Hi folks -

Looking for a utility to change all values of a WAV file by a percentage
of "full" volume and not change each value by a given percentage.
(eg: reduce all values by 10% of what would be 100% volume)
Any utilities that can do this?

On 17 Aug 2003 11:34:07 -0500, (Todd H.) wrote:

JeB writes:
Hi folks -

Looking for a utility to change all values of a WAV file by a percentage
of "full" volume and not change each value by a given percentage.
(eg: reduce all values by 10% of what would be 100% volume)
Any utilities that can do this?

The GoldWave.com editor can do that with EffectsVolumeMaximize. And
you can choose 90% as the absolute max for the selection. It'll scan
the file for the max, and amplify or attenuate the entire track such
that that maximum is 90% of full scale, or whatever % of full scale
you desire.

Thanx for the feedback.

I'm under the impression that GW makes proportionate changes to
everything to get the loudest section to 90% or whatever. I'm wanting
something to take an absolute (say 10% of full scale) off everything in
hopes of initially increasing signal to noise ratio with some noisy
recordings ... and without changing the tonal quality of the desired
parts of the recordings (voice) which seems unavoidable with "noise
reduction" filters.

On 19 Aug 2003 17:48:11 -0500, (Todd H.) wrote:

JeB writes:
I'm under the impression that GW makes proportionate changes to
everything to get the loudest section to 90% or whatever.

In the Goldwave EffectsVolume Maximize function... yes. But it's but
one of a ton of functions Goldwave has.

I'm wanting something to take an absolute (say 10% of full scale)
off everything

That's also easy. In Goldwave you'd use That'd be
EffectsVolumeChange and then dial down to 90% if you want to lower
everything in the original by 10%

in hopes of initially increasing signal to noise ratio with some
noisy recordings

I'm not entirely certain of what you're attempting, but I find it hard
to believe that reducing the volume of a digitized track and throwing
the least loud bits of it into the lowest quantization level will do
much to help you. My fear is that when you go to maximize the
recording at the end in order to use the full dynamic range of the
medium or normalize the volume with other WAV files or CD's, you may
find that you've replaced source noise with digital quantization
noise.

... and without changing the tonal quality of the desired parts of
the recordings (voice) which seems unavoidable with "noise
reduction" filters.

I haven't done much of this work, so I'm not sure what to recommend
other than to say I have reservations that turning down the gain on a
digital track will ultimately help you eliminate noise.

Best Regards,


Thanx for the feedback.

This may be the reason such a routine/utility doesn't exist.