I've been following A&E's technical guide quite religiously, but I'm having some difficulty converting some audio that the guide doesn't get into in more detail. As inferred from the thread title, it's a two-part problem: first, converting DVD audio to 41.1KHz; and second, normalizing tracks.
Problem 1
When indexing my DVD footage with DGIndex, I had "Demux All Tracks" selected. The guide recommended this as the best means of going about at it since other applications can handle the later tasks. The result is a .wav file that, according to Winamp, is 16bit and at 48.0KHz. The following was the determined quality of my original audio source according to DGIndex:
Track 1: PCM 48K 16bit 2ch
Track 2: AC3 2/0 192
So far so good, I believe. Now, the problem is I use 64-bit Windows Vista Ultimate, so after installing AMVapp, BeSweetGUI doesn't seem to want to work, complaining that MSVBVM50.DLL was not found on my system (a similar message occured during the AMVapp test). I've searched a good majority of the guide for any leads on other programs that might do the trick, but to no avail. It doesn't place a lot of faith in the quality of DGIndex and dBpoweramp Music Converter has changed to the point that the settings the guide recommended no longer exist.
I do, however, have the Adobe CS3 Master Collection, and I use Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 to edit my footage. The reason I'm converting the DVD audio is because the song and other clips I may choose to use are at 44.1KHz. I've set my project up for such a sample rate. I'm worried that if I mix DVD quality audio into the 44.1KHz project, it will conflict and/or screw up the end result. Is this true? Am I right to be concerned about changing the bit rate? Is there an Adobe program somewhere in my collection that might do the trick (I saw Adobe Soundbooth CS3 but I didn't see a converter)? Is there another recommended program to use?
Problem 2
The audio track I plan to use is 16 bit and at 44.1KHz according to Winamp, originally .FLAC and converted to .WAV using dBpoweramp Music Converter. It has about 30 seconds of softness beginning and end, mixed with beats and guitars so loud it pretty much maximizes in the red. Please see this picture for an idea of the wave (snapshotted from Adobe Soundbooth CS3). I want to normalize the beginning at least so that it doesn't sound so mute because honestly, under normal circumstances with the speakers at normal settings, audiences will think the AMV has no audio for the first 30 seconds.
As I described in Problem 1 above, because of some conflict with AMVapp and 64-bit Windows Vista Ultimate, I can't use BeSweetGUI, dBpoweramp Music Converter doesn't have a normalization option in its latest release, and this method here in A&E's technical guide is no longer available. The only thing it leads to is BeSweet 1.5, which I assume is the same as what's provided by AMVapp. I do have the Adobe CS3 Master Collection, but I'm not too avid about the various programs yet, and I don't see a normalization option in Adobe Soundbooth CS3.
The questions I want to throw out there is: what easy-to-obtain program can do the normalization I'm looking to do? Based on the waveguide in this picture, do you think normalization is even necessary? Would it be better to simply use Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and just raise the volume in that area I want to make louder? Is there any drawbacks to that method? And finally, is the audio I'm using a problem, since it caps so much in the red for a majority of the song?
Thanks for reading and I appreciate any help you all can provide.




