How can I adjust volume on YouTube (if I can)?

[C.J.S. Hayward]

I have a YouTube video that has interesting content but the audio is too quiet.

I've found a YouTube video which explained what I want to do from within YouTube, but that hinges on a button to the bottom right of the screen saying, "Try the YouTube video editor" which is not displayed now. I have not been able to find my way into the subsequently shown audio tweaking interface.

What, if any, ways do I have from Linux Mint to enhance the video's sound? I have a copy downloaded, although I have some concern that it's half the file size my iPhone reported when I uploaded it.

What, if any, ways do I have of adjusting video volume from within YouTube? Besides that, what tools do I have in Linux that I can use to amplify the audio?


Cordially,
C.J.S. Hayward

[manono]

I've found a YouTube video which explained what I want to do from within YouTube, but that hinges on a button to the bottom right of the screen saying, "Try the YouTube video editor" which is not displayed now.

The video editor disappeared awhile back.

...although I have some concern that it's half the file size my iPhone reported when I uploaded it.

YouTube reencodes everything at relatively low bitrates.

What, if any, ways do I have of adjusting video volume from within YouTube?

YouTube also takes steps to limit the audio volume. Right-click the video and hit "Stats for Nerds" to check how it was modified. There are too many idiots uploading videos where the audio is too soft or too loud so YouTube normalizes everything to some standard.

If it's too soft, just turn up your speakers.

Edit: I just checked yours. Yes, it's way too soft. Are you sure there's no audio spike in it somewhere? I'm not going to watch an entire boring video to find out. And why the very low resolution?

[strawberryshortcake]

I have a YouTube video that has interesting content but the audio is too quiet.

I've found a YouTube video which explained what I want to do from within YouTube, but that hinges on a button to the bottom right of the screen saying, "Try the YouTube video editor" which is not displayed now. I have not been able to find my way into the subsequently shown audio tweaking interface.

What, if any, ways do I have from Linux Mint to enhance the video's sound? I have a copy downloaded, although I have some concern that it's half the file size my iPhone reported when I uploaded it.

What, if any, ways do I have of adjusting video volume from within YouTube? Besides that, what tools do I have in Linux that I can use to amplify the audio?


Cordially,
C.J.S. Hayward

I don't know about Linux; never worked with Linux. Audacity is the program that I would use in Windows. I increased the volume for you by a couple decibels. There might be some "clipping' (volume spikes) because of the applause, so just watch out for those. I used replaygain and tried amplify in audacity. You must download an extra add on in order to get replaygain.

https://www.audacityteam.org/download/linux/


The top one is the volume in the original video. The bottom one shows the volume boost.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that audacity deals with audio files only. It'll automatically extract that audio from your video. I saved it as a .wav file. Then dragged the original video file and the newly created audacity .wav file into MKVtoolnix. There you would uncheck the box that corresponds to the "old (soft) original" audio track.

https://www.videohelp.com/software/MKVToolNix

[ChapmanDolly]

Because of the peaks at the front and end of the audio, just pushing up the level will cause them to clip. You need to use a compressor on the file to even out the dynamics, and then increase the level.

[davexnet]

Here's my stab at it; I did it in a noisy room so I did not bother with any noise reduction etc, etc - I could not hear it well enough.
Still, it's better than it was

[strawberryshortcake]

Because of the peaks at the front and end of the audio, just pushing up the level will cause them to clip. You need to use a compressor on the file to even out the dynamics, and then increase the level.

I tried the compressor effect in audacity and it didn’t do much to nuke the spikes. I tried using click removal, cllip fix, and a couple others including normalization, and just couldn’t tame the peaks. Any other suggestion to get rid of those peaks? I scanned youtube for some potential fixes, but came up short. I’m not too versed on audacity, just thought I’d give it a go.

[manono]

Just lower the amplitude of the high places. Then amplify the whole thing. Do both in Effects->Amplify. If there are gross spikes at beginning and end, because it was cut, lower them to -50.

[jagabo]

Just lower the amplitude of the high places. Then amplify the whole thing. Do both in Effects->Amplify.

I think that's the best option. There are only three short sections where the audience volume is much louder than the rest of the clip. You'll hear a drop in the background noise during those sections.

Compressor should have worked too -- you need to move the low amplitude end (left) of the graph up to get the voices above the base noise threshold.

[ChapmanDolly]

This is what can be done. I have just done a small section to illustrate. Process chain is EQ first to remove some low frequences and boost some of the highs. Secondly some compression to control the dynamics, and finally a brickwall limiter to bring it all together. You should have these basic tools in Audacity. Top track is original, bottom is processed.
[Attachment 45525 - Click to enlarge]

[C.J.S. Hayward]

Thanks, @all; you have clarified that I should learn Audacity (which is available on Linux as well as Windows).

@strawberryshortcake, would you be willing to apply the same touch to the high-resolution video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KkOwvE9xZs?