Trying to make my WAVs 10dB louder with SoX

YAOMTC · 2010-07-25 22:24:51

I have a folder of WAV files, created by the filewriter of Audacious from SPCs (Super Nintendo music files). When I import them in to OpenShot (video editor) to put up on YouTube, though, they end up being pretty quiet. I'd imagine that this is because the WAVs are quiet to begin with, compared to most other things on the Internet.

youtube.com/VGtrax

I converted a few WAVs to MP3 and used MP3Gain to analyze them, so I could get a good gain level. I went with 10 dB. Then I tried to use SoX to amplify them, but I couldn't add any significant amount of loudness to them without clipping.

From my understanding, clipping would reduce the dynamic range of the tracks (right?) -- but with the obvious limitations of Super Nintendo's audio capabilities, would this even matter? Should I go ahead and amplify the tracks 10 dB or so, and allow the clipping? If so, how would I do this? The manual doesn't seem to say how I can make SoX *not* guard against clipping, it seems to protect against it by default.

Here's my current script:

for i in "*.wav"; do sox $i vol 10db; done;

Last edited by YAOMTC (2010-07-25 22:26:11)

heftig · 2010-07-26 02:36:28

Try using --norm to normalize the audio. See the manpage.

YAOMTC · 2010-07-27 00:05:42

heftig wrote:

Try using --norm to normalize the audio. See the manpage.

I did read the manpage. I specifically said "the manual doesn't seem to say how I can make SoX *not* guard against clipping, it seems to protect against it by default." --norm says: "Automatically invoke the gain effect to guard against clipping and to normalise the audio."

But no matter what I try, the WAV files stay the same loudness.

anonymous_user · 2010-07-27 00:46:48

What if you use gain instead of vol?

YAOMTC · 2010-07-27 02:30:47

for i in "*.wav"; do sox $i gain -h +10 dither; done;

sox WARN gain: gain clipped 295497 samples; decrease volume?
sox WARN dither: dither clipped 258535 samples; decrease volume?

And it's still just as quiet as before.

EDIT: Just decided to not bother editing these tracks. They only seem quiet compared to things that are produced way too loud. If you still want to help me figure out what I was doing wrong, though, be my guest.

Last edited by YAOMTC (2010-07-27 06:16:40)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-07-25 22:24:51

Trying to make my WAVs 10dB louder with SoX

#2 2010-07-26 02:36:28

Re: Trying to make my WAVs 10dB louder with SoX

#3 2010-07-27 00:05:42

Re: Trying to make my WAVs 10dB louder with SoX

#4 2010-07-27 00:46:48

Re: Trying to make my WAVs 10dB louder with SoX

#5 2010-07-27 02:30:47

Re: Trying to make my WAVs 10dB louder with SoX

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