1 00:00:00,005 --> 00:00:03,002 - Let's take a look at advanced audio leveling 2 00:00:03,002 --> 00:00:06,004 for a strong and consistent sound. 3 00:00:06,004 --> 00:00:09,004 I'll be demonstrating with an audio only clip 4 00:00:09,004 --> 00:00:10,009 but the steps I'm going to show 5 00:00:10,009 --> 00:00:12,008 will work for any audio track 6 00:00:12,008 --> 00:00:16,005 with or without an associated video track. 7 00:00:16,005 --> 00:00:18,004 Okay, so the first thing I'm going to do 8 00:00:18,004 --> 00:00:22,004 is disable the auto normalized loudness feature 9 00:00:22,004 --> 00:00:26,002 right-click here in the canvas, choose Project Settings. 10 00:00:26,002 --> 00:00:29,004 And I'm going to disable this and click Apply. 11 00:00:29,004 --> 00:00:32,000 The reason I did that is that feature affects 12 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:33,009 the entire project. 13 00:00:33,009 --> 00:00:35,006 And I don't want to be fighting with it 14 00:00:35,006 --> 00:00:39,006 as I'm going to be making some specific audio adjustments. 15 00:00:39,006 --> 00:00:42,007 Next, I'm going to pop open the audio effects tab here 16 00:00:42,007 --> 00:00:47,005 and I'm going to drag and drop audio compression to my clip. 17 00:00:47,005 --> 00:00:49,006 Audio compression is very similar 18 00:00:49,006 --> 00:00:51,004 to the auto normalized feature, 19 00:00:51,004 --> 00:00:54,008 but it provides more options and more control. 20 00:00:54,008 --> 00:00:57,005 I'm going to show you some starting points as a guideline 21 00:00:57,005 --> 00:01:00,009 but don't feel like you have to use these exact settings. 22 00:01:00,009 --> 00:01:04,000 Feel free to use your ears and the way for 'em to dial 23 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,009 in the right sound for your project. 24 00:01:06,009 --> 00:01:10,004 Okay, so I'm going to pop open the Properties Panel here 25 00:01:10,004 --> 00:01:13,004 and in the audio compression effect from the dropdown 26 00:01:13,004 --> 00:01:15,007 I'm going to choose Custom, 27 00:01:15,007 --> 00:01:19,000 and this gives me access to all of these parameters. 28 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,006 Now the default setting for this is pretty heavy handed. 29 00:01:21,006 --> 00:01:23,008 So I'm going to bring everything way down. 30 00:01:23,008 --> 00:01:27,000 I've put my gain to zero, my threshold to zero 31 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:31,002 and I'm going to bring my ratio down to five. 32 00:01:31,002 --> 00:01:33,003 I don't want to dive too much into compression 33 00:01:33,003 --> 00:01:35,002 but just know that in Camtasia 34 00:01:35,002 --> 00:01:37,008 five is a very moderate setting. 35 00:01:37,008 --> 00:01:41,004 I don't want to squash the life out of my vocal track. 36 00:01:41,004 --> 00:01:44,007 Okay, so now I'm going to bring down the threshold 37 00:01:44,007 --> 00:01:47,005 and watch what happens to my peaks here as I do this. 38 00:01:47,005 --> 00:01:49,009 I'm going to bring it down to about there. 39 00:01:49,009 --> 00:01:52,000 It's a little too much. 40 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,006 About negative seven. 41 00:01:54,006 --> 00:01:57,009 As I lower the threshold, my peaks are compressed 42 00:01:57,009 --> 00:02:01,002 and I just want to compress the high points. 43 00:02:01,002 --> 00:02:03,004 Now that my wave form is more level, 44 00:02:03,004 --> 00:02:06,002 I can raise the overall volume of my clip. 45 00:02:06,002 --> 00:02:07,009 So I'm going to go here to the gain 46 00:02:07,009 --> 00:02:12,008 and I'm going to bring this up to about right there. 47 00:02:12,008 --> 00:02:14,003 I want things loud and clear, 48 00:02:14,003 --> 00:02:17,004 but I don't want to push it past the top of the track 49 00:02:17,004 --> 00:02:20,006 or else the audio will begin to distort. 50 00:02:20,006 --> 00:02:23,000 Okay, so let's compare that with the original. 51 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:24,004 I'm going to zoom out a bit here, 52 00:02:24,004 --> 00:02:25,008 go to my media bin 53 00:02:25,008 --> 00:02:28,002 and drag a new instance of this clip here 54 00:02:28,002 --> 00:02:31,006 and compare it to this one. 55 00:02:31,006 --> 00:02:34,000 My process track has been leveled out 56 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,006 and my overall volume is louder. 57 00:02:36,006 --> 00:02:38,007 Now if I have other tracks to process, 58 00:02:38,007 --> 00:02:40,005 I don't have to keep doing that. 59 00:02:40,005 --> 00:02:43,004 What I can do is right-click this clip 60 00:02:43,004 --> 00:02:47,003 that's been processed, choose Copy Effects, 61 00:02:47,003 --> 00:02:50,005 and then select my other clip or even clips. 62 00:02:50,005 --> 00:02:53,006 Right click and choose Paste Effects. 63 00:02:53,006 --> 00:02:55,006 And I'll get those same settings applied 64 00:02:55,006 --> 00:02:57,005 to that audio track. 65 00:02:57,005 --> 00:02:59,003 Keep in mind, these settings will work great 66 00:02:59,003 --> 00:03:01,003 for this clip and any other clips 67 00:03:01,003 --> 00:03:04,001 I recorded with the same mic and settings. 68 00:03:04,001 --> 00:03:06,009 But if I were to copy and paste this to a recording 69 00:03:06,009 --> 00:03:09,001 of say my wife with a different mic set up, 70 00:03:09,001 --> 00:03:13,000 different voice all that it may or may not work out. 71 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,000 So I recommend repeating this customization process 72 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,007 for any new speaker or any new miking situation. 73 00:03:20,007 --> 00:03:23,005 If you're looking to take full control of your project 74 00:03:23,005 --> 00:03:27,007 give the audio compression effect a try for maximum options.