Fixing audio levels on established channel

coliwob

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Well, not exactly established - I am still working my way towards my first 1k Subs

but, I do have about 40 videos.

The concern is that I have just learned about audio - that a lot of YouTubers and other web creators normalize to 0db as compared to -12db like tv networks do (which makes a lot of sense I guess, cos a lot of devices struggle to produce the volume levels that most TVs manage to do.)

I have been doing it my ear so far, and have noticed that my videos are a lot quieter than a lot of youtube videos out there, especially lets plays. But, on actual inspection my vocals are peaking somewhere between -18 and -12 - so its quiet even by tv standards.

To fix this, obviously, I need to change the audio etc.

But, do I...

A) Go straight for the recommended -0db and have a big change between my old videos and new ones, and people who cross that threshold get ear shock.

Or

B) Go for something like -5db so that it is louder, not as loud as everyone else, but there is less potential for ear shock if someone looks back at the older videos.

Or am I just over thinking this?


Its worth noting that I have had no complaints about volume so far.
 

ALEA freelicencemusic

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Mate, it is less complicated than it seems. I'm a youtube newbie but I know a thing or two about audio. You ALWAYS want your video to be as loud as possible, but for no reason should it EVER clip. You'll always want to stay as close as possible to 0db, but never touch the red line. The fastest way to achieve this is to add some compression to your voice, or whatever you do on your cannel, so that the lower volume sounds will come closer to the loudest ones and you'll have a more even sound.

In today's world all content creators fight the loudness war... the louder you are, the more your stuff comes across among the sea of people producing content. If you need any advice feel free to hit me up. I'll be happy to do so.
Concerning the old videos, just let those be. From now on get your sound to level with your competition.

P.s. I checked out your latest vid. I'd recommend you some very low volume background music. It very useful filling the silent spots and covering the background noise of your kitchen. There are a lot of people who put music out there copyright free, so you don't risk to lose money. You don't have to check out my stuff if you don't want, but I definitly recommend you to google some free music up. Keep up the amazing job!
 
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UhoohExtra

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Coliwob.. have you just made video making more complicated ? lol

i wouldn't make it too loud because its easier to click on the 'X' than it is to turn it down. You down want to see a big bounce rate of people leaving your vid because they were annoyed by the noise.

meanwhile.. the internet's most popular content ;) seem to be set to a million dbs for reason not understand.. i'm told
 

coliwob

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Mate, it is less complicated than it seems. I'm a youtube newbie but I know a thing or two about audio. You ALWAYS want your video to be as loud as possible, but for no reason should it EVER clip. You'll always want to stay as close as possible to 0db, but never touch the red line. The fastest way to achieve this is to add some compression to your voice, or whatever you do on your cannel, so that the lower volume sounds will come closer to the loudest ones and you'll have a more even sound.

In today's world all content creators fight the loudness war... the louder you are, the more your stuff comes across among the sea of people producing content. If you need any advice feel free to hit me up. I'll be happy to do so.
Concerning the old videos, just let those be. From now on get your sound to level with your competition.

P.s. I checked out your latest vid. I'd recommend you some very low volume background music. It very useful filling the silent spots and covering the background noise of your kitchen. There are a lot of people who put music out there copyright free, so you don't risk to lose money. You don't have to check out my stuff if you don't want, but I definitly recommend you to google some free music up. Keep up the amazing job!
Already got some background music on there, though in recent months I have turned it way down.

going to aim for closer to the 0db mark, and have tried compression a few times (not uploaded) because I managed to make my audio sound muddy. But, using audacity, I may just have over did it because I ran it more than once.

Generally, I am trying the following... A soft limiter to take down the peaks (bumps and bangs from cooking mostly), then amplify to bring up the volume - sometimes I do noise reduction first. Maybe I'll do compression over the top?

I don't really know the order in which I am supposed to do these things :/

The big problem for me is I have my voice at a certain level, but I need to whisk things or fry things and the volume of that can be much higher. It's a bit of a struggle. I am saving for a lapel setup to try and isolate my voice more. But, won't have money for that for a bit of a time. In the mean time being more deliberate and disciplined with talking with the mic at the correct position is helping.

Thanks for the input
 
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i use NUGEN AUDIO MasterCheck plugin both for my audio mix and video.
This plugin allows you to meet the proper loudness target based on the provided presets: Youtube, Broadcast, AES, Apple Music, Spotify, etc.

you can use other audio file as reference and automatically match your mix with the reference inside the plugin.


For me, i have no issue with loudness level as long as i stayed below peak at least -4db average. But i always boost more EQ for Youtube video which contain music too. Coz they sounds way too flat in my opinion
 

ALEA freelicencemusic

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Already got some background music on there, though in recent months I have turned it way down.

going to aim for closer to the 0db mark, and have tried compression a few times (not uploaded) because I managed to make my audio sound muddy. But, using audacity, I may just have over did it because I ran it more than once.

Generally, I am trying the following... A soft limiter to take down the peaks (bumps and bangs from cooking mostly), then amplify to bring up the volume - sometimes I do noise reduction first. Maybe I'll do compression over the top?

I don't really know the order in which I am supposed to do these things :/

The big problem for me is I have my voice at a certain level, but I need to whisk things or fry things and the volume of that can be much higher. It's a bit of a struggle. I am saving for a lapel setup to try and isolate my voice more. But, won't have money for that for a bit of a time. In the mean time being more deliberate and disciplined with talking with the mic at the correct position is helping.

Thanks for the input
A little processing is more than enough for only voice. You will need some peaks, since it's the way that sound of human voice works (as opposed to heavily distorted guitar). You want to raise the lower volume sounds juuuuust a bit, not a whole lot. The trick here is to apply compression as you hear the result, so DON't try to graphically shape the wave a certain way, or to hammer it too hard, instead, apply compression until you think that it is becoming unnatural, then back up a little. you have two options: Limiting at 0db and cranking the gain (louder but very unnatural), or applying moderate compression and then setting your highest peak in the video to 0db (which allows for a more natural dynamic range, while still narrower than the dr track)
 

coliwob

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A little processing is more than enough for only voice. You will need some peaks, since it's the way that sound of human voice works (as opposed to heavily distorted guitar). You want to raise the lower volume sounds juuuuust a bit, not a whole lot. The trick here is to apply compression as you hear the result, so DON't try to graphically shape the wave a certain way, or to hammer it too hard, instead, apply compression until you think that it is becoming unnatural, then back up a little. you have two options: Limiting at 0db and cranking the gain (louder but very unnatural), or applying moderate compression and then setting your highest peak in the video to 0db (which allows for a more natural dynamic range, while still narrower than the dr track)
Thanks. Will give this a try. Hopefully, I can develop an ear for this sort of thing. As it is now, I think it has to get quite bad before I notice it. But, if I get better vocals (stop walking away from mic while in the middle of a sentence, for example, :D) to work with and just be subtle it should be easier.
 

Jawad Soomro

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For audio levels, I would suggest to use premiere pro or adobe audition. There is a audio meter that indicates how loud or low is your audio. Red means loud, dark green means too low. Try to use the suggested software. Using headphones or earphones are not recommended for editing audio.
 

coliwob

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For audio levels, I would suggest to use premiere pro or adobe audition. There is a audio meter that indicates how loud or low is your audio. Red means loud, dark green means too low. Try to use the suggested software. Using headphones or earphones are not recommended for editing audio.
What I was doing was listening to other youtube videos and comparing directly to my own. But, now that I learned about levels I can abandon that slightly dodgy practice. :)
 

ALEA freelicencemusic

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What I was doing was listening to other youtube videos and comparing directly to my own. But, now that I learned about levels I can abandon that slightly dodgy practice. :)
Hey, I'm happy you solved your problem. Always remember to be light with post processing and not to clip, everything else is more or less variable. Feel free to ask if you have any more issues. Have a good day!