the volume level of the background music is dropping

[cns00]

i have two movie files. the original movie files have audio aac 96 kbps bitrate. i used a program called clever ffmpeg gui to make the audio louder and change the bitrate to 128 kbps. i can make the audio louder by using two methods which are dynaudnorm or loudnorm. i noticed that in the modified movie file that the volume level of the background music is suddenly dropping and becoming quieter for a bit and then it becomes louder again. it happens randomly in some movies. it has happened when i used both methods. the weird thing is that it only happens when the volume level of vlc player is 200% and it doesn't happen if the volume level is 100%

i made screen recordings and uploaded it to youtube so you can see the problem. the links are:-
1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNhswFHLCDw is the link which shows the problem when the audio was made louder by using dynaudnorm
2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Vri5x_fI4 is the link which shows the problem when the audio was made louder by using loudnorm

why is the problem happening when i play the modified movie file at volume level 200%? this problem is just happening in vlc player and it hasn't happened in another media player

is clever ffmpeg gui doing something to corrupt the audio? or vlc player is messing things up when the volume level is 200%?

[Lotesdelere]

Check if you have the audio cimpressor filter enabled: menu Tools -> Effects and Filters (or Ctrl+E) -> Audio Effects -> Compressor
If so, then disable it, save the preference, exit and restart VLC.
That said, if you're playing too loud by sending a too high level to the Windows sound system, the Windows compressor/limiter might automatically kick in. There is absolutely no good reason for playing always anything over the 100% limit on a regular basis, you should turn the app volume down and push up the volume of your amp/speakers.

[cns00]

hi,

thank you for your reply. the problem has happened when the compressor checkbox is disabled in vlc player

i remade the first movie which is insurgent by using loudnorm instead of dynaudnorm in clever ffmpeg gui. it feels like loudnorm increases the loudness more than dynaudnorm and the problem didn't happen when the volume level is 200% in vlc player

also i can increase the loudness by increasing the volume db by for example +15db when i am remaking the movie in clever ffmpeg gui. if i increase the loudness that way then the problem doesn't happen when the volume level is 200% in vlc player

i don't know. it looks like dynaudnorm focused on the sound of the guy's footsteps and it made it sharper and louder when he's walking and it muffled the background music at 17:44 so the background music volume became quieter at the exact instant when the guy's foot hit the floor but how come this effect only happens at volume level 200% in vlc player and it doesn't happen at volume level 100% in vlc player? i played that same video on my android tablet by using vlc player at volume level 200%. the problem didn't happen. nothing makes sense

as for the second movie which is horton hears a who the volume level of the background music drops the instant that the dust speck goes through the letter O and it stays low when the speck is inside the letter O and then volume level of the background music increases when the dust speck leaves the letter O. that can't be a coincidence thus i think that it was intentional and increasing the loudness of the movie made that sound effect more obvious and it wasn't that obvious on the original movie so that's why i thought that something is wrong

[Lotesdelere]

Please open Tools -> Messages (set Verbosity to 2) before you start the playback, and then paste the full resulting log here or on Pastebin.com if it's too long.

Also upload a short sample of your original problematic file to Zippyshare.com or to WeTransfer.com and then post the link to the file here.
https://www.zippyshare.com
https://wetransfer.com

If needed cut it with DGsplit and read here about how to do it:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 35#p193335
200 MB max should be enough.

[cns00]

https://www4.zippyshare.com/v/4P89RQT3/file.html is the link for the part of the movie which has the problem. it needs to be played on volume level 200% for the problem to show

https://www52.zippyshare.com/v/BAWMplow/file.html is the log file

[Lotesdelere]

I can't reproduce the issue and the volume of your sample is loud enough, there is no need to play it at 200%.
If you do, then the Windows compressor/limiter is automatically kicking in as I said in my second post.

[Francewhoa]

Hello @cns00 I faced the same challenge. The cause of my challenge was not VLC. But outside VLC.

To fix this challenge, I simply used my OS, in my case Debian with GNOME, to randomly change the volume of my VLC playback app. After doing this, the media volume was the same in both VLC and all the other apps Screenshot and details at https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 17#p531038