New software called Levelator may solve the tricky fluctuating audio level issue many teachers with limited equipment face. It automatically adjusts the audio levels within a podcast to account for variations in level between speakers. Drag-and-drop any WAV or AIFF file onto The Leveler’s application window, and a few moments later you’ll find a new version which just sounds better. The application is available for Windows and OS X - it’s free (for non-commercial use).
Have you ever recorded an interview in which you and your guest ended up at different volumes? How about a panel discussion where some people were close to microphones and others were not? These are the problems the post-production engineers of Team ITC solve every day, and it used to sometimes take them hours of painstaking work with expensive and complex tools like SoundTrack Pro, Audacity, Sound Forge or Audition to solve them. Now it takes mere seconds. Seriously. The Levelator is unlike any other audio tool you’ve ever seen, heard or used. It’s magic. And it’s free.
Thanks for this Paul. I’ve tried it and it works well. Just remember that it will only convert WAV and AIFF files. I spent some anxious moments trying to convert some mp3 files before reading the FAQs on the website! Judy Kealy, my teaching “partner in crime”, had emailed me some students oral reports, all saved as mp3s, so I could publish them as mini-podcasts for the kids during the holidays - the things we do!
So into Quicktime Pro they went, out popped AIFFs, then into Levelator which did a masterful job of raising and levelling the voices, into iMovieHD where I increased the volume again and added some simple titles and graphics, exported as iPod format to iWeb, then straight up to .Mac where we are hosting their work. Have a look and listen at http://web.mac.com/whitelyr/. Follow the link to Beachlands Forum. The last three posted (Brianna, Chris, Dylan) have been “Levelated”; the first, Jessica (our very special, special needs student) hasn’t. I may go back to that one later and see what difference it makes.