A “Boosting the sound” question, please, some help ? :)
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
Loading...Hello,
We sometimes have audio files cursed with a very feeble volume. It can be CDs, and at times I’ve seen it with Youtube vids (one of my favorite, almost magical, live performances by Queen, now removed because of fucken Major bitch-ass complaining), or a few Deezer streaming songs.
Even with all the sound settings to the max in my Win7 system (good old sndvol, the audio control panel, winamp, Deezer options, etc…), it’s still too low.
The only way I found so far, and it won’t work for online sources, is to use VLC, they allow to double the audio output. A real system-wide utility would be better.
I insist : system-wide. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work on streaming/youtube, and file-by-file editing-remixing would be too complicated ^^
So – you knew I was coming to that, right ^^ -, I’d like to ask…
Please, would you know if there is a way, a trick, a tool, a program, that would allow to increase the system-wide audio volume output ?
Thanks if you can share the info 
It seems to me that most audio players have this somewhere, you just have to find it. In Media Player Classic it's in the Audio Switcher options. In Quicktime Player & iTunes you can boost the volume up to 200% using Shift+Up/Down arrow keys, or in the file properties.
Alternatively, if you have specific songs that are quiet, there are loads and loads of free audio editing progs that can boost the volume and re-save the file permanently. I have one that came pre-packaged with my DVD burning software that works great when I need it.
That wouldn't work with streaming and youtube vids…
But stil, thanks for trying to help
I have this problem too. I found a solution long ago but don't sure if it works for all PC.
Right click on speaker icon, then select playback device > under the communications tab select do nothing. The overall sound should be lounder by now (I don't sure if you have to restart before it take effect). In addition, if you use onboard realtek audio, try update to lastest driver (R267).
I remember seeing a "Boost" control slider in the Windows sound control panel. I'd double check the Sound Device Properties. Maybe under the "Levels" or "Enhancements" tabs.
I forgot to mention in playback device menu, under playback tab select speaker that currently use then select properties > under Enchancements tab find and select "Loundness Equalization".
Use SRS Audio Sandbox 1.9.0.4
Get an after market sound card, that should amplify everything.
If you are using Realtek Audio Hardware you can google for "Realtek XFi Driver Mod".
It is FREE audio boost.
if its just (few files) audio files then you just can increase the volume of the entire song you Can use Sound Forge (sony) to increase the volume of the song. The program can even fix a couple o few problems
Why not just get new speakers or something? (I guess you're on a laptop or something…?)
Why spend money on speakers when you can use some software for free?
You can use mp3gain to increase the volume of audio files: http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/
If you need to convert them to mp3 you can use this program to convert from one format to another:
Freemake Audio Converter: http://www.freemake.com/en/offline/offline_all/
I use WavePad Sound Editor v4.28. You just load up the song, and in the left side tool-bar, select "Amplify Louder or Softer", set the percentage (100% being normal) and go. Hope that helps. Keep up the great work.
Hi Oliver,
I am guessing you are using Windows. Which version are you using? There are different ways to change settings in every MS Windows version so we might confuse you instead of help you.
Longtime lurker, first time poster. If you have a built in Realtek soundcard (this is the most common onboard audio, but make sure you have the most up to date generic drivers from Realtek) follow these steps:
Right click the sound icon in the Windows taskbar and select "Playback devices"
You should be brought to a screen with several options, including Speakers with a checkbox.
Select properties/double click on Speakers and click on the "Enhancements" tab.
Scroll down in the box and select "Loudness Equalization"
I have had a similar problem, or maybe less of a problem but rather a annoiyance. with onboard sound i couldnt get my sennheißer PC-350 really loud, not that i wanted to kill my ears but i still thought it was odd. So I bought a dedicated sound card from creative, a extreme music edition (pretty old that thing but still works fine). and well, i could crank the sound up till it hurt. maybe the card gets more power through the headphone jack.
its not a software or cost free solution but maybe its worth considering. next time more pc specs pls!!!
Im guessing you are using headphones with your computer.
You might want to take a look at this thread about software crosfeed. Im sure the programs also have an option to boost volume. Iv had the same problem as you, but havent had the time to try out any of these programs. So let us know what you settled on.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/475007/head-fit-software…
Alternatively you can buy a new sound card or an amplifier. Lurking on sites like this: http://www.best-headphone-review.com/AmplifiedHea…
has given me the impression that they can make a big difference, but not always.
Then again I dont use words like "dull, too neutral, aggressive, ect." when I talk about sound quality.
Also you might find some good advice on the head-fi.org forums. Id trust an audiophile over a "hentai" in this matter.
one thing that should work is to buy a audio cable and connect your PC or Labtop to your home theater system, than you should have enough power to entertain your neighborhood.
Ok, I read all other comments and couldn't see the right answer, so here goes:
What you need is Normalization: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_normalization
There are dynamic filters that will try to apply normalization to the sound coming from your system as it is played, but I am not a big fan of those – they will always have a delay, and you will be able to hear the sound levels constantly changing (even within the same song). There a good quick 'n dirty solution, but there is a better option:
ReplyGain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReplayGain
Reply gains writes metadata to your audio files which specifies how loud a particular track should be played. It does not change the actual music data, and is thus non-destructive to the encoding. Many players are capable of dealing with ReplyGain, but I would suggest Foobar2000. It may be a bit ugly, but it can create the reply gain data for files that are missing it and it has 2 separate volume controls, one for tracks with and one for tracks without reply gain (both of which can be used to apply general gain settings).
The drawback is that you will need to have the file on your computer, and unlike on-the-fly normalization you won't be able to use it for Youtube.
Hope that helps
Try UMPlayer. It is a modified version of MPlayer that integrates YouTube into the player to an extent. It handles many files like VLC, but with online capabilities. It's free (minus the download and requirements in the PC) and easy to use. I set up UMPlayer to be my backup in case MPC has issues. Just because I know the link, here is my gift to you, Oliver. http://www.umplayer.com/
Oh, for normalizing audio, try Audacity. Use the amplify function and allow for clipping if the sound isn't loud enough. But the audio needs to be extracted first >.>
@Diablo thanks that worked on my laptop
Go crazy and buy a 7.1 surround sound headset like I did :V
Wait, what? How can a headset be legitimately "surround sound" when you have speakers pressed to the left and right sides of your head, blocking out any "surrounding sounds"? Is this just weasely marketing-speak, or is there legitimate science in it?
Yes, it is legit.
Just like how you hear "surrounding" sounds through your two ears.
The "3D sphere" of human hearing can easily be fooled.
But because of the way human ears interpret stereo sound, you've only ever needed two speakers to achieve binaural sound IE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA
And a person can't turn their head inside a headset to perceive changes of depth and angle, so you'll have to explain to me what a surround sound headset does for you exactly? (Besides empty your wallet of course.)
It's not that hard, you just need to have 7 different speaker channels on each side.
In other words they're not really "surround sound", but more accurately Surround Sound™? =/
Well, it's emulated.
Anywhere, here's the actual headset: http://www.logitech.com/gaming/headsets/devices/7… It goes into it more detailed here. I can tell a difference between these and my old 2 channel headset, so obviously there IS a difference.
They have more speaker drivers. The question that remains is whether more is technically superior, and if so how? It's hard tell who really knows for sure. People who have bought them seem to love them, but they have the need to justify the purchase to themselves. One poster on Overclock.net says that multiple drivers were only ever needed in a standard 5.1/7.1 home theater setup to compensate for the directional effects of the distance between your ears and the speakers: http://www.overclock.net/t/640943/why-5-1-headpho…
Idea: You have 7.1 surround headset. Have a listen to the youtube video I just linked with that set and your old set, and tell us how the sound is different?
"So obviously there is a difference" doesn't really answer the question though. There's an obvious difference between my $30 earbuds and my $120 Sennheisers too, even though they're both standard 2.0 channel gear.
Sorry, no can do. The reason I bought these in the first place is because the old set broke (which was only twenty dollar, but they stopped making them after they broke the 3rd time so I had no choice but to upgrade – I originally had a g35, but then those broke too and the store had none it stock so I had to upgrade to a g930) :V
By "so obviously there is a difference" I meant when listening to stuff that supposedly has 5.1 or 7.1 audio (for example, HD programming). On my old set they sounded like shit, but on these it sounds like I'm actually in a movie theater :V
About that Youtube video, I can say it sounds pretty cool, but the fact that it isn't in HD pretty much diminished it's quality so I wouldn't really use it as a proper analysis at all.
>On my old set they sounded like shit, but on these it sounds like I'm actually in a movie theater :V
See, this is the kind of comment that makes me really skeptical when people are hyping these headsets. Any headset, no matter how expensive, generating sound inches from your ears, can never replicate the dynamic acoustics of a movie theater where the sound source is yards away in an acoustically engineered room. The experience itself is substantively different and can't be overcome with speaker technology alone.
In any case, upgrading from a bargain $20 headset to a $160 should blow ANYONE's mind, surround sound or not. That doesn't say anything definitive about the acoustics difference of 5 component sound drivers per ear @ $160 versus 2 conventional sound drivers per ear @ $160. (Which is about right for a good pair of Sennheisers.)
Like I said, it depends. If something is actually in 5.1 or 7.1 (which is rare for anime unless it's a BD rip), you really can notice the difference.
Also, although I said they were $20, they were actually more around $50, they were just on sale all the time for 20-30 bucks (they too were also made by Logitech).
Six years later, I find this post and I wonder what happened. Did you find a setting in your software that fixed everything? Did you go with a hardware solution? Did you move your music to another computer? Or did you just live with it?