Normalising within a track

[dodge_the]

I have several mp3 lectures (all vocal), and the volume goes up and down too much through the track.
I presume the person speaking is not keeping the same distance from the microphone.
How can i normalize the track so that it is a more consistant volume throughout?

[theDruid]

hi dodge_the,

I think you can do this with soundforge - using normalise.

There are two options - peak level, or average RMS



I'm no expert on the settings, but I think you can set it to 'apply dynamic compression' and get the level a bit more even across the track.

cheers,
mcdruid.

P.S. you could also try mp3gain - which boasts that it normalises mp3's without the need for re-encoding, and claims to use some clever algorithms for the normalisation that affect how loud the track sounds, rather than just the peak levels - but I doubt it would do as good a job as soundforge; it's free though, and soundforge is expensive.