Suggestions for ExpressFX Dynamics settings

graham-england wrote on 2/19/2018, 10:05 AM

Can anyone help me with the Dynamics settings to try and even out the volume in my radio shows? While I try hard to maintain a constant volume when I record my shows live, my producer still has to tweak it. I asked him how he does it and he said...You "I do this in Adobe Audition, by choosing Effects -> Amplitude and Compression -> Hard Limiter... and then setting the Maximum Amplitude to -1.6 dB, Input Boost to 3.0 dB, Look Ahead Time to 7ms and Release Time to 100ms"

I don't know how to do any of that in SoundForge 12. I raised a support ticket with Magix, but all they said was
“Go to effects, Dynamics and set your compression values there. You could also try some of the preset to start with. In the end, apply a limiter to prevent any digital clipping from signal going over 0dbfs”

Unfortunately the Preset names mean nothing to me and I don't know which settings to play with in the Dynamics dialog, to match what my producer is doing in Adobe Audition.

Any suggestions please? My shows are about 90 minutes each, playing non-stop Disco/RnB music mixes and talking over the intros. Thanks!

Comments

rraud wrote on 2/19/2018, 11:37 AM

Without having a sample file, I could not recommend a preset for any dynamics process.

That said, I'd first put a hardware comp/limiter on your voice before it hits the A/D converter.
For audio files with 'excessive' dynamic range, I like Jeroen Breebaart's 'Broadcast'. This multi-band plug-in also has an active input leveling option, the typical comp/limiter adj. parameters and a back-end limiter.. The TDR No. 6 limiter is worth auditioning as well. That has five selectable sections; comp, peak limit, HF limit, clipper and ISP protection. Both of these may be difficult for non-audio folks to set up properly though.

graham-england wrote on 2/20/2018, 10:02 PM

Thanks for helping out rraud. The more I've tried to research on this today, the more I'm realizing I'm clueless! It seemed such a simple and common issue to me that I thought it would be click, click, fixed... LOL

I've only been using Sound Forge for a couple of months, there's so much in there already that I have no clue about yet, so I've not even considered plug-ins (nor do I know where I go for them, but I've not looked yet!).

I appreciate that you don't know me from Adam, so I won't blame you for not wanting to follow some random link, but if you're as trusting as me, please follow this link to download my latest un-processed radio show, up on "WeTransfer" for a few days... https://we.tl/6i7RJF6NXE

The recording is about 90 minutes long, and while I know the left channel is slightly lower in volume than the right (which I could easily fix), let's look at the peak at places throughout the 'mix'...
16 mins in, -1 dB
44 mins in, -4 dB
58 mins in, -10 dB

I'm hoping the answer to this problem isn't to select each track separately and normalize it, but on the other hand, I'm not expecting a 'magic bullet' that's going to be perfect. Just something to smooth things out a little better before I upload it, is what I'm trying to achieve.

Thanks for any bone you can throw my way, I appreciate your time!

All the best,
Graham