Converting DVD tracks to 41.1KHz & Normalizing

[Sabihato]

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.

[Scintilla]

Given that the audio seems to jump to a more normal volume range pretty suddenly, I'd think you could probably just raise the volume in Premiere for the quiet part without any major problems.

If you don't hear any distortion, then the wave is probably fine. I mean, if it was originally a FLAC file, then that means there's been no data loss between the CD (assuming it didn't come from a record) and the file you have now... right? So, if there IS actually any clipping going on, then it's the fault of whoever did the mixing/mastering for the album, and there's nothing you can do to fix it.

[Sabihato]

Yeah, Scintilla. Even at extremely high volume, the song sounds virtually flawless... apart from the heavier-than-normal bass, but I believe that's a result of my Winamp equilizer and subwoofer. Alright, then I will do what you recommend by simply "normalizing" that section of the track in Premiere Pro itself. That answers Problem 2.

[mirkosp]

Problem 1 is easily fixed. I had that issue myself, and I fixed it by downloading and putting the MSVBVM50.DLL into "C:\Windows\System32".
You can get the dll by going here and then getting the "http://activex.microsoft.com/controls/vb5/MSVBVM50.CAB". After downloading it, extract the MSVBVM50.DLL and put it in "C:\Windows\System32" and then BeSweetGUI should work.

[Sabihato]

I gave that a go, mirkosp, but it hasn't changed anything. Even restarting the computer, BeSweetGUI still haggles me about the missing file. But the .zip did come with two files. Is there a more elaborate, more specific way to install it other than copying and pasting?

[Scintilla]

Was the second file a .INF file? Then usually you want to unpack it someplace, then right-click it in Windows Explorer and select "Install" from the menu.

[Sabihato]

Yeah, it came with an .inf file. I tried it under that basis and didn't fix anything, not even after a proper restart. Maybe it's just not 64-bit compliant.

For all intents and purposes, it is important that I convert 48.0KHz tracks to the rest of the audio in my project which is 41.1KHz... right?

[Scintilla]

44.1 kHz. Important distinction.

Well, either you do the conversion yourself beforehand, or Premiere Pro will do the conversion on the fly when you export. I have no idea how good Premiere's sample rate conversions sound; you may want to give it a try and see if it's passable.

You can always try manually registering the DLL from the command line or the Run dialog box:

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regsvr32 C:\windows\system32\MSVBVM50.DLL

[Qyot27]

Personally, I stopped updating dBPowerAMP when they stopped making their MP3 linking free under pressure from Thomson (never mind that the encoder was just the Lame executable file, it wasn't even built into the program integrally). So I use the old version of it and manually update the version of Lame it references.

But even in that case, you could use SSRC (http://www.rarewares.org/others.php, look for Shibatch) to resample to the proper frequency. Either the main SSRC executable, or the AviSynth function, like so:

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WAVSource("dvdaudio.wav").SSRC(44100,fast=false)

If you've comfortable using the command line, then take a look at wavi (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... _id=196137) - it can write the audio tracks out from scripts that don't have video enabled. It's as simple as doing this:

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wavi "input.avs" "output.wav"

It can also pipe, which I normally use with aften to produce AC3 files straight from the scripts. Always make sure to check the output file after doing one of these things, though - there have been times I've gotten corrupted noise, but that's generally few and far between.

[Sabihato]

The run command was something I tried as well, but had no effect. Interestingly it doesn't find the file specified, even after it's been clearly placed there.

The second method Qyot27 mentioned sounds promising, since I'm not able to find the older versions of dBpoweramp and SSRC appears to be for MAC OS only. I've downloaded wavi and extracted it. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell me where to place the contents and the applications flash momentarily before disappearing. I think I could use AviSynth to get this done, but the question is where should I include the script lines to convert the audio? In a blank, brand new .avs file or should I use one of my existing scripts I've used to modify the video portion of my DVD source (see example script below)?

Code: Select all

MPEG2Source("C:\Users\********\Desktop\*** ****** *******\DVD_01.d2v", cpu=4)
Deen("w3d,3,3,5")
vmToon(strength=24)
LanczosResize(848,480)
ConvertToRGB32()

Somewhere in there? And lastly, am I correct in assuming I'll be using VirtualDubMod to get the audio converted? Or the wavi application? Or are they both different methods in themselves? I appreciate just a little bit more instruction. Thanks, everyone.