Audio Levels on DVD music compilation

[jrpascoe]

I have compiled some of my favorite music video clips from various files (e.g. video, SVCD etc) and authored and burnt them onto a DVDr. The only problem is the sound levels are all different for each track. Can anyone recommend the best way to match the sound levels so I don’t have to keep adjusting the volume on playback.
James

[theDruid]

You need to normalise the audio on each of the clips to the same level.

I'm not aware of any software that can normalise the audio track in an authored DVD/MPEG2 file without re-encoding it, which will result in loss of quality.

I'd go back to the source of each clip - (i.e. the video, SVCD etc you talked about), and extract the audio track for each one.

Then normalise to the same level with a decent audio editor (plenty to choose from: in the tools section)

You should hopefully then be able to encode the audio back to the right format (if you need to - depending on what audio format you're using), and remux back into the video you've already encoded.

does that make sense?

cheers,
mcdruid.

[jrpascoe]

Yes it makes sense, I'll start again from the beginning, grab an audio editor (is there any particular preference of editor for the normalise function?) and give it a try.
Many Thanks
James

[theDruid]

It depends on your budget really mate...

Audacity is pretty good, especially as it's totally free!

GoldWave is very good, and it's shareware (I can't remember what the limitations are on the trial, and it's down as costing $40 in the tools section)

Cool Edit is well thought of, but I don't know much about it - down as $70

SoundForge is a real 'pro tool', and the price reflects it! ($350)

To be honest, for something as run-of-the-mill as normalisation, I'm not convinced there would be much difference between the lot of them.

So why not give audacity a try in the first instance? (I think normalisation is just under 'Effects->Amplify')

cheers,
mcdruid.

[flaninacupboard]

cool edit probably isn't available to buy any more because of the syntrillium buy out

Nice piece of software though, i use it for all my audio needs.

[jrpascoe]

Thanks guys, I'll make a start with Audacity and let you know how it goes!
James