Automatic volume leveling during audio playback

Anonymous
2009-11-05T13:16:13+00:00

This is really annoying:

Quiet sound is amplified to sound at a reasonable level. Then when a loud part of the song comes on the level automatically drops making the quiet parts sound annoyingly loud & the loud part annoyingly quiet... Sorry that's the best way I can describe this... again:

Only happens when its had a few seconds on silent (eg. pause) - at that point the system starts to "think" for itself creeping the base volumes up. Then when the song begins again you are treated to loudness that is quickly quietened when the system realises there is a higher level of sound coming through...

This is very frustrating because I use my computer to record & as such need to have the audio playing at its proper level - not the level the computer thinks it should be playing at...

I have combed through the settings looking for an "auto off" option, and have spent a long time searching for an answer online. 

Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

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Anonymous
2009-11-05T22:23:05+00:00

Hi pablo647,

Welcome to Microsoft Windows 7 Answers Forum!

We would like to get a little more information from you to help troubleshoot your issue.

Are you using any Sound Card on the machine?

You can try playing the same song to a differnet Headphone or the Speakers.

I suspect it could be a problem with the sound card drivers.

You can update the drivers for the sound devices and try after that.

  1. Click Start and then click Control Panel.
  2. Click System and Maintenance, click System, and then click Device Manager.

Note If Control Panel is in Classic View, double-click System, and then click Device Manager.

  1. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
  2. In Device Manager, expland "Sound Video and Game controllers", right-click the "Sound Video and Game controllers" and go to properties.
  3. Browse to the Update tab and then click on update driver.

You may also check on the Sound card manufacturers web site and verify if they have any updated drivers for Windows 7 and try to install it.   

Hope it helps.  

Thanks and Regards:

Shekhar S - Microsoft Support.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-06-03T05:02:28+00:00

    This seems to work for me! Oh man I've been hating this for about two years now. I bought a new 'external' sound box and Windows 7 still showed the same problem. All my drivers were updated. I tried ALL the other settings people said worked, like Loudness... nothing worked.

     

    I can see in the Windows mixer under Media Player column, when something is playing there is a green bar and a grey bar behind it that is about 2x the green bar. When that grey bar cross over the 'Device/Speakers' threshold, it seems to auto attenuate the sound, causing the volume to fluctuate terribly!  By setting the Device/Speakers setting to 95% and the Media Player slider to about 25%, that grey bar never crosses the 'Main' threshold and I don't hear the volume drop now.

    Hopefully this continues to work.

     

    update: I had it set to 45% and during a very loud part of the song it tripped. I lowered it to 25% and it seems to be much better.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-07-22T15:49:34+00:00

    problem: the volume going up and down - fluctuation during audio playback.

    the year is 2012 but the answer is still relevant for everyone else.

    i was having the same problem with my soundcard: creative sound blaster xfi xtreme audio (o.s. windows 7)

    tried to reinstall the creative software, upgrade the driver, played with settings of graphic equalizer - nothing helped but the solution was very simple:

    when i launched the creative console, next to the graphic equalizer there was level adjustment (no, it was'nt the volume control) i guess it's some kind of volume boost or loudness level ranging between -24db to 0db

    Setting loudness level to -10db solved the problem in my case, your setting may be different.

    now the audio level is uniform although i have to turn up the volume a bit but that's minor.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-08-01T20:56:19+00:00

    For people that are using HEADPHONES, I found the ultimate solution and its simple!!!

    Try the following steps :

    1. Open Winamp/WMP (whatever you like) and play some song you like and turn up the volume at its max! :-)
    2. Right click the windows speaker volume icon
    3. Then click "Playback devices"

    In this screen you should see the green bars at the playback device light up(music volume at half?)

    1. Then select the Playback device and then click in the leftbottom on "configure"

    5, Then select 5.1 surround, click next

    1. At the optional speakers DE-SELECT all speakers! (subwoofer,center,rear pair)
    2. Click next

    8.a  At the Full range speakers only select "Front left & right"

    8.b  (DE-SELECT Surround speakers) !!!

    1. Click next & then Finish!

    You should notice an increase of sound immediately! (check the green bars in the playback device (they should top out now :)

    Regards & enjoy Loud"er" music!

    Hany from Amsterdam

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-09-16T20:12:07+00:00

    The solution to this problem is to turn off communications (phone calls) noise reduction. It is usually set to about 80% background noise reduction, disable that, or set it to zero. That solves the loud/soft issue.

    That's what fixed it for me. Other problems can arise from noise reduction and echo cancel turned on. It can cause recordings to drop out in Audacity, or to turn into an electronic sound. Make sure to turn off noise reduction for the recording device in both the contro panel and your sound card's sound mixer.

    I'm having trouble recording audio from, for instance, a You Tube video, and with recording my own sound. It records, but it sounds like you put a camcorder up to the speakers and pressed record. Please message me if you know a fix.

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