How loud should sounds be, and how can I make sure they are?

[Rumancekk]

I'm having a lot of problem with sounds on second life. Every time I try to make a gesture the sounds seem too low. I have ripped them from various sources but always in Sony Vegas. As far as I can tell Sony Vegas doesn't make sounds quieter. But several times now if I don't edit the sounds (in sony vegas) and upload them to SL, I play them and ask my friends if they can hear them and they tell me it's practically inaudible. So I resorted to maxin them out and breaking the sounds because the gestures I made were for laughs anyway. However, I'm looking to make serious sound rips and I don't know how to do that without spending a bunch of money testing out every sound upload.

 

So how do I accurately get the sounds uploaded? I can try audacity if I need to but I just use sony vegas because I rip the sounds from videos on there.

[Rolig Loon]

You seem to already know the answers to your questions.  Sounds should be loud enough to hear from a reasonable distance and not be overpowering.  There's a limit to how much you can push the volume in Audacity or whatever you use before the sound starts to get raggedy. The way to tell whether they are loud enough and still clean is to upload them and listen.  There's no better way.  The only real question, which you haven't asked, is whether it is legal to rip sounds from videos and upload them to SL. The answer to that one is "probably not," but you should check with a lawyer.

[Kardargo Adamczyk]

You can import the file into Audacity select the whole clip (ctrl-a) choose effect > Normalize and set the DB peak to -0.2

if you save and export that you are sure the audio level is loud enough without clipping and levels are persistent for all the uploaded files.

Good luck

[Madelaine McMasters]

In addition to Kandargo's advice and Rolig's warning, you might also try applying a bit of compression to your audio file. Compression increases the amplitude of softer sounds, but not louder ones. If there is some softer detail in your clip that's inaudible, this might help.

 

[Rumancekk]

48 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

You seem to already know the answers to your questions.  Sounds should be loud enough to hear from a reasonable distance and not be overpowering.  There's a limit to how much you can push the volume in Audacity or whatever you use before the sound starts to get raggedy. The way to tell whether they are loud enough and still clean is to upload them and listen.  There's no better way.  The only real question, which you haven't asked, is whether it is legal to rip sounds from videos and upload them to SL. The answer to that one is "probably not," but you should check with a lawyer.

how else am I supposed to make a gesture of the THX sound at absolute full blast as a gesture

edit:

i should also note that most of the sounds i rip, i don't sell. they're for my own personal use.

Edited February 24, 2020 by Rumancekk

[Mollymews]

16 minutes ago, Rumancekk said:

how else am I supposed to make a gesture of the THX sound at absolute full blast as a gesture

edit:

i should also note that most of the sounds i rip, i don't sell. they're for my own personal use.

with gestures then stick the same sound file in 2 or more times. Will get a reverb/echo effect sometimes due to lag. But is how really noisy gestures are typically made