Boost volume levels on iMovie m4v exports « Videomaker Community Forums

Neil
Member

Hi All

I'veÂ just started tinkering with videos and the YouTube Handbook videos brought me here. First steps are boosting the volume levels on the m4v videos I have been exporting from iMovie - does anyone know how I can do this?

If you need a little more info; the videos were recorded using an AKG C1000 going in to a Tapco 6306, which then went in to the mic input on a Macbook Pro, and then in to iMovie. So the fidelity is ok, I just need to boost the gain. I've already used the 200% maximum available within iMovie, and it doesn't seem to be enough.

Any suggestions?

Posted 3 years ago #
robGRAUERT
Member

Â Which version of iMovie are you using. I just checked my version that came on my Mac and it's 7.1.4 and there is an "Adjust Audio" button in it's tool bar area in the middle of iMovie's work space. The keyboard short cut is "A."

Â Does iMovie have audio meters? Audio should be around -12dB and not peak above -6dB.Â

Rob Grauert, Jr
http://www.robgrauert.com
http://command-r.tumblr.com

Posted 3 years ago #
Neil
Member

Â Which version of iMovie are you using. I just checked my version that came on my Mac and it's 7.1.4 and there is an "Adjust Audio" button in it's tool bar area in the middle of iMovie's work space. The keyboard short cut is "A." Â Does iMovie have audio meters? Audio should be around -12dB and not peak above -6dB.

I'm on 7.1.2. I've seen the audio options and used the 200% boost, but the volume still seems low - not unbearably low, but I'd like a volume that's comparable to most YouTube videos.

iMovie has an audio meter on the right hand side. It's the next set of controls following on from the audio and color buttons.

A friend on Twitter recommended QuickTime Pro (which I haven't upgraded to, yet) or Soundtrack Pro (which I just realised I have in the Logic Studio box that's been sat behind me in shrink wrap for months - I just don't have the hard disk space on my MBP for the 48gb of extras from Logic). Someone else suggested Audacity might do the trick - I didn't realise it could do m4v...

Posted 3 years ago #
robGRAUERT
Member

Â Well, the problem with saying you want your audio to be like most YouTube videos is what you hear from Youtube is based on the viewer's volume level, not the videos audio levels. A video on YouTube could have very low audio levels, but you wouldn't know it if you just turn the volume up. Or the audio levels could be too high, and the viewer's volume could be low.Â

Â You have to look at your audio meters in your editing program. Audio should be around -12dB and not peek above -6dB. If the audio meters in iMovie aren't in measurements of dB, but instead a percent, then you need a new editing program. Saying your audio is at 200% doesn't mean anything. 200% of what?Â

Posted 3 years ago #
robGRAUERT
Member

Â OK, I just checked the version of iMovie on my computer. I noticed the audio meters don't have number's indicating the dB level. So just watch your audio levels as you edit and make sure it doesn't go into the red zone of the audio meters. The average audio levels should be just under the yellow area of the meter and barely touch the yellow area when the audio peeks, for example, if someone claps or something.Â

Â Does that make sense?

Posted 3 years ago #
Neil
Member

Â OK, I just checked the version of iMovie on my computer. I noticed the audio meters don't have number's indicating the dB level. So just watch your audio levels as you edit and make sure it doesn't go into the red zone of the audio meters. The average audio levels should be just under the yellow area of the meter and barely touch the yellow area when the audio peeks, for example, if someone claps or something.Â Â Does that make sense?

Thanks, that's helpful. With regards to the '200%'; I was trying to explain that I had reached the limits of iMovie's dB boosting capabilities (rather than trying to indicate some kind of 'volume' I had reached) - so I'm now looking for ways to boost them further. This is a test video, how does the volume seem to you?

Get the Video Widget

The problem with this video (aside from the clipping when someone gets close to the condenser) is that I've used normalization (which I don't think I can across most other projects). Normalization boosts the volume on, and works ok for this clip because there are no breaks in the iMovie project (i.e. multiple clips taken from the iMovie events), subsequently giving the volume one big boost across the board. However, when I introduce normalization across a project with multiple clips, the normalization wreaks havoc with the volume between each clip - some will be very loud, some will appear much quieter, but only because they have a greater dynamic range - i.e. normalization does its' thing within the scope of each clip, rather than analyzing all the clips within one project, and normalizing based on the volumes of all clips. So, most projects will be quieter than the one above...

Posted 3 years ago #