Levelator Lifesaver!!

[Chris Harding]

Hi All

I did a wedding last Friday and after rehearsal consultation with the priest he assured me that he would conduct his homily either from the lectern or in front of the couple. So I rigged one lav and transmitter on the lectern for the readings/homily and another on the groom ... All was good until he did his Gospel reading and then, instead of staying there or moving next to the seated couple he walked to the back of the Church right behind the altar and di it from there!! So I had a shotgun on the main cameras up front BUT at least 30' away from him and two radio mics to the left and right still at least 15' away from him.

The audio track was really dismal with tiny little bumps where the waveform should be!! Someone here suggested the Levelator (free too!) so I split the audio and video, and ran the audio thru the program and to my amazement there was a beautiful waveform, ready to use. Due to the big distance it was of course somewhat echoey but it was certainly way more usable than what I had!!

Well worth having on your desktop just in case you get into the same sort of situation!!

Chris

[Chris Hewitt]

Chris, I've been using Levelator for a couple of years now when needed and yes, it can be a lifesaver and amazing that it's free!! It can go places that even dedicated compressors and limiters fear to tread.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Chris Hewitt

It can go places that even dedicated compressors and limiters fear to tread.

Please explain. What does it do that compressors and limiters can't do?

[Christopher Young]

I have used it off and on for years for certain jobs. It's not a silver bullet but there are often jobs, like run-n-gun news shoots and interviews off the cuff where it it can be a life saver in time. It's an automated tool that isn't a compressor, normalizer or limiter although it contains all three. Best to go to

The Levelator from The Conversations Network

and check it out. It will stay in my tool box for sure.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

[Nicholas de Kock]

Originally Posted by Dave Partington

Please explain. What does it do that compressors and limiters can't do?

Drag & Drop :) I've also been using Levelator for many years, I run my voice audio through it from time to time. Great piece of software.

[Chris Harding]

I agree!! The difference is probably hours of fiddling with the Compressor in Vegas compared to a few minutes to drag, drop and replace a new audio track. It's quick and easy and has no settings ...just drag, drop and your track is all maximised. Now if that was a Vegas plugin it would be brilliant as the only thing you do need to remember is that you have split the audio and video tracks in your NLE so when you put the new "fixed" audio track back you have to remember to group/lock it back to the video otherwise any further normal edits on that track leaves the audio track behind.

My only tiny complaint was that it tends to maximise everything to 0db rather than my normal level of -6db but sheesh I can live with that !!

Chris