Volume Control DVD's

K

kangaloo

New Member
I run a bar in Thailand and have quite a collection of Music Video DVD's that all play at different volume levels.
It is driving me nuts as i am trying to look after customers but need to constantly attend the volume control on the remote for each song with some songs being very quiet and some blasting you out of your seat.

I have tried a couple of programs that state they can carry out Automatic volume control but they are useless.
A friend said to me that I need to make all the bitrates the same.

Is there any programs that you may know of that can solve this problem??? or do i need to run my music videos through an external device???.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated Cheers !
 
One way of solving this issue would be to re-encode all files and have them normalized during that process. This means that the maximum volume of each song is set to a certain dB value either by increasing or lowering the volume of each song.

By just normalizing an audio file you still retain the relative changes in volume, if you want to keep the volume at a constant level you can use a limiter or a compressor.

Doing this by software might be in breach of laws in certain countries depending on the way you obtain the original file, unless you manage to strike a deal with the owner of the rights to the song. Doing this in realtime with a hardware limiter/compressor/normalizer should avoid any possible legal issues and will save you from repeating the process every time you buy more songs. I'd suggest trying to get a hardware limiter/normalizer/compressor and if you are using a mixer board you might already have one or more of these features.
 
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Cheers MrJack,

I have found a program called the Levelator http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator
So hopefully this will work,

You also mention in your reply about " re-encode all files and have them normalized during that process".
How is that done, Is it an relatively easy process or is it more for a Computer Tech???

Ok Cheers and thanks for your help
 
kangaloo said:
Cheers MrJack,

I have found a program called the Levelator http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator
So hopefully this will work,

You also mention in your reply about " re-encode all files and have them normalized during that process".
How is that done, Is it an relatively easy process or is it more for a Computer Tech???

Ok Cheers and thanks for your help
Click to expand...

Encoding is basically the process of compressing a source file according to a certain algorithm in order to save space. Simply put it is opening a file and then saving it as a new file with either a different compression method being applied to the file or the same one being applied again. Doing this several times in a row to a file will cause a loss of quality unless a lossless algorithm is applied.

Normalizing is basically just adjusting the maximum volume level of an audio file up or down to a level that you want. This does not affect the relative differences in volume within that song, but it can be used to set a shared maximum volume for a collection of files.

With, for example Audacity, you can set up a batch normalization process of files. Here's a link to a quick guide on how to do that. Basically it's just opening a file, applying the normalization effect with the desired settings and making it a batch process (which makes it into an action that automates the process of normalizing for use on a lot of files).

Levelator looks like an interesting option, but I'd like to point out that using something like Levelator instead of a normalizer will take away the range of volume that a musician has chosen. In other words, a song that has fluctuations in volume that are supposed to accentuate the mood of certain sections will be removed. So try out different methods for a couple songs and see which version you like the most.

Using a compressor on a song might also introduce nasty "pumping" of the volume depending on the settings used, so watch out for that.
 
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Hello MrJack,
The Music DVD files are all .VOB
I have tried to convert them over to MP3 so as to run them all through MP3GainGUI program I have but I only end up with the Audio to the Video
I am using AVS Video Converter
Hello Oddball,

The Music DVD files are all .VOB

I have tried to convert them over to MP3 so as to run them all through MP3GainGUI program but I only end up with the Audio to the Video

I am using AVS Video Converter

I am playing the Music DVDs on a PC with Windows 7 through an HDMI Cable to My TVs around the bar
 
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