Analysing loudness of video files

[scorpiousdelectus]

I'm making video clips from different recorded sources and when they get played back in a playlist, the loudness is noticeably different. I've tried going into the files that are obviously too loud and obviously too soft and manually increased or decreased the volume but its an arduous process moving forward with future clips.

I had a look at a program that I found in the Normalizing Audio for Multiple AVI Files (https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/255147-Mini-Guide-Normalizing-Audio-for-Multiple-AVI-files) but I'm afraid I found the process too complicated and I gave up on it.

Is there anything out there that allows me to see the amplitude pattern of video files so that I can see empirically which files need to have their audio adjusted? I'd prefer not to rip the audio, use something like Goldwave and then import the audio back in if I can help it...

[Baldrick]

Goldwave can open video files and it will try open the audio part. I think audacity can open do that also with a ffmpeg plugin.

THen export as mp3. Multiplex the audio to the video with a multiplexer, https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/video-de-multiplexers

[scorpiousdelectus]

Baldrick: Thanks for your reply. I already had Audacity on my system, but it wouldn't let me load any of my video files. I downloaded the ffmpeg plugin but I'm unsure of what to do with it.

It seems as though the only video format that Goldwave would open is .mov.

What I'm hoping to be able to do is open 5-10 video files in cascade and see the amplitude of them all side by side. My video files are in mpeg format.

[lowellriggsiam]

You might be able to do that in Adobe Soundbooth.

[scorpiousdelectus]

Soundbooth (nor Audition) would open my mpeg files

[edDV]

"Loudness" from speakers is all about original file equalization and volume compression so is a complicated subject.

[scorpiousdelectus]

Even so, there are going to be some files that are louder than others and I'd like to be able to see the structure of that audio.

[davexnet]

Does Audacity provide the peak and RMS levels ? I know Sound Forge does.

[scorpiousdelectus]

Audacity doesn't recognise my mpeg files, will look at SF

[jagabo]

Audacity doesn't recognise my mpeg files

Did you install the ffmpeg library?
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/FAQ:Installation_and_Plug-Ins#installffmpeg

[scorpiousdelectus]

I downloaded the ffmpeg load but I didn;t know what to do with it... Am playing with the Sound Forge trial program, looks awesome and is doing what I want it to do but full version is pricey

[scorpiousdelectus]

Hmmm... scratch that... It's handling files that I have downloaded fine but once I have edited them (I use AVS) it doesn't recognise any audio channels...

[davexnet]

See here for info on installing FFmpeg for Audacity:
http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=FAQ:Installation_and_Plug-Ins#How_do_I_...ort_Library.3F

PS make sure you're using Audacity version 1.313 or newer, as earlier versions did not work with more recent
ffmpeg builds (see the FAQ in the link above for more info).

[scorpiousdelectus]

Ok, well, the good news is that Audacity does what I want to do (see the amplitude of the audio components of video files - with the ffmeg plugin) and I can increase the amplification but can only save the resulting changes as an audio file, not back to the original video file. I just need to make an additional step of importing the video and the new audio file into my video editor, mute the original soundtrack and re-save the video file with the new audio soundtrack. Seems to work fine.

Thanks for all your help guys (and any dolls out there)!