Audio Gain For Macintosh VLC

[SnidelyW]

One thing I like about Chroma Player for Macintosh, in addition to its audio presets, is the fact that it also has an audio gain mechanism. This can come in quite handy when videos have a low or poorly recorded audio track.

While it is my understanding that the Windows version of VLC already has an audio gain booster in its prefs, to my knowledge, the Macintosh version of VLC does not.

I hope that Pierre, Felix and other Mac developers here will add this feature to Mac VLC in the near future.

Thanks!

[hobbes]

The normal volume control includes the gain mechanism. When you drag the volume slider in VLC Mac, you'll see the volume setting expressed in %. 100% is the maximum without gain, but the slider goes up to 400%.

[SnidelyW]

So are you suggesting that anything beyond 100% is actually the audio gain kicking in? If so, I wasn't aware of that.

What about the amp slider in the equalizer? Is that also equivalent to a sort of audio gain, or no?

Thanks!

[hobbes]

Yes and yes.
I verified this by opening a sound file in VLC and in Quicktime Player. VLC volume = 100% gives the same output level as Quicktime Player volume set to maximum.

The amp slider in the equalizer can be used for gain as well. It's more commonly used to compensate for the EQ settings, i.e. when you set one of the EQ bands to +10 dB, you'll want to set the amp slider to -10 dB to make sure the audio signal doesn't get distorted during peaks.

[SnidelyW]

Hello again Hobbes. I wasn't aware of that second point regarding the equalizer. I normally just pick an equalizer preset -- usually "Live" for video watching -- and then just leave the individual band settings and amp setting at whatever levels the preset sets them.

Have you ever tried Chroma Player for watching videos? I am wondering if you would be interested in a bit of experimenting for the purpose of comparing Chroma's gain control and audio presets, with VLC's equalizer, amp and volume controls. Maybe it's just my imagination, but it seems to me that when I set Chroma's audio preset in the "Movie Settings" pane to "Vocal Booster", and set the gain control to the first notch, it is considerably more effective and better sounding than when I set VLC's equalizer to "Live" with the volume control set at about 300%. I have a slight hearing problem, so getting the audio just right is important to me. I dislike watching videos where I am struggling to understand the low or muffled dialog.

Let me know if you experiment, and what you think afterward.

Thanks!

[hobbes]

I've tried downloading Chroma, but the version they offer is expired so I can't check right now.

As for the equalizer settings, you can mostly duplicate Chroma's settings in VLC. In VLC, don't choose an equalizer preset, but adjust the individual bands to match the settings in Chroma. You could also use the parametric equalizer (this is hidden in the VLC preferences, in Audio > Filters).

Or, you could use Hear.
<http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/audio/hear.html>
This is a system-wide equalizer that allows much finer control than the graphic equalizer in VLC.

Do you know the specifics of your hearing problem, i.e. which frequencies are missing? That would be the best place to start optimizing the EQ settings.

[SnidelyW]

Hello Again Hobbes,

Concerning the Chroma download, that's odd. You might try a different site that has their own archives...like Mac.MajorGeeks.com perhaps. I'm not really sure. It could be that you installed it some time ago, but just don't remember, and so the demo expired. I use VLC all the time anyway.

Anyway, I realize that VLC's equalizer can probably be made to match Chroma's settings, but I think the real difference comes in when I push Chroma's gain control up a notch.

I don't believe that I had ever heard of the parametric equalizer. To be honest, I don't mess too much with VLC's advanced settings, as most of them are beyond my current understanding. I just looked at the parametric equalizer and went "Duh..."

Yes, I have had a look at Hear in the past. I find its many settings a bit complicated.

Do I know the specifics of my hearing problem? HUH? I'm just getting old . . . really!

[hobbes]

This article talks about the differences between parametric and graphic EQs:
<http://www.carstereo.com/help/Articles.cfm?id=53>

In short: a parametric EQ offers more control, but it takes some practice to set it correctly.

In Hear, you can ignore all settings, and just use the Equalizer tab.

re: hearing problem: all I meant is this: the doctor or audio specialist can do a test to determine the extent of your hearing loss. This test tells you which frequencies you can hear properly, and which you can't. Usually the test result is shown as a graph. You can use this graph to set the equalizer: any dips in the graph must correspond to a peak in your equalizer setting. The graph is a convenient starting point.

I don't believe the gain setting in Chroma can make a difference in sound clarity. That's just not how a 'gain' setting works. But I'll see if I can get Chroma to work, then I'll check to make sure.