Excellent Jim just what I was looking for. I had one single audio track on track one. And I noticed everything was grayed out. Thanks to you I understand why it was not highlighted. Now I can edit my audio much more efficiently. Thanks Keith
Keith, Some of the reasons behind the way things show up on the screen are hard to see at first. I still scratch my head at times wondering what's going on. It's a learning experience for all of us. I'm pleased this offered some clarity for you. --Jim
Thank you for the audio tips, on where to find the individual & master controls. The noise floor and dynamic range are things to be aware of when making global adjustments.
Hi Jim, new question. I have multiple clips all put together on a single track and I have split them from the video. Question is do I need to hightlight all the audio on that track to noromalize it? (Or just click on normalize without highlighting?) The audio is different in every clip.
Thanks for the explanation. I never knew what the normalize feature did or the gain control. All these years of using PD12, I only ever adjusted the various audio clips manually with the sliders. I think I probably tried normalize once and didn't see what it did and thought it didn't work or change anything noticeably and I went back to manually changing it. I just tried it like you show and yes it adjusted the various audio differently to each other and the gain changed them all at the same time. I'm not convinced it got them exactly right on my current project. Two clips I recorded in one location of me singing seem to blast my ears and the others from a different location seem ok. Though I think this is the locations fault and not PD fault, as the others were recorded in a room with a bit of an echo, but I think I will just manually fiddle with the other two that were recorded outside and see if I can get it better.
As I read your post I'm reminded of how complex it is to adjust audio-especially when your conditions are not ideal, which is often the case. I'm glad that the normalizing function is working a bit better for you. And sometimes you have to make adjustments beyond that, as you note. But it sounds like the final result is getting better in your case. Congratulations for that. --Jim
@@SharperTurtle thanks for the reply. Yeah now I've discovered how it works, I will definitely try it in future when I need to adjust all the audio. It would definately be quicker then going to each audio clip and using the sliders to adjust them and trying to get them all the same level of volume. 🙂
Thanks for all of the videos. they are quite helpful. I am hoping you can help me with something that you mentioned in this video. I have multiple pieces of audio from tracks one to 5. How can I normalize all of these? I must admit that I don't really understand the basics of audio (db, gain, etc). Therefore, I have just been trying to do it 'by ear'. my audio has been all over the place and I really want to get this figured out. thanks so much.
If the audio is playing at the same time you can move the play head to the frame where all the audio appears and then press the F9 function key to get to the audio mixing room. You can adjust tracks from there. I don't know an easy way to adjust audio that is in different parts of the project and on different tracks. What I would suggest is a bit odd, and maybe someone on the channel will have a better idea. I would perhaps temporarily move all the audio to the same track and use the normalize tool, then move it back. But that seems odd. There is probably a more elegant solution, but it's not coming to me at the moment. I just tried something and it might work. I'd try in on a couple of test audio sources first rather than a project. Use the mouse to highlight all the audio sources on all the tracks. Then right click on anyone one of them and select "normalize". It's worth a try. I tried looking at the on-line help and "normalize" did not trigger any links. Odd. --Jim
@@SharperTurtlethat's exactly what I was thinking... But there should be a way to do it without that, no? Haven't you discovered it in the meantime? ;)
I'm guessing the vertical green lines you are referring to are the audio of that particular clip for the left channel and the right channel. I'm not certain, but I suspect that the "processing" message is a way for PD to let you know it is working while it is making the normalization adjustments. --Jim
I highlight the audio on all tracks and then right-click to get the pop-up menu and choose "normalize". That will make the levels approximately equal. --Jim
Removing the echo will be a big challenge because it's a harmonic of the normal frequency. You can experiment with the equalizer in the Audio Editor in PowerDirector and see if it will take some of the edge off the sound. That's the best solution I can offer. --Jim
@@SharperTurtle Thank you so much Jim. I had a feeling this would be your answer but I thought it was worth asking. When I started my channel last year I knew nothing about filming and sound. It has been a big learning curve! I also made a video in mono instead of stereo but I don’t suppose there is any way of correcting that? Your videos are so easy to understand Jim, thank you for all your hard work. Kindest regards, Anne
Anne, I'm not an expert at audio editing, but it's a bit like out of focus photography. There is only so much you can do with poor original data. I'm glad that you have found these tutorials helpful. My goal is to offer short, step-by-step help to aspiring editors like yourself. --Jim
@@SharperTurtle Thank you so much Jim, I really appreciate your quick replies. I often ask questions on people's channels but rarely get an answer. I try to answer my viewers within a couple of days if I can but it does take up a huge amount of time. Still, I like it when people answer my questions so it's up to me to do the same!
Anne, I try to follow your guideline and reply promptly. Sometimes I miss a post or realize it will take a bit of digging to answer a complex question. But we do the best we can. --Jim
I just highlighted 11 audio clips and then used the normalize to all of them at once. I don't believe it would be more difficult to do that with 10 times as many. You can adjust the timeline magnification so you can see all the clips on the screen at the same time so you can highlight them before using the normalize command. --Jim
Will that last bit work in earlier versions, like PD14 Ultra? I've had people tell me that some of my narration is hard to hear. I usually process my narrations in Sony Sound Forge.
Neil, I don't know in what version the normalization tool was introduced. So I can't speak to how it may or may not be available in PD14 ultra. If you have it available, I suspect it will work much like it did in the tutorial. I haven't noticed a big change in its functionality in recent versions. --Jim
I moved up from PD18 to 365 recently. I've just completed a 15 min video (three weeks of work!) Only to discover PD is still mangling the audio. My voiceover, which sounds fine in its original file (44.1KHz), no yellow 'peaks' on the waveform, is badly clipped. Sounds gravelly. I know this problem appeared on PD14 and a patch was released, but only for that version. I've posted a query on the PD Forum. Have you encountered this issue, I'm curious?
I have not experienced this issue myself. You've gone to the top volunteer experts if you've posted this to the forum. They have much more technical knowledge than I possess on such things. Hopefully they will be able to assist you in figuring out what is happening with your audio. --Jim
What kind of audio are you working with? I just used my podcast microphone and recorded some audio and then exported it to PowerDirector and the gain (volume) was acceptable. Have you tried adjusting the gain in AudioDirector before exporting to PowerDirector? What is your recording setup? --Jim
I don't know if this is available in the Mac version or not. I went to the Cyberlink website and it wasn't mentioned one way or another. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a Mac at this time to fire it up and look. I couldn't find anything definitive on the Cyberlink Forum using the search criteria that came to mind. You may have to contact customer service. --Jim
Thanks. The problem I had was massive differences in volume within a clip. I upgraded, and AD has a feature to normalize within the clip with the click of a button. Very useful.
Excellent Jim just what I was looking for.
I had one single audio track on
track one.
And I noticed everything was grayed out.
Thanks to you I understand why it was not highlighted.
Now I can edit my audio much more efficiently.
Thanks
Keith
Keith,
Some of the reasons behind the way things show up on the screen are hard to see at first. I still scratch my head at times wondering what's going on. It's a learning experience for all of us. I'm pleased this offered some clarity for you. --Jim
Thank you for the audio tips, on where to find the individual & master controls. The noise floor and dynamic range are things to be aware of when making global adjustments.
You are right about that. --Jim
أحبك كثيرا - جزاك الله الجنة ورحم والديك وجعلك من الصالحين النافعين
This is GREAT!
I frequently do this manually through my video. Great tip!
Delighted to share this with you. --Jim
Hi Jim, new question. I have multiple clips all put together on a single track and I have split them from the video. Question is do I need to hightlight all the audio on that track to noromalize it? (Or just click on normalize without highlighting?) The audio is different in every clip.
You don't have to highlight all the content in the track to normalize the audio. --Jim
@@SharperTurtle Thank you Jim!
Superb video in explaining and demonstrating this audio feature. Thanks.
You are welcome! Glad to provide it. --Jim
Thanks for the explanation. I never knew what the normalize feature did or the gain control. All these years of using PD12, I only ever adjusted the various audio clips manually with the sliders. I think I probably tried normalize once and didn't see what it did and thought it didn't work or change anything noticeably and I went back to manually changing it. I just tried it like you show and yes it adjusted the various audio differently to each other and the gain changed them all at the same time. I'm not convinced it got them exactly right on my current project. Two clips I recorded in one location of me singing seem to blast my ears and the others from a different location seem ok. Though I think this is the locations fault and not PD fault, as the others were recorded in a room with a bit of an echo, but I think I will just manually fiddle with the other two that were recorded outside and see if I can get it better.
As I read your post I'm reminded of how complex it is to adjust audio-especially when your conditions are not ideal, which is often the case. I'm glad that the normalizing function is working a bit better for you. And sometimes you have to make adjustments beyond that, as you note. But it sounds like the final result is getting better in your case. Congratulations for that. --Jim
@@SharperTurtle thanks for the reply. Yeah now I've discovered how it works, I will definitely try it in future when I need to adjust all the audio. It would definately be quicker then going to each audio clip and using the sliders to adjust them and trying to get them all the same level of volume. 🙂
You are right about that. It should save time in the end. --Jim
Thanks for all of the videos. they are quite helpful. I am hoping you can help me with something that you mentioned in this video. I have multiple pieces of audio from tracks one to 5. How can I normalize all of these? I must admit that I don't really understand the basics of audio (db, gain, etc). Therefore, I have just been trying to do it 'by ear'. my audio has been all over the place and I really want to get this figured out. thanks so much.
If the audio is playing at the same time you can move the play head to the frame where all the audio appears and then press the F9 function key to get to the audio mixing room. You can adjust tracks from there. I don't know an easy way to adjust audio that is in different parts of the project and on different tracks. What I would suggest is a bit odd, and maybe someone on the channel will have a better idea. I would perhaps temporarily move all the audio to the same track and use the normalize tool, then move it back. But that seems odd. There is probably a more elegant solution, but it's not coming to me at the moment.
I just tried something and it might work. I'd try in on a couple of test audio sources first rather than a project. Use the mouse to highlight all the audio sources on all the tracks. Then right click on anyone one of them and select "normalize". It's worth a try. I tried looking at the on-line help and "normalize" did not trigger any links. Odd. --Jim
@@SharperTurtlethat's exactly what I was thinking... But there should be a way to do it without that, no? Haven't you discovered it in the meantime? ;)
What are the green lines that appear over the first track, and why does my editor keep spamming "procesing", while creating them?
I'm guessing the vertical green lines you are referring to are the audio of that particular clip for the left channel and the right channel. I'm not certain, but I suspect that the "processing" message is a way for PD to let you know it is working while it is making the normalization adjustments. --Jim
Great Video. So if i have audio on 2 seperate tracks i just normalize them separately and they will still come out the same level?
I highlight the audio on all tracks and then right-click to get the pop-up menu and choose "normalize". That will make the levels approximately equal. --Jim
@@SharperTurtle i didn't realize you could do that with different tracks. Thank you. 😊
You are most welcome. --Jim
My video was recorded in a large studio with lots of echo. Is there any way to reduce the echo whilst editing?
Removing the echo will be a big challenge because it's a harmonic of the normal frequency. You can experiment with the equalizer in the Audio Editor in PowerDirector and see if it will take some of the edge off the sound. That's the best solution I can offer. --Jim
@@SharperTurtle Thank you so much Jim. I had a feeling this would be your answer but I thought it was worth asking. When I started my channel last year I knew nothing about filming and sound. It has been a big learning curve! I also made a video in mono instead of stereo but I don’t suppose there is any way of correcting that? Your videos are so easy to understand Jim, thank you for all your hard work. Kindest regards, Anne
Anne,
I'm not an expert at audio editing, but it's a bit like out of focus photography. There is only so much you can do with poor original data. I'm glad that you have found these tutorials helpful. My goal is to offer short, step-by-step help to aspiring editors like yourself. --Jim
@@SharperTurtle Thank you so much Jim, I really appreciate your quick replies. I often ask questions on people's channels but rarely get an answer. I try to answer my viewers within a couple of days if I can but it does take up a huge amount of time. Still, I like it when people answer my questions so it's up to me to do the same!
Anne,
I try to follow your guideline and reply promptly. Sometimes I miss a post or realize it will take a bit of digging to answer a complex question. But we do the best we can. --Jim
Got a question…if you have a big project where you’re working with maybe a hundred clips on a track, how do you normalize??
I just highlighted 11 audio clips and then used the normalize to all of them at once. I don't believe it would be more difficult to do that with 10 times as many. You can adjust the timeline magnification so you can see all the clips on the screen at the same time so you can highlight them before using the normalize command. --Jim
Will that last bit work in earlier versions, like PD14 Ultra? I've had people tell me that some of my narration is hard to hear. I usually process my narrations in Sony Sound Forge.
Neil,
I don't know in what version the normalization tool was introduced. So I can't speak to how it may or may not be available in PD14 ultra. If you have it available, I suspect it will work much like it did in the tutorial. I haven't noticed a big change in its functionality in recent versions. --Jim
actully i thought PD would cover what sony sound forge does
Why don’t you try it through PD next time
I am using PD12 still and it has the normalize feature.
@@MrBooojangles I've since moved on to PD20 Ultimate and Magix Sound Forge(taken over from Sony), plus using a Windows-11 based computer.
An another lesson learned, Thanks Jim.
Always good to get your feedback, Paul. --Jim
Good stuff as usual Jim
Keith
Thanks Keith! --Jim
@@SharperTurtle
No problem Jim
I love your channel and how you go about teaching.
Keith
This was great, very thorough. Thanks for the advice I'll be using this!
That is great to know. Thanks for taking the time to give me feedback. --Jim
I moved up from PD18 to 365 recently. I've just completed a 15 min video (three weeks of work!) Only to discover PD is still mangling the audio. My voiceover, which sounds fine in its original file (44.1KHz), no yellow 'peaks' on the waveform, is badly clipped. Sounds gravelly.
I know this problem appeared on PD14 and a patch was released, but only for that version. I've posted a query on the PD Forum.
Have you encountered this issue, I'm curious?
I have not experienced this issue myself. You've gone to the top volunteer experts if you've posted this to the forum. They have much more technical knowledge than I possess on such things. Hopefully they will be able to assist you in figuring out what is happening with your audio. --Jim
@@SharperTurtle Thanks Jim. Problem solved now, with the Forum's help ;-)
I'm so thankful. That's great. There are some super folks at the forum. --Jim
Is there a way to sync my audio with my video? My recorded voice is always ahead of my video.
What do you mean when you state that your recorded voice is ahead of the video? Are you doing a voiceover on top of video? --Jim
@SharperTurtle not a voice over. More like watching on old foreign film where the voice isn't syncing with the video
When I record audio with Cyberlink Audio director then input into Power Director, it's too low.
What kind of audio are you working with? I just used my podcast microphone and recorded some audio and then exported it to PowerDirector and the gain (volume) was acceptable.
Have you tried adjusting the gain in AudioDirector before exporting to PowerDirector? What is your recording setup? --Jim
Thank You Jim. Good information! ~Lucy
You are welcome, Lucy. Thanks for the feedback. --Jim
This looks like a new feature. Is this PD19?
I don't know when normalizing was introduced, but it has been in PowerDirector for a few versions. It's not new with PD 19. --Jim
hey jim, i have multiple audio clip on a track and it won't give me the normalize option. any ideas? i'm using a mac.
I don't know if this is available in the Mac version or not. I went to the Cyberlink website and it wasn't mentioned one way or another. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a Mac at this time to fire it up and look. I couldn't find anything definitive on the Cyberlink Forum using the search criteria that came to mind. You may have to contact customer service. --Jim
Thanks Jim for looking into it for me. I really appreciate it.
You are welcome. --Jim
What about normalizing within the same clip?
Normalizing only works between clips. You can adjust the db level within an audio clip by moving the gain up or down for that clip. --Jim
Thanks. The problem I had was massive differences in volume within a clip. I upgraded, and AD has a feature to normalize within the clip with the click of a button. Very useful.
Glad you found your solution through AudioDirector. Thanks for letting me know. --Jim
i learned something new, thanks
You are most welcome. Glad to help video editors who are expanding their skill set like yourself. --Jim