Lowering volume of MAIN audio track to allow another to predominate

FF22 wrote on 4/14/2020, 5:00 PM

I occasionally have short videos embedded in the overall project. And I would like that clip's audio to prevail over the main audio (background music). I am guessing that the only way is to split the main audio track before an after the other object's audio kicks in and lower the volume of the split portion. I was wondering if there were a way to do it without splitting the main audio track. I've occasionally botched it by moving something which also moves one end of the split main audio. Obviously being careful helps.

Thanks.

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CubeAce wrote on 4/17/2020, 6:43 AM

@FF22 @Richard-Curtis @Scenestealer @browj2 @emmrecs @johnebaker

Hi guys.

I would expect a roughly 50/50 split due to environmental conditions, personal preferences, and budgets. I have worked with but never owned reference headphones and the problem I find with any headphones of any type is the complete isolation you get from left to right channels. With no crosstalk to deal with it becomes more difficult to hear how any given added signal sits within a stereo image. There can be equal but different problems using speakers of course if the listening environment is not ideal. Then again, as I get older my higher frequency hearing is rolling off quite a bit. Like eyesight, no-one hears exactly the same thing, so seeking perfection in a mix can become yet another rabbit hole to jump down. Luckily my hearing range is still quite good for my age with little in the way of tinnitus creeping in.

I agree that an auto-ducking feature could be useful but it is not the only way of getting signals to sit in a mix and be heard clearly. Also, the resulting pumping effect of the background you are trying to duck-down can be very evident if set up wrong and become very fatiguing on the listener even over a short period of time.

Other possibilities are to sculpt competing frequencies or slightly compressing the additional signal. I don't think there is one cure-all solution that works well.

A lot depends on the project. A level volume during the whole of some videos would not represent the real life experience although excessive volume changes can have a person reaching for the volume control. That is my experience of watching feature films where dialogue can be hard to hear but then as action sequences arrive I get my ears pounded with excess volume.

Maybe I'll set up another project to see how different people mix down the audio. 😉.

Ray.

browj2 wrote on 4/20/2020, 2:36 PM

@CubeAce

Headphones. My speakers are not very good. The only problem is none of my headphones work on the left side. Even if I turn them around they don't work on the left side.

John CB

CubeAce wrote on 4/20/2020, 3:49 PM

@browj2

Hi John.

I didn't realise. How long has it been like that or was it gradual over time?

Ray.

browj2 wrote on 4/20/2020, 4:35 PM

@CubeAce

Since I was about 8, very ill with the mumps. I was hospitalized and when I called home after I got some strength back, the phone no longer worked on the left side. So, if you're on my left, talking to me and I don't acknowledge you, it's because I don't hear you. If you're on my right, I'm ignoring you.

John CB

CubeAce wrote on 4/20/2020, 5:41 PM

@browj2

I had mumps as an adult. That wasn't too bad, but the orchitis, that was something else. They took photos for reference. 😊 I couldn't balance as a young child because of perforated eardrums, but I was lucky, and they mainly healed by the time I was five.

Ray.

johnebaker wrote on 4/21/2020, 2:13 AM

@browj2

Hi John

. . . . none of my headphones work on the left side. Even if I turn them around they don't work on the left side . . . .

Same here except it is the right side.

Many years ago - too many to count - I had a pair of headphones modified so the right speaker was also in the left side. Now I use Equalizer APO and Peace to set the computer sound to mono.

The APO is also good ad you can custom adjust the audio to compensate for loss of hearing at higher frequencies etc.

. . . . orchitis . . . .

Very very painful, to take it up a pain level a strangulated Varicocele is excrutiating, could not walk until they found out that it was not Orchitis. Medication was sort of good, first week eased the pain, second week I was very happy, third week I was on the ceiling as high as a kite!

John EB

CubeAce wrote on 4/21/2020, 3:56 AM

@browj2 @johnebaker

Hi Johns.

I don't think mine was strangled but for three weeks I was larger than tennis balls and physically couldn't walk properly. 😆 My GP brought other doctors around to look as it was so unusual a good example and apparently rare.

Hi John EB.

Can't you use the ease of access centre to select mono sound?

Do you re-equalise sound frequency response for your hearing? At which point of the audio chain do you think it is applied?

Speaking of settings. I know you always advocate making sure Windows resets its drivers properly and the problem with Win10 not doing that, so I looked on the Microsoft website. It said that using restart rather than shutting down does not reload previous settings and that if you don't want Windows to reload all previous settings and reset them, then to disable the fast startup feature which I've now done.

Ray.

johnebaker wrote on 4/21/2020, 7:57 AM

@CubeAce

. . . . Can't you use the ease of access centre to select mono sound? . . . .

Yes I could, however that doesn't give correction for diminished higher frequencies.

. . . . At which point of the audio chain do you think it is applied . . . .

At the audio chip after the stereo mixer as all audio is affected.

. . . . It said that using restart rather than shutting down does not reload previous settings and that if you don't want Windows to reload all previous settings and reset them, then to disable the fast startup feature which I've now done. . . . .

I do not know of no good reason for disabling Faststart when you use the Restart option the drivers are reloaded anyway.

HTH

John EB

CubeAce wrote on 4/21/2020, 8:39 AM

@johnebaker

Hi John.

I shut my PC down at the end of each day and turn everything off at the mains as I have an awful lot of other equipment that rely on external power supplies that I don't like switched on. The room I use has its own dedicated mains loop to the mains house fuse box and a power regulator / cleaner that keeps the mains' voltage more stable \ cleaner than in the rest of the house and has a backup supply to keep things running for long enough to shut things down properly. It's just easier switching off the two main mains loops than getting to all the individual sockets.

I had problems with MEP and Cubase blasting out at full volume whenever they were initiated and for some reason couldn't separate the two volumes so that the settings were remembered when I powered my PC back up. So in the wee hours, if I started up Cubase after using MEP it would blast out at full volume. (or the other way around) It may have something to do with Cubase and me using ASIO4ALL to keep keyboard latency down to a playable delay time and even getting my M-Audio Axiom air mini 32 to be recognized and all of its controls mapped. Using the Windows or Realtek settings gave way too much latency (about a tenth of a second) that I can't manage and lost the keyboard controller within Cubase.

Anyway it's sorted with everything working in the Realtek settings for everything else now. No nasty volume changes when initiating different programs or even when using both at once when the PC is switched back on.

When I first designed the room everything was set up 90 degrees to its present setup and the sockets were easily accessible. Unfortunately this is no longer the case.

When a while back I said I have an awful lot of wiring in my room I wasn't kidding. There are 24 power sockets alone and now I've set up my old 16 into 4 mixing desk as well I don't even want to think about the amount of audio cabling at the back of it all. 😉

Ray.

johnebaker wrote on 4/21/2020, 3:30 PM

@CubeAce

That will only reload the drivers every time if you disable Faststart.

I don't turn off the power as I have several devices including the computer on a UPS. When the computer is off, but still powered from the mains, the power consumption is very low, it only has to provide enough current (mA) at 5V for the power on sense input to turn the PC on and any wake up devices set eg network (Wake on LAN) or keyboard.

The powerpack installed in my PC has an ECO mode where if there is <15 % load its fans are turned off as well

John EB