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getting louder audio

USNFilms

USNFilms

This may seem like a noob question but after some searching I couldn't find an answer.

I have some dialogue and misc sounds in premiere pro that I need to be louder, but in premiere when I try to raise the track volume it only lets me go to 6.02 db, which isn't that much, but I can lower it down to -22db. Is there anyway for me to raise the volume of the track more than 6db in premiere?

Thanks
 
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I use Nuendo for tracking and WaveLab for mastering. With these programs it's called "normalizing". Then you should also draw volume curves that ease loud parts. Finally I use a limiter such as ultramaximizer. Be sure to audition your sound through a cheap 3" TV speaker. The last thing you do is normalize it all one last time to -.6 db

Someone around here also mentioned that you want to just cut out vocal frequencies below a certain range. I forget what the cutoff point is. Hopefully someone also will chime in.
 
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Right click the audio clip in the timeline and select "gain". You can bump it up quite a bit there.

The dynamics and compressor effects and be used as well (the make up knob) if you want o compress any of it too.
 
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Gain or Normalize is included with most DAWs. When you open Gain or Normalize there should be a button called Find Level or something similar; this will tell you how loud the sound clip is currently (-32db, for example). Most of the time making it half again as loud numerically should be more than enough (-16db).

Keep in mind that this raises the volume of everything associated with the clip, including the background noise, if any. It also means that you are pushing hotter levels through whatever plug-ins are on the track(s) and sub-busses; make sure that you are not clipping the inputs or outputs of the plug-ins.


Before you do any of that, however, I would suggest that you turn up the volume of your monitoring system and lower the volume of every single track; there should be a way to group all of the audio so that the volumes remain balanced relative to each other.


You always want to build the mix around the dialog levels. As a rule of thumb when you are getting started, dialog volumes should top out at around -12db (minus twelve), most dialog will be about -18db. You can pull back the volume of yelling/screaming; the tone of the voice gets the emotion across, you don't need the volume extremes. Yes, the yelling will be louder than the rest of the dialog, but there will not be the radical difference you hear in the real world.
 
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Blade_Jones said:
Someone around here also mentioned that you want to just cut out vocal frequencies below a certain range. I forget what the cutoff point is. Hopefully someone also will chime in.
Click to expand...

Roll off vocals below 100 hz, and in most cases if you do a low cut round about that frequency you will not lose anything you would want in there.
 
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I Final Cut I have two tricks for audio cranking which will probably have counterparts in Premiere.

One is to simply double the audio track, so you have two copies.

Second trick is that I throw on a Graphic EQ filter, and crank up all of the sliders. This works really, really well.

Increasing volume -- especially on dialogue -- also increases background hiss, so you may need to pull down the high end to remove it. So don't expect perfection.
 
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DirtyPicturesTV said:
One is to simply double the audio track, so you have two copies.
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A very bad idea. If you have to re-mix or EQ you now have two sound bites to deal with, and if one moves slightly in the time-line you will get phasing, flanging or echo.

DirtyPicturesTV said:
Second trick is that I throw on a Graphic EQ filter, and crank up all of the sliders. This works really, really well.
Click to expand...

Another really bad idea. What happens if you need to use that EQ?


They work well in the short run, but have the possibility of going disastrously wrong.

As I mentioned in my previous post proper gain-staging and balancing are the way to go. Yes, they require more work and an expanded knowledge of audio, but it's best to get things right the first time and to develop good work habits.
 
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Alcove, I was talking quick and dirty, not ideal. I have used these very tricks on professional projects. These are things I've done with short problem clips when speed was key, and the source audio was inaudible and badly recorded.

Don't dismiss duct-tape solutions out of hand. In certain situations they are very useful.
 
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I maintain that, if you learn how to do the job properly in the first place, it takes not much longer than your stop-gap methods and yields far superior results. More importantly, I have no choice; I have to work fast and I have to follow recognized procedure/formatting/protocol or I don't get rehired by my client. And our OP is not in a hurry as far as we know, so he should learn how to do the job correctly.

You may have done it on "professional" projects, but you aren't an audio person. Things like doubling and quadrupling sound bytes are problems that I must correct when the project comes into my studio. And it's not simply erasing the extra sound bytes; each one must be examined to be sure that it is a true duplicate and not a secondary sound source before removing it from the time line. Or I'll have to undo all of the processing done to sound bytes by the visuals editor and/or relocate the original sound files. This all takes time which is billed to my client. And, by the way, I'm not taking the fall for a visuals editor who doesn't know their job; if the audio files are FUBAR I'll let the client know and explain exactly what was wrong, and why I'm going over the expected budget. And when my files go out to the re-recording (mix) team they expect that my projects will follow correct procedure/formatting/protocol no matter how tight the deadline, otherwise they will want to work with a different sound editor who will follow the expected procedure/formatting/protocol.

Learning how to do things correctly from the beginning is important, and bad habits are very hard to unlearn. In the long run it saves you time, gets you the job, and avoids potential embarrassment.
 
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Alcove Audio said:
Learning how to do things correctly from the beginning is important, and bad habits are very hard to unlearn. In the long run it saves you time, gets you the job, and avoids potential embarrassment.
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Yep I totally agree with your post.

I am not a great video editor or camera man, but audio is something I know how to record and edit well. How many times have I had to try to fix or make the best use of poorly recorded and mixed sound from good video editors/cameramen who haven't a clue about audio?
If at all possible use an experienced audio engineer to deal with your audio, and if you can't do that then spend time learning the tricks of the trade in terms of sound work from someone who is good at it. Learn good habits and train your ears to know what to listen for.
 
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