Sound going PAST 11!

[Denty]

Hi,

I hope someone can help.

Been using Videopad for a good while now and am upgraded to the latest version. However, I am close to ending my subscription and using another program.

I've had a multitude of problems to overcome since using Videopad - problems with rendering, problems with exporting, problems with sequences etc that I've managed to sort out myself but I have a problem I just can find NO solution for, so I figured ask for help in the forums and if nobody can help, sack this and start using Adobe.

So, whenever I import a mp4/mp3 or WHATEVER file I import into Videopad, it blows the volume RIGHT up. This happens whether "Normalize sound levels of imported video/audio media" is checked or unchecked. I have to go into each clip and reduce the gain down to 20% for it to sound anywhere near like comfortable listening levels. Either that or, to import media with their original sound levels, I have to clear the cache and restart the pc EVERY TIME before importing them.

I have no idea why this is happening, but it's doing my head in.

Any ideas, anyone, before I sack this editor and find out what all the fuss is with Premiere Pro?

Windows 11.

v.13.21 of Videopad

32GB RAM

i5 10400F Six core 2.9GHz

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650

(just in case anyone asks for specs)

Thank you.

[borate]

No, that should not be happening ... and it doesn't here in v13.21.

Install this release.

Before starting a project, clear the cache.  Clips imported with 'auto-normalize' enabled should be adjusted to optimal level.  Clips with it disabled should not be changed.

As for Adobe, it's apples and oranges - pegged to different markets.  Spendy, by subscription only, steeper learning curve, more than most home users need,  Like most complex software, it's also not without quirks.

Please share your project so it can be tested.  This takes only minutes, isn't difficult and can be private.  Just follow these four steps...

•     Back up --- With your project on the timeline, click on MENU at the top-left.  Click FILE|BACK UP PROJECT FILES TO FOLDER.  Choose a folder and SELECT FOLDER.
•     Upload ---  Use a free server - Google Drive, MS OneDrive, etc.* - to upload the saved, numbered FOLDER.    Do NOT upload the individual VPJ or export file. 
•     Get link --- Get a public link.  If using Google Drive click GET SHAREABLE LINK. If necessary change "restricted" to "anyone with the link can view" 
•     Share ---     Click COPY LINK | DONE.  Paste that link here, or click the folder at the top-right of this forum to message it privately to me.  It won't be shared.

          *    Before uploading, right-click the folder, click PROPERTIES.  Look at the File Size to confirm that it's not too big for the free space on the server.

[Denty]

Well, I have the latest release. Which version is the one you've linked to?

I always clear the cache before starting a new project but, nonetheless, whatever sound files I import end up becoming serious eardrum damagers. As I said sdoesn't matter normalize is checked or not.

Have no idea how to stop it happening. At wits end.

It happens with EVERY file I import.

Been happening for awhile, not just this release and I'm getting seriously hacked off shelling money out for a product that delivers a substandard result.

[borate]

As mentioned, it's not happening here in v13.21.

Install the v13.21, 64-bit release linked above and please take a minute to share the project so we can analyze it.  When bugs are confirmed they are quickly addressed.

Before you do that, with VP shut down, use Windows Explorer (the file manager) to delete all files in these two folders.  Then make the installation, which will restore the files that are necessary...

"C:\Users\Howard\<PC name>\Roaming\NCH Software\Components"

"C:\Program Files (x86)\NCH Software\Components" (or a similar path without the x86)

[ROUS]

I'm with Denty and am experiencing the same thing.  I've been using VideoPad for four years now and this new problem is driving me crazy.  I'm in 13.21 and have been experiencing this over the last few updates.  This happens now in both mp3 and wav.  I've noticed this happening upon reopening a project file.  When I get the audio perfect, save, and close, upon reopening volumes on most audio clips are either extremely loud or completely silent.  

I'll go into WavePad and save off a copy of the audio file with a new name.  I'll import it in VideoPad and it will work fine.  Thinking that all is well, I'll close out and come back later.  Upon reopening, the new audio file will have done the same thing--either there is almost no sound or it's through the roof.

Note:  Most of these wav files were already auto-normalized in WavePad and then added with VideoPad's "autonormalize" check box unchecked.

[borate]

What happens if the box is left checked (enabled)?

Test this Videopad release.  Ignore any virus warnings.

Please share a project that does this.  Just follow the four steps listed in the instruction above.

[ROUS]

10 minutes ago, borate said:

What happens if the box is left checked (enabled)?

No idea.  But, I'll need to blow away all the audio of my current project and start over.  The problem is that this is intermittent and seems to wait until my film is completely finished before wrecking everything.  

I wish this forum would let me post a picture.  You'd be fascinated to see all my project's video clips that are now either flat-lined or maxed out or perfectly normal.  It's a mixed bag this morning, but they were all perfect last night when I shut down.

10 minutes ago, borate said:

Test this Videopad release.  Ignore any virus warnings.

Please share a project that does this.  Just follow the four steps listed in the instruction above.

My projects are quite large, with many clips coming from here and there.  It would take some time to track down all the files to send you a project that would load correctly.  Let me give that some thought.

I'll look at the release you linked and give that a try.

[Denty]

I am the same. My project files are either recorded via OBS or downloaded from other sources. Whether it's audio content I produce myself or external video I import, it always is imported into Videopad with either huge volume or silent. As with ROUS, my projects are also large so would be quite laborious to share the project with all the source files.

However, I could make two project files - one with normalisation checked and one without - with the same audio file and share it?

Am in the middle of making a project at the moment and am concerned about whether the release you shared will work with the settings etc I already have set up.

EDIT: I actually downloaded the release you linked from 13th March and it was happening in that, too. I wanted to wait until v. 13.21 was out to see if it had been fixed.

[ROUS]

17 minutes ago, borate said:

Test this Videopad release.  Ignore any virus warnings.

Okay, that did the trick.  I reopened my project with the 13.09 release linked above.  The audio clips that .21 had blown out or silenced were all back to normal.  If this doesn't go south on me, this might let me finish my film.  Hopefully, I can upgrade at some point to a newer version again.  Thanks.

[Denty]

Okay, will give this a try again and see if it helps and will update.

EDIT: Just downloaded and imported some random clips, including one that nearly destroyed my eardrums when I imported it the other day. It also seems to have worked for me.

Thank you @borate for your help. 

Just one question as brought up by @ROUS - how will we know this will be fixed in a future update? I can never seem to find detailed patch notes on each update (or are they usually posted on here?)

Cheers.

[borate]

There are no detailed patch notes, but updates to threads like this are posted here.

Stuff breaks.😒 Even after beta testing, a fault can be overlooked - especially if it's intermittent.  Confirmed bugs are addressed ASAP.

Save Project File AS routinely, giving it a unique # or name, so as not to overwrite prior saves.  Using Save Project Files (no AS) will overwrite.  From the HOME tab, that choice is available by clicking the caret to the right of the Save Project button on the toolbar.  Then you're protected.  The back up will load in any recent VP release.

A link to an image can be posted.  Upload the image to a free server, get a sharable (public) link and paste that in here.

As for sharing.  Just have the project on the timeline when it's 'perfect' if possible.  No matter whether auto-norm is on or off.  We'd like to take a look.  Follow these steps...

•     Back up --- With your project on the timeline, click on MENU at the top-left.  Click FILE|BACK UP PROJECT FILES TO FOLDER.  Choose a folder and SELECT FOLDER.
•     Upload ---  Use a free server - Google Drive, MS OneDrive, etc.* - to upload the saved, numbered FOLDER.    Do NOT upload the individual VPJ or export file. 
•     Get link --- Get a public link.  If using Google Drive click GET SHAREABLE LINK. If necessary change "restricted" to "anyone with the link can view" 
•     Share ---     Click COPY LINK | DONE.  Paste that link here, or click the folder at the top-right of this forum to message it privately to me.  It won't be shared.

          *    Before uploading, right-click the folder, click PROPERTIES.  Look at the File Size to confirm that it's not too big for the free space on the server.

[CDDavis]

On 3/24/2023 at 6:38 AM, borate said:

"C:\Users\<PC name>\Roaming\NCH Software\Components"

"C:\Program Files (x86)\NCH Software\Components" (or a similar path without the x86)

I am also having normalization problems.  I'm running VideoPad 13.28 64-bit on Windows 10.  I also have several other NCH products installed.

If I delete all the files in the above 2 directories, will I also need to reinstall all my other NCH products?

[borate]

No, don't believe that this will affect other products.  But should it do so, they can be quickly reinstalled.

Specifically, what problems?  Under OPTIONS | MEDIA tab, have you tried toggling this option to the opposite state?  Then restart the program.

If this issue persists, try this release.  Ignore any virus warning.

[CDDavis]

23 minutes ago, borate said:

Under OPTIONS | MEDIA tab, have you tried toggling this option to the opposite state?

No I have not.  That setting has always been "Automatically normalize"

23 minutes ago, borate said:

Specifically, what problems?

I can't seem to get any change of volume, as-if normalization controls are ignored.  I have tried to normalize a single clip and an entire audio track of several clips, but the volume level never changes.  I do not experience the "totally silent" symptom mentioned above, but all files (clips) placed onto the sequence seem to have their original volumes: clips I extracted from videos made by other providers are way too loud, clips which I recorded with wavepad are "normal". 

I expected to be able to normalize the entire track by selecting all clips and applying the audio normalize effect, for which I reduced the limit to 75, but then after applying, nothing changes.  I watch the decibel levels and some peaks which max out at the top, never move.  Lesser peaks, likewise never move, and the sound is always the same.

23 minutes ago, borate said:

If this issue persists, try this release.  Ignore any virus warning.

That is release 13.09+  I'm presently running 13.28+ 64 bit.  Do you still advise  me to rollback to 13.09?

[borate]

There's little downside in testing v13.09.  Later releases can always be reinstalled.  No need to uninstall - just over-install.

Let's check out the project, which is the best way to nail down issues.  Please follow the four steps in the above post.

[CDDavis]

I have reproduced my problem symptoms using VideoPad 13.09 64 bit, and made a test case for you at

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ai3JKaj5JOmo3EVl0y0Xk45aXKCokAi5?usp=sharing

As your instructions above were to *not* upload the project file or the output video, I did not.  I did however reference them in the "steps to reproduce.txt" file.  I did describe the correct result I expected "normalize" to give.  Let me know if I'm misunderstanding what "normalize" should sound like.

I'm running Windows 10 64 bit on an AMD threadripper with 12 dual-cpu cores, 32GB of RAM and M.2 connected SSDs and ViewSonic VP2770-LED monitors.

Let me know if you want anything further.

-0-0-

FYI, if it matters, I forgot to say that when I recorded the test audio .wav file in WavePad for the PowerPoint slide, I used the 'spectrum subtraction' effect to filter out background noise from my computer fans and also "silenced" some of the gaps.  That is what I have done in all my audio recordings, so my problem reproduction steps were done the same way, I just forgot to document that detail.

[borate]

Thanks for sharing.  No need to be concerned with   This applies to audio recordings made only by Vdeopad.

usually remains checked, as in the test here.  (The WAV and mp4 files were at virtually the same level.)

Wavepad has a number of normalize options, where calculations are made differently...

Can't say which of those Videopad employs - likely Simple Peak - but that's not a guarantee that every auto-normed source will match.  For example. while not claiming that this is the case here, a single high-level peak in a clip may reduce gain, while another clip that has no such peak will remain louder overall.

Using v13.28, manual normalization was applied to the first 'thin' voice clip.  To my ear, it doesn't have the broader dynamic of the second.  The result was optimal levels for both, though the timeline waveform will not reflect the clip 1 manual normalization.

In this case, the process seems to be working correctly, with comparable gain heard in VP preview and in the exported mp4...  

 

If you share a completed project, as instructed in my March 25 post, further tests can be made.

As chronicled in this thread, some normalization intermittencies have been recently reported.  Click the caret at the top-right of the VP window to file a bug.

[CDDavis]

1 hour ago, borate said:

In this case, the process seems to be working correctly, with comparable gain heard in VP preview and in the exported mp4...

I agree they both sound equally *loud*.  But when I set the normalize peak to 31%, why isn't the resulting volume quieter?

I would have thought "normalize X%" means to go thru the entire track, find the peak, compute what X% in decibels is, say => YdB, then go thru the entire track again proportionately reducing the volume of everything greater than YdB to not exceed YdB, and proportionately increasing the volume of everything less than YdB to not exceed YdB - so the whole track has a comparable volume, with proportionate highs and lows, but approximately 31% quieter.  What am I missing?

58 minutes ago, CDDavis said:

why isn't the resulting volume quieter?

And why don't I see changes in the graphs of the audio volumes?

-0-0-

I have upgraded back to VideoPad 13.28 64-bit.  I imported into WavePad 17.32 the entire video exported from VideoPad and used WavePad to normalize the audio track to be half as loud, and that worked as expected.

I then started VideoPad, unchecked both auto normalize functions, exited and restarted VideoPad and imported the quieter (normalized) audio .wav file into VideoPad and placed it on a second audio track, and muted the 1st audio track.  Without my doing anything further, VideoPad made the entire new imported audio *louder*, as loud as the loudest clips, its would seem.  Minimally, VideoPad should not have changed the new audio track at all, right?

-0-0-

In running further experiments using "clip preview" of the audio file added to the audio file list, and before placing it on an audio track, it would seem VideoPad is increasing the volume when the file is added, even when not placed on an audio track, and even though auto normalize is unchecked.

[borate]

1 hour ago, CDDavis said:

In running further experiments using "clip preview" of the audio file added to the audio file list, and before placing it on an audio track, it would seem VideoPad is increasing the volume when the file is added, even when not placed on an audio track, and even though auto normalize is unchecked.

Not seeing that here.  The Mystery file gain was drastically reduced in WP and added as track two in VP.  Here's the comparison with the original...

Setting a manual normalize peak to 31% does indeed quiet a selected file.  To apply to all selected files, click... 

For more extensive audio leveling consider using Wavepad, with its many options.  After the text mp4 was auto-normalized there, and imported into VP, the result was the same as the earlier test.  VP auto-norm left the gain of both files unchanged, and optimal.

One might think that text mp4 should have been similarly auto-optimized in VP.  But, IMO, it is balancing levels across several files, whereas Wavepad is acting on only one.

To uniformly effect audio on an entire project, click the Sequences tab atop the bin.  Right-click the sequence and choose Save Sequence Audio as New Audio File.

Import that file and place it on a track.  Mute all original audio clips.  Added effects will apply to the entire track.

Waveforms do not track audio changes in VP.  That could improve, and has been requested.  When importing, the waveform does reflect actual levels.

After importing a file with auto disabled, using manual (which would be rare) will distort.  That bug has been reported.

[CDDavis]

1 hour ago, borate said:

Setting a manual normalize peak to 31% does quiet a selected file.  To apply to all selected files, click this icon..

I can't get that to work for me.  That's when I started posting on this thread. 

It doesn't work on the 2nd audio track containing the full length .wav file that I imported from WavePad, it doesn't work on a single clip on the 1st audio track, and it doesn't work when I select all clips on the 1st audio track (highlight 1st clip, go to last clip and highlight with ctrl shift.  And because VideoPad is *louderizing* pre-normalized tracks exported from WavePad, I can't find a work around. 😞

1 hour ago, borate said:

To uniformly effect audio on an entire project, click the Sequences tab atop the bin.  Right-click the sequence and choose Save Sequence Audio as New Audio File.

In VideoPad, when I right click on the "Sequence 1" tab, all I'm offered is Rename Sequence and Delete Sequence is grayed out.

[Denty]

JFTR, I'm still using v 13.09. Been apprehensive about updating it.

I see we're on v 13.28 - would that be safe to download for my eardrums...?

😁

[borate]

6 hours ago, CDDavis said:

In VideoPad, when I right click on the "Sequence 1" tab, all I'm offered is Rename Sequence and Delete Sequence is grayed out/

Not the sequence tab above the timeline, but the SequenceS tab - above the bin.  If it doesn't appear, start a new blank sequence by clicking the + sign on the sequence 1 tab.

6 hours ago, CDDavis said:

I can't get that to work for me.  That's when I started posting on this thread.

Do it this way, in v13.28.

Imported original files, including the WAV overlaid on track 2.  Auto-norm was on.

Selected all files with <ctrl-A>.

Clicked the 'replace chain' (left, green checkmarked icon) on the effects toolbar to apply to all.

Waveform didn't change, but the meters and sound volume did...

6 hours ago, CDDavis said:  "And because VideoPad is *louderizing* pre-normalized tracks exported from WavePad"

Doesn't happen here with the attached file that was normalized in WP.  Imported into VP, with auto enabled, the level actually drops a bit.

[borate]

44 minutes ago, Denty said:

JFTR, I'm still using v 13.09. Been apprehensive about updating it.  I see we're on v 13.28 - would that be safe to download for my eardrums...?

Any release can be over-installed.  No need to uninstall first.  But keep in mind...

For licensed users upgrades are free for up to six months from purchase date.  After that, VP will continue to fully function but a fee will be required in order to register the newest.  Retain your old install file and registration info.

[CDDavis]

48 minutes ago, borate said:

If it doesn't appear, start a new blank sequence by clicking the + sign on the sequence 1 tab.

DOH!!!  Now I see it.

48 minutes ago, borate said:

Do it this way, in v13.28.

That seems to be working... I'll experiment further.  Thank you for your patience.