Trying to increase the sound of recorded screen captures

Hi. I'm making screen capture movies with Snapz PRo 2 and they are being saved as QT movies on my desktop. When I open them in QT and try to increase the sound volume, the setting don't stick if I try to raise the volume over 0db. I read somewhere that QT won't let you save volume over 0db, is that true?

If so, does anyone know how I can increase the gain on the movies without having to load them into Final Cut or iMovie? Is there some program that will let me just edit the sound of a QT movie?

Thanks in advance.

Antonio

Dual 2.3 G5, 15" Powerbook, Intel Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.4.8), 3 20" Monitors, 1 17" Monitor, Nikon D2Xs

Posted on Oct 19, 2006 6:08 PM

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8 replies

Oct 19, 2006 7:03 PM in response to AMRosario

I read somewhere that QT won't let you save volume over 0db, is that true?

Afraid so,

If so, does anyone know how I can increase the gain on the movies without having to load them into Final Cut or iMovie? Is there some program that will let me just edit the sound of a QT movie?

Would assume that such utilities exist but am not familiar with any off hand. I normally use MPEG Streamclip (free) to do this. Unfortunately, the option to increase volume (up to 12 db I think), is only available during a conversion process. Depending on your workflow, this may or may not be a problem. If I remenber correctly, one particular format is recommended for Snapz for best video quality and then it lets you convert it to a final desired output following the capture. You could, of course, simply perform the final conversion in MPEG Streamclip and adjust the volume at that time. Best solution would be to adjust the volume in Snaps if it is possible. (Never caputured system sound in my experiences as I am usually narrating screen actions for tutorials.)


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Oct 19, 2006 10:17 PM in response to Jon Walker

Why would you want to record over 0db?

In the digital world of audio there nothing over 0db but distortion.

You can record over 0db. But when you play it back it will only peak to 0db. Everything recorded above 0db will hit a brick wall...

Back in the day of analog we would record very hot +12...

Now if your talking about moving the volume gain above 0db. You can do that. Just off hand, Pro Tools, Soundtrack Pro, FCP, MPEG Streamclip...

MPEG Streamclip
(this one is free) But has no VU meters, so your shooting in the dark. Like I said above; move the volume above 0db and all you'll will get above 0db is distortion with no volume gain...

Oct 19, 2006 10:13 PM in response to Jon Walker

Thanks for the info about MPEG Streamclip. I'm testing it out right now. Although the one thing I want to do is keep my flick in Apple's Animation codec for the moment and not convert it to mpeg4 (this is just a time saving issue, that's all).

I'm also narrating screen actions for tutorials and Snapz is great for this, but it has no way to adjust the sound.

Antonio

Oct 19, 2006 10:18 PM in response to David M Brewer

It's not that I want to record over 0db, it's just that when I'm using Snapz to record my screen capture movies, there is no way to adjust the sound input. I'm using a good mic but I cannot seem to get enough input volume from it. After I make the clips, the sound is way too low and I'm just trying to find a way to boost it a bit. Most of the people I'm making tutorials for are playing the videos through the built-in Apple speakers on their computer. I want to have louder sound so that they can hear what I'm saying.

I've adjusted the input through the sound prefs in System prefs, but I've pushed as far as I can go.

I mean I could take the whole film and plug it into FCP or iMovie and boost and sweeten the sound from there, but I'm trying to find a way to spend as little time as possible in post production with my tutorials because I'm not getting paid for it. I'm looking for tips on how to do that.

Antonio

Oct 19, 2006 10:52 PM in response to David M Brewer

Hey, thanks for the tips. But... I don't think I'm making myself clear here.

I don't want to spend ANY time in post with these tutorial screencasts that I'm making. If I did, I'd just whip out my Sennheiser and my mixer and take the whole shebang into FCP and cut it and sweeten audio there.

What I'm doing is using Snapz to capture screen actions that I'm recording as tutorials for my students. I'm using either a Blue Snowball USB mic or my Logitech 250 USB headset with mic to record my voice as I demo apps on the Mac. Snapz is using the Apple animation codec to make the movies. But, what Snapz is not doing and cannot do is help me boost the audio a bit. If it did, then I'd have a finished movie right there. As it is, I have to wait a long time for Snapz to finalize the flick. What I don't want to do is load the film up in FCP (takes time) and then export it (also takes time) and be done. I want to package these things up fast. All I need to do is boost the audio a little and everything would be great. If Quicktime Pro allowed me to do that, that would be great because it would not have to re-encode the movie again.

Maybe there is no way to do what I'm asking without doing it in FCP. If that's the case then that's what I'll do.

THe whole point of this is that I want to keep it as simple and as past as possible because I am not making any money doing this (but I am teaching for money). I offer it to my students as a value added addition to their classes.

Thanks,

Antonio

Oct 19, 2006 11:44 PM in response to AMRosario

Let's see...
Take video drop it into FCP...5 seconds...
move volume gaine +3 db...
export audio only...pour a cup of coffee... done...
strip out original audio, from original video with Qt... keep open...1 second...
open edited +3db audio in Qt...copy all... 1 second...
go to original video with audio taken out...select "add too"...save as... done in less than 10 minutes...

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Trying to increase the sound of recorded screen captures

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