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Topic: do you lose quality when lowering a wav file volume then raising it up (Read 19707 times) previous topic - next topic
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do you lose quality when lowering a wav file volume then raising it up

Reply #50 –
Yes... with dithering, a lot of noise is added. Without dithering, the original sound is converted into a series of silence, clicks and bleeps.

do you lose quality when lowering a wav file volume then raising it up

Reply #51 –
Quote from: bernhold on
A side note for audio software users playing around with WAV volume changes: For a quality loss to occur, you actually have to save the file as WAV and then re-import that WAV file between every volume change. It's not enough to lower the volume and raise it again without saving the file. If you do that, the volume change will always be lossless because the changes happen in-memory and the limitations of the WAV format won't come into play.

In short:

- Normalize to -90db, normalize back to previous volume = lossless
- Normalize to -90db, save as WAV, re-open WAV, normalize back to previous volume = quality loss (added noise)

At least this is what I observed using Audacity.



i'm using sound forge 10. ok i tested out just recording some music playing.. saved that as a wav file. Then took that and tried -40db saved it as a wav. Then opened that wav and did +20 twice and it sounded the same as the original.

I was starting to get kinda concerned that maybe those files i'm going thru are getting too low. So i got what 1800 noises i think and on the weekend was at 900 double checking.. i was thinking oh i'll check some of those beginning ones and yeah too loud so went thru the 900 twice and lowered them all. I'm at 1100 and its hurting the ears the high pitched stuff so they're gradually getting lower.. last night thought of checking the beginning ones and yeah too loud so went thru the 1100 again bringing them all down. Seems like forge can only open 64 at a time. Got the incremental volume levels as presets though so use the scroll wheel. Got them in full window and go thru the tabs at the bottom.. do them all and then save all at the end so dont have to save them one at a time. Thats a lot of going thru files the past few days.. few days ago went thru 900 twice and did 1100 yesterday.

I do have a backup folder on my second hard drive, from oh before bringing all the levels down.. kinda worried i'm screwing files up by bringing it down too much. Bit of a drag having to re-go thru them all again. And ya can't just batch file a set volume level cause if its high pitched its really gotta come down.
 

do you lose quality when lowering a wav file volume then raising it up

Reply #52 –
oh i was looking at the levels of this high pitched stuff that i'm really bringing down.. the waveform is really small like the peaks are at -18 to -20db. Is this starting to get too soft where if i raise it up later, i'll lose some data? Gettin kinda worried cause that'll be what 1800 files i'lll have to go thru and things might have been brought down too much and cant salvage it.. d'oh! its like its getting too low and gradually going down and down then you go back to the beginning files and whoops they're louder than the later ones.. kinda getting somewhere though but can barely hear stuff. lol

do you lose quality when lowering a wav file volume then raising it up

Reply #53 –
Quote from: coolhotfun on
oh i was looking at the levels of this high pitched stuff that i'm really bringing down.. the waveform is really small like the peaks are at -18 to -20db. Is this starting to get too soft where if i raise it up later, i'll lose some data? Gettin kinda worried cause that'll be what 1800 files i'lll have to go thru and things might have been brought down too much and cant salvage it.. d'oh! its like its getting too low and gradually going down and down then you go back to the beginning files and whoops they're louder than the later ones.. kinda getting somewhere though but can barely hear stuff. lol


Are you even reading the replies to this thread?  The solution to your problem has been explained at least 3 times to you.

do you lose quality when lowering a wav file volume then raising it up

Reply #54 –
so this is what i'm gonna do here.. go thru all the noises at normal volumes.. clean up the hiss.. then lower the waveform volume level so things dont hurt my ears.. and then even louder parts out. The waveforms are too small though so once i'm done all that then i'll turn my master volume knob on the computer down and then go thru all the files again raising up the volume levels. Then everything should be good to go. Thanks for all the technical help.

do you lose quality when lowering a wav file volume then raising it up

Reply #55 –
Oh come on people, this is obviously a joke.

??

do you lose quality when lowering a wav file volume then raising it up

Reply #56 –
Quote from: 2Bdecided on
Oh come on people, this is obviously a joke.

Mmmyeah, I'm not sure what the OP is getting out of this but I have learned a lot here actually..

do you lose quality when lowering a wav file volume then raising it up

Reply #58 –
If the whole thing is not a joke, then the basic concept to be mastered is that temporarily amplifying, by positive and negative values,  the wave form itself, just to be able to hear or not hear aspects of its audio content, is the most cock-eyed, incompetent way to do audio editing that I've ever heard anyone consider using.

Either the original level is what is wanted, in which case it should not be changed at any time, or the original level is not what is wanted, in which case it should be changed to the desired level with no consideration as to whether defects, noise, or anything else can be heard-- just get the level correct for the final product. Hearing it louder or softer while editing should be a hardware function, or done in a non-destructive software mode.

If your software is too primitive for the later, make a copy of the file, amplify that so you can hear what you should hear through use of the volume control, then apply the changes you calculate to the unamplified version, which will thus not have been screwed up by your weird, irrational approach.