Turn Up the Volume

[Sakuya]

I have an AC3 file that's 5.1 surround sound. I don't have a computer 5.1 setup so I don't know what that sounds like but I made it into a DVD and I have a home entertainment system. Everything like the voices and the sound effects, explosive sound effects are all very good but the background music is too faint. My friend ripped it for me from a DVD so I'm not sure if the original DVD is like that but the background sound is just too silent to be heard over the tremendous explosive sounds. Is there any way to make the volume of the background music increase without touching the voices and stuff?

Edit:
I listened to the AC3 track on my computer using my 2 speakers, the background music can be heard. But it gets really soft on the TV setup.

[muskgrave]

thats a tough one! usually the background music and things are predominantly in the FL and FR speakers...but if the explosions are good and loud then i'm not sure what to tell you! Perhaps the explosions are loud but they are normally louder! Your friend would not have been able to alter the levels of different tracks that had been mixed down to those channels.

Try just manually increasing the level of your FL and FR speakers on your surround unit and see if this makes it sound better. If that works then you'll have to find a way to increase them and reencode.

[Sakuya]

Well, maybe it's my FL and FR speaker's problem? My dad said they're old and not good. But my other DVDs aren't like this.

[Sakuya]

Just a side note, I demuxed the AC3 stream from the AVI file using VirtualdubMOD. And, for my AC3Filter, I set the Output Speakers to 2/0 - Stereo because I only have 2 speakers and 1 bass. When I switched it to a 3/2+SW 5.1 channels, it gets nice and loud and the background music is pretty clear as well. I have done no edits to the AC3 file and I just inserted it along with the M2V stream into my authoring program, dvdauthorGUI. Then the background music gets soft on the TV.

[nitestalker49]

since you dont have a decent setup anyways, why dont you open that demux file up in Goldwave and save it as a wav, then use it to raise the volume.... and then you can use ffmpeggui to convert it back to ac3. or just simply change the volume levels in goldwave with out saving it as a wav...........

[Sakuya]

How do I know which is the background music?

[Sakuya]

Also, don't know if this would help but I tried authoring using TMPGEnc DVD Authoring and when I selected the AC3, it said it was:

Dolby Digital (AC-3), 48000 Hz 6ch, 448 kbps

I'm just wondering why it is 6 channels and not 5.1? Could this be the problem? In Goldwave, would it be a wise choice to simply double the volume of the entire AC3? Or would that screw up the 5.1 surround sound effect?
Help! It says I cannot save it back as an AC3! ffmpegGUI cannot output to a 5.1 channel AC3 either.

[Tom Roper]

On your home entertainment receiver, you should have a setting for DRC (dynamic range compression) which is intended to allow you to lower the maximum and raise the minimum sound levels, such as for night time usage.

For example, you're watching U571, the sub is running silent, a depth charge explodes and your subwoofer cone comes flying out of the enclosure..

With DRC, it tames the explosions slightly, and raises the background passages also slightly. It's subtle, and that's a good thing.

[Sakuya]

There are 3 selections for the dynamic range on my receiver. One is maximum which is automatically selected, standard, and minimum. Does setting it at maximum mean bringing out the explosions or does it mean enhancing the background music? I'm confused. Anyway, I switched between the 3 settings, and it doesn't seem like it made any difference.

Edit:
I tried extracting the AC3 file using AVI-Mux GUI. The AC3 row said this:

448 kbps, 101 Mbyte, AC3TO1 3_2ch 448 kbps DELAY 16ms

I thought it was 6 or 5.1 channels, why does it say 2 channels? Also, what does the delay mean?

[Tom Roper]

There are 3 selections for the dynamic range on my receiver. One is maximum which is automatically selected, standard, and minimum. Does setting it at maximum mean bringing out the explosions or does it mean enhancing the background music? I'm confused. Anyway, I switched between the 3 settings, and it doesn't seem like it made any difference.

It doesn't work on DTS. I hesitate to answer if max means minimum because dynamic range and dynamic range compression are polar opposites. Since your default is maximum, I would think that setting means no compression. As I said, the effect is subtle.

[Sakuya]

No, I'm sure it is Dolby Digital 5.1. Thanks though.

[muskgrave]

it IS a 6 channel AC3 file...there are 6 seperate channels (FL,C,FR,SL, SR, SW)..I'm not sure why the sub channel is designated as .1. others will come after me and explain that to you..but the frequencies sent to the sub are in a seperate track than the tracks going to the other 5 speakers.

[Topher5000]

I'm trying to demux the ac3 stream from an avi, but vdubmod doesn't have an audio pulldown. How do you demux?
Edit: Nevermind, I found it.

[Sakuya]

Nobody came up with a solution to this yet? Sorry, it's been bugging me for some time even after I burned the DVD. Somebody else mentioned it might be because the computer downsampled the audio. Is that possible? But then again, I have had no problems with other 5.1 AC3 streams.

Maybe my friend did something to decrease the audio quality. And I was so excited about him ripping this for me too. Just when something this perfect comes along, something has to ruin it.