows 10 realtek mic. Audacity seems to indicate only negative numbers for dB. Can anyone please help me? I was really enjoying volunteering
brownrottger
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 9094
Joined: May 11th, 2021, 5:00 pm
Location: Westford, Massachusetts USA

Post by brownrottger »

I think i figured it out. The mic symbol slider in audacity is the adjustment. So I but it all the way up and the sample passed with the checker. Hope this helps some other old-timer non tech savy volunteer.
loon
Posts: 2903
Joined: December 31st, 2016, 9:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Post by loon »

You can also use the Amplify effect - select the whole track, pull down Effect and click Amplify.
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
InTheDesert
Posts: 7447
Joined: August 20th, 2019, 8:25 pm

Post by InTheDesert »

If you want to get audacity to do the levels for you automatically after recording, you could run these 3 effects in this order and with these settings:

Normalize (DC ticked, peak ticked -0.0, stereo unticked)
Compressor (Threshold -14, Noise Floor -25, Ratio 7:1, Attack 0.5, Release 1.9, Make up to 0dB ticked, compress peaks unticked)
Loudness Normalization ('perceived loudness', -20 LUFS, the two checkboxes don't matter).

For the future, when I link to this post: Loudness Normalization is only in the newer versions of Audacity but there are some questions about changes made in Audacity 3.0.3 onwards to the privcacy policy. You can download 3.0.2 here.
Last edited by InTheDesert on August 11th, 2021, 6:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
American Trials Vol. 3 95% 5 left!
Female Scripture Characters by William Jay (1769 - 1853) 93% 2 left!
Devotional Commentary: Apocalypse 85%
Emotions
PL pls: DPL DPL DPL 43 27-28
iBeScotty
Posts: 909
Joined: December 3rd, 2016, 2:19 pm
Location: California

Post by iBeScotty »

Sounds like you got it figured. Being our own engineers is the trickiest part I think.

The negative dB just means it is measuring relative to full scale where 0 would represent the max level that the electronics can represent—if the source is louder than that, information will be chopped off, essentially turning the sound’s sine wave into a square wave and distorting the audio (clipping).

As someone mentioned, I find keeping the average level around -20 dBFS (or LUFS—loudness unit full scale where the frequencies are weighted to give higher values to those sensitive in the human ear) seems to correlate pretty well with the desired Librivox level.

I haven’t used Audacity much but am curious about the workflow (tempted to try Twisted Wave on iPad that works similarly I think); how does one handle making changes afterward, like punching in corrections? Do you save a copy after editing but before processing with the amplification/compression/eq/etc.?
brownrottger
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 9094
Joined: May 11th, 2021, 5:00 pm
Location: Westford, Massachusetts USA

Post by brownrottger »

I tried using Amplify but it made inconsistent choppiness in the volume on playback. I will try the overall fixes at end of editing. Thank you all. I also found a way to boost my mic on Windows 10. Here's the link https://support.shadowhealth.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007282013-Change-microphone-volume-Windows-10-

When I insert words or sentences make a separate recording and copy it to clipboard; then in the original I do Edit/Clip boundaries/split. The cursor will stay at split so I just right click to paste the segment, then you can play around with Effects/Amplify to make it match, hope this helps
Rapunzelina
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 17679
Joined: November 15th, 2011, 3:47 am

Post by Rapunzelina »

I often think Audacity is like a text editor, I can select part of the track by highlighting with the mouse, I can use Ctrl+X to cut, Ctrl+C to copy, Ctrl+V to paste where the cursor is. I don't know what "Split" does, I just click where I want my inserted bit, and press Ctrl+V.

When editing, I also use the zero crossings "Z" key, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaZ4l2yJ3lE
and the "C" key, previewing the track before cutting out a part http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC6mTNW_B_U
brownrottger
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 9094
Joined: May 11th, 2021, 5:00 pm
Location: Westford, Massachusetts USA

Post by brownrottger »

Wow those suggestions work much better! Paul on the you tube says that Audacity will automatically produce a different track but that must have been an earlier version of Audacity because mine records the clip to be added at the end of the original piece. It works really much better than what I had been doing. Thank you!
TriciaG
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 60586
Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

Yes, Audacity changed the behavior of the Record button to start adding the new recording at the end rather than in a new track. :)

Now, to record in a different track at the spot of your cursor, hold down the Shift key while pressing the Record button.
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
brownrottger
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 9094
Joined: May 11th, 2021, 5:00 pm
Location: Westford, Massachusetts USA

Post by brownrottger »

I feel like these last four posts should be a new thread. Can anyone make that happen?
TriciaG
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 60586
Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

I've renamed the thread. We could split off some posts to a new thread, but Rapunzelina's post is in answer to a question in your post above hers, so the topic doesn't have a good split point. :)
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
brownrottger
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 9094
Joined: May 11th, 2021, 5:00 pm
Location: Westford, Massachusetts USA

Post by brownrottger »

Inthedesert: I tried your recipe. Thank you. I hac to use loudness normalization to -18.
InTheDesert
Posts: 7447
Joined: August 20th, 2019, 8:25 pm

Post by InTheDesert »

brownrottger wrote: June 1st, 2021, 7:26 pm Inthedesert: I tried your recipe. Thank you. I hac to use loudness normalization to -18.
Glad it helped. Anything from -18 to -20 will do the job. If you find that your recording tend to be quite even in their levels and you don't record one track over multiple sessions, you might want to bring down the compression levels from 7:1 to something like 4:1 which will sound less... compressed. But 7:1 will cover over most issues with uneven levels.
American Trials Vol. 3 95% 5 left!
Female Scripture Characters by William Jay (1769 - 1853) 93% 2 left!
Devotional Commentary: Apocalypse 85%
Emotions
PL pls: DPL DPL DPL 43 27-28
SunnyG
Posts: 35
Joined: September 14th, 2020, 12:46 pm
Location: Greensboro, NC, USA

Post by SunnyG »

Hello. I am attempting to get my first test recording completed so I can begin volunteering here. I listed to many books from here several years ago while I had an office job. Last year I had an opportunity to get a microphone, but couldn't get it to work on my laptop. I have had a friend help me so I have a new set up now, and the microphone finally works. I am looking forward to being able to volunteer as a reader! I just hope this all gets easier after the test recording is completed to the site standards.

:help:

Now, I am trying to figure out Audacity. It seems I am making tiny steps forward. Every time I get something accomplished, I can't figure out the next step. Everything seems to be a challenge, but with my friend's help, we are muddling through it all. I have no prior background in working with audio files.

I sent my test recording through the checker and it lists 3 things I have to change. I have tried googling bitrate, but I am not finding the setting I am referred to there, and my project rate is set at the (I think) required 44100Hz. I don't see anywhere else to change bitrate, but Checker says I need 128kbps. Google tells me that should be found in the lower left of Audacity, which is where the project rate setting is. So, I am lost. I have a feeling, if I can correct the kbps setting, the next error of constant vs variable bit rate will be located with that setting.

Which leaves me with my decibel range. I started out with my first few attempts at recording having a hard time hearing myself. I was able to make a few adjustments, and the current test recording was much better than I had started out. But, it appears it isn't good enough to make the Checker happy. My first issue is, when I try to make changes with the Amplify effect, it won't allow me to hit Ok. So, it appears, that is not a setting I can actually use, for some reason. I have Audacity 2.3.3.

I have attempted to follow the instructions I found here by InTheDesert, since brownrottger had one of the same issues I am having. I have made it through the Normalize and Compressor settings. I do not have anything under Effects called "Loudness Normalization". I haven't yet run my test sample through the checker, having made only the adjustments in the 2 settings thus far. I don't know if it will do me much good yet.

And then my next question is... how do we change these settings so they will be permanent for future recordings? I am sure I will have additional questions as I am finding my footing with this software.

Thank you for your assistance!
InTheDesert wrote: May 25th, 2021, 6:20 pm If you want to get audacity to do the levels for you automatically after recording, you could run these 3 effects in this order and with these settings:

Normalize (DC ticked, peak ticked -0.0, stereo unticked)
Compressor (Threshold -14, Noise Floor -25, Ratio 7:1, Attack 0.5, Release 1.9, Make up to 0dB ticked, compress peaks unticked)
Loudness Normalisation ('perceived loudness', -20 LUFS, the two checkboxes don't matter).
philchenevert
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 24587
Joined: October 17th, 2010, 9:23 pm
Location: Basking by the Bayou
Contact:

Post by philchenevert »

Hi. Don't give up. The fog will life eventually. I also can't resist giving a link to my video on Setting Tech Specs in Audacity https://youtu.be/l00VDvGTieg It covers the bit rate and other stuff but now loudness or decibel levels. Keep asking questions and plugging away. We want you to succeed and start recording!! :thumbs:
Peruvian owls always hunt in pairs because they are inca hoots.
89 Decibels? Easy Peasy ! https://youtu.be/aSKR55RDVpk
Post Reply