Audio output in S5 is only playing at 50%

[Box on Rails]

Is There an internal audio adjustment for S5? When I play my Audio files from my 2022 show with the windows media player or pro tools they play at double the volume of that same MP3 using the Sequence Editor Playback. It's the same MP3 file. This is the same computer I used last year on my show with S5 and I had no issues with the audio. the only difference is an updated S5 version. I have traced it down to the fact that the LOR software's output is only 50% of the volume of all my other software output gains. I have a number of High-end audio editing programs and none of these are giving me an issue. Playback volume on the LOR software is not playing back at 100%. How do I fix this?

[k6ccc]

When you bring up the sound mixer in the task bar, in more recent versions of Windows you can adjust the level of sound on a per program basis.  Make sure it's not turned down there.  BTW, that setting will survive a reboot.

 

[PhilMassey]

Have you checked the volume slider in the preview and if on the beta now in the control panel show player.

[Box on Rails]

2 hours ago, PhilMassey said:

Have you checked the volume slider in the preview and if on the beta now in the control panel show player.

That was it. The preview volume slider. it was at 39%. I guess I never really looked at the preview because I use multiple screens and I only look at the preview for the "Preview". LOL.... I was looking for a volume control in the drop down menus. I also learned I can zoom into the preview to focus on any part of the preview. Thanks Phil. You made my day. 

[PhilMassey]

When/if you go S6, as I said above, there is another one now in the control panel player to think about.

[Box on Rails]

Update and question. The volume slider on the preview window was what I was looking for but now I have an issue with this. I adjust the volume to 100% and Open and close many sequences in the SE and the volume stays at 100%. Great, but then I close S5 Sequence editor and open it later and volume slider has defaulted back to approximately 35%. How do I change the default volume to 100% in SE, or even better can the volume default to the level that it was at when the Editor was closed? 

[PhilMassey]

1 hour ago, Box on Rails said:

Update and question. The volume slider on the preview window was what I was looking for but now I have an issue with this. I adjust the volume to 100% and Open and close many sequences in the SE and the volume stays at 100%. Great, but then I close S5 Sequence editor and open it later and volume slider has defaulted back to approximately 35%. How do I change the default volume to 100% in SE, or even better can the volume default to the level that it was at when the Editor was closed? 

Fortunately, it doesn't affect the show player.

[Box on Rails]

16 minutes ago, PhilMassey said:

Fortunately, it doesn't affect the show player.

That's a good thing as long as the Media file is played in the show player at 100% Volume. So to get things right with my sound levels I would need to set up the volumes on both the outside speakers and the FM transmitter with the show player running?

Funny last year using S5 the preview must of defaulted to 100% because I had no difference in the volumes of all my audio players and both the SE and show player. oh well. I learn something new every year. thanks for the help.

[PhilMassey]

Most FM transmitters will overload and get distorted at 70% or more.

[Box on Rails]

29 minutes ago, PhilMassey said:

Most FM transmitters will overload and get distorted at 70% or more.

I can set the Modulation on my transmitter based on the input power. I don't know if that is the case with all FM transmitters. With the higher input to the Transmitter, I can use lower modulation and lower Modulation means that distortion is at or near zero. That seems to work for me. 

[k6ccc]

I can't remember seeing any FM transmitters that do NOT have the ability to set the audio level at the transmitter.  In fact there are reasons to run the audio pretty hot hot of the source and turn it down at the transmitter.

As for level setting, since most people do not have access to a radio service monitor, my standard advise for setting the level is to turn it all the way down to zero, and slowly turn it up until it is a little bit lower than your local FM station when listening on an FM receiver (such as your car radio).  If you hear ANY distortion on the audio peaks, turn down your audio a little.

<warning - techie talk>

The reason that I say a little bit below the sound of your local FM station is because almost all FM stations highly compress the audio.  This makes the average audio level higher in comparison to the peak audio.  That means that your local FM station will generally sound louder even though their peak audio is no higher than what you are running.  Why is this?  An FM (Frequency Modulation) transmitter works by varying the frequency of a radio signal in relation to the audio signal being transmitted.  This is different from an AM (Amplitude Modulation) transmitter that varies the power of the transmitted radio signal in relation to the audio being transmitted.  The higher the frequency of the audio results in the FM radio signal changing faster, and the higher the level of the audio results in the FM radio signal changing the frequency more than it does for a low audio level.  In the case of the US FM broadcast stations, the standard is that the radio signal should not exceed 75 KHz (KiloHertz or 0.075 MHz (MegaHertz)) off the base frequency.  So for example, I use 101.5 MHz for my radio, so if I am perfectly following the spec, at peak audio my radio signal will vary from 101.425 to 101.575 MHz.  The term for this frequency shifting is deviation.  In a sentence, that would be something like "The standard deviation for an FM broadcast station is 75 KHz."  Remember I said that this 75 KHz deviation is for the peak audio.  However for most music the audio level varies A LOT.  So most of the time, the audio is quite a bit below the peak.  Most FM stations want the audio to be fairly close to the same, so they run the audio through a compressor.  That brings the higher levels down to near the lower levels, and then the audio level is set to that these now lower peaks will still fully modulate the transmitter to the desired 75 KHz deviation.  Most of us light show people are not using compressors, so if you set your peak to the same 75 KHz deviation, the average audio will be quieter than your local FM station.  As a note, GENERALLY classical stations use less compression than something like a rock station so if you have a good classical station in your area, that is the best station to use for your comparison.

BTW, the distortion that you hear if you exceed the 75 KHz deviation by very much is generally in the receiver, not in the transmitter.  The inexpensive transmitters that we are using will cleanly generate an FM signal that is far higher than the 75 KHz spec.  But your receiver can not handle the excessive deviation from the transmitter.  That is by design.  I do have access to a radio service monitor, and I tested my CZE-05b a couple years ago, and it was able to produce a clean FM signal up to something like 150 KHz of deviation before the transmitted signal started distorting.  At that level, ANY FM receiver would be unable to recover any useful audio.

</techie talk>