New user a few questions about Goldwave.

GoldWave general discussions and community help
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joemardo1
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 8:33 am

New user a few questions about Goldwave.

Post by joemardo1 »

Hi folks,

I'm new to Goldwave so trying to get my head around the software.

I have a few questions.

I'm into music recording and I intend to do the final touches to my songs with Goldwave.

1 Is there a quick way to select the whole song and have it so that the volume peaks are set to a maximum , any volume (amplitude) peaks or spikes won't go above a certian point, for example 1.5db??

2 For maybe a single peak or spike is there a draw tool that I can use to do the above?

Thank you so much for any help

Joemardo
Gord
Posts: 391
Joined: Thu May 21, 2009 4:26 pm
Location: Canada

Re: New user a few questions about Goldwave.

Post by Gord »

joemardo1 wrote:1 Is there a quick way to select the whole song and have it so that the volume peaks are set to a maximum , any volume (amplitude) peaks or spikes won't go above a certian point, for example 1.5db??
You can select the whole song with Edit > Select All (shortcut [Ctrl+A]), then use Effect > Volume > Maximize Volume... to adjust the overall volume so the peak is at the specified level (usually 0dB, since anything higher could result in clipping when the file is saved).
joemardo1 wrote:2 For maybe a single peak or spike is there a draw tool that I can use to do the above?
Once you've zoomed in to 1:1 (or closer) when you mouse over the waveform the cursor becomes crosshairs and you can click-and-drag to re-draw the waveform (or tweak individual samples if you're zoomed in really close).
DougDbug
Posts: 2172
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:33 pm
Location: Silicon Valley

Re: New user a few questions about Goldwave.

Post by DougDbug »

Is there a quick way to select the whole song and have it so that the volume peaks are set to a maximum , any volume (amplitude) peaks or spikes won't go above a certian point, for example 1.5db??
-1.5dB is OK, but +1.5dB is too high! You cannot go over 0dBFS when recording, because your ADC (analog-to-digital converter) will clip at 0dB. All DACs (digital-to-analog converters) are also limited to 0dB, as are most file formats. GoldWave can go over 0dB "temporarily" or "internally", when you apply an effect or mix, but you should normalize (Maximize) to 0dB (or less) before saving.
2 For maybe a single peak or spike is there a draw tool that I can use to do the above?
If the spike is "musical" (i.e. not noise) and you want to retain the wave shape, an alternative is to zoom-in and select only the spike and then adjust-down the volume of your selection (Effect > Volume > Change Volume). It might also help if you force your selection to start/stop on zero-crossings (Edit > Markers > Snap to Zero Crossing).

To automatically knock-down spikes/peaks, dynamic compression is worth a try (Effect > Compressor/Expander). You'll have to experiment with the settings, but the general procedure is this:

1. Volume Maximize (to get a starting point).
2. Compress (use the Reduce Peaks or Reduce Loud Parts preset).
3. Volume Maximize ("make-up gain" to bring-up the overall volume).
(Repeat steps 2 & 3 as desired).

Most commercial recordings have some compression, and on many modern recordings it's over-done to make the recording as loud as possible. If you over-do it, the you can destroy the dynamic contrast in the music... It becomes constantly-loud and constantly-boring. ;)
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