TechLifeBlogged

If you do any work with audio, Podcasting or otherwise, you might want to check out the Levelator™ from Gigavox Media.

Gigavox's Doug Kaye announced this at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo last September. Since then the software has been released and updated and I realized I hadn't posted about it yet.

The Levelator is a free tool available for Windows, Mac or Linux. The main use of it is for spoken word where different mics are used or a phone conference recording where people are coming in a different levels. The software adjusts the audio levels within audio file for variations from one speaker to the next. 

Using it couldn't get any easier. You take your uncompressed source (wav or aiff) and you drag and drop it onto the Levelator application. A short while later you'll get a nicely leveled file put into the same place you dragged the original from. The original is never altered so you'll have it in case you need it again. There is nothing to adjust! Drag-drop-done.

If you are a podcaster or just have some voice recordings around that you want to clean up you have nothing to lose and your audience will thank you!

If you are into tech, the Podcast Academy did a nice interview between Doug and the Levelator developer, GigaVox Audio Engineer Bruce Sharpe. This is an interesting discussion about the concept of the Levelator, the process of development, and suggested work-flows.

mp3: The Levelator - Podcast Academy