Gigavox Media released a new tool at the Podcast Expo called The Levelator. The Levelator is a free tool that enhances audio by performing a combination of tasks that more experienced audio engineers would perform by using effects like compression, limiting and normalization.

According the Gigavox, The Levelator “…adjusts the audio levels within your podcast or other audio file for variations from one speaker to the next, for example. It’s not a compressor, normalizer or limiter although it contains all three. It’s much more than those tools, and it’s much simpler to use.”

They’re right on when they say this tool is simple to use. Just drag a .wav file into the Levelator window and you get a second file that’s been leveled for you. The original file is left unchanged so there’s no worry about losing the sound from the first recording.

I’ve tried the tool out by processing a couple of .wav files and then comparing the original with the ‘levelated’ tracks. The levelated tracks definitely have a smoother sound with a more predictable volume range.

The processes performed by The Levelator are very important ones in the workflow of producing good quality audio. If you’ve ever heard audio with large differences in the volume from segment to segment or experienced listening to an interview where one voice is markedly softer than the next, you know the reasons why a tool like this is so important.

My favorite feature of this tool is that fact that there are zero settings. I’m an experienced computer based audio producer but I’m not an audio engineer. And settings for things like compression and normalization really confuse me. So this is a welcome addition to my worklfow and toolset.

Thanks to Michael Geoghegan, Doug Kaye and the folks at Gigavox Media for contributing this fine tool to the podcast community.

[tags]Social Media, Podcasting, Gigavox, Audio, Levelator, Review[/tags]