Levelator

The Levelator is a software application that makes adjustments to audio signals.

The Levelator
Developer(s)The Conversations Network
Stable release
2.1.1
Operating systemWindows, Mac, Linux
TypeAudio Editing Software
LicenseFreeware
WebsiteLevelator Homepage

Publication

The Levelator was a free application distributed by The Conversations Network[1] and developed by Bruce and Malcolm Sharpe, Norman Lorrain and Doug Kaye. Originally distributed by GigaVox Media, Inc (a for-profit company), the rights were transferred to The Conversations Network (a California 501(c)(3)) in 2008. The underlying code was originally used only for The Conversations Network's own podcasts but was subsequently released to the public, free for commercial and non-commercial use. It was unveiled to the public at the first Podcast and New Media Expo in 2005. The adjustments and drag-and-drop workflow of the Levelator make it a valuable tool for professional and non-professional broadcasters and podcasters.

As of the end of 2012, the Levelator is no longer supported or being updated by The Conversations Network. Conversations Network ceased daily operations at the end of 2012.[2]

When OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) was released, the Levelator was found to be incompatible. The original development team, Bruce Sharpe, Norman Lorrain and Doug Kaye collaborated in November 2015 to develop an OS X-only compatible release 2.1.2.[3]

In June of 2020, a 64-bit, macOS Catalina version of The Levelator was revived and released for free by The Conversations Network in the Mac App Store.[4]

Functioning
Screenshot of before and after renderings of an audio sample adjusted by the Levelator as seen in Audacity

The Levelator adjusts the audio levels within an audio segment by combining traditional discrete compression, normalization and limiting processing.[5] By taking a global view of the data in various time segments (both long and short), the Levelator automatically balances various audio levels, such as multiple microphone levels in an interview or panel discussion, or segments combined from multiple sessions that were recorded at different levels. The Levelator can read and process PCM audio files of many sample rates and resolutions.

The Levelator reads the original audio file and creates a new audio file with balanced levels and a uniform overall volume level that is then saved in the same format as the original, but with ".output " added to the file name. Only PCM audio source files are supported (most major file formats, including WAV and AIFF[6]). Lossy compressed audio is not supported, encouraging use of The Levelator at the correct point in the production chain - i.e. before lossy encoding to the delivery format such as MP3.[7]

gollark: No, I mean you could match on their contents.
gollark: Well, if C was more expressive™ you would match on datastructures and such.
gollark: I think in most situations you want the non-fallthrough behavior and should have to explicitly opt into fallthrough, or even just have pattern matching which lets you specify ors.
gollark: That makes some sense, and newer language developers must just have copied it due to bee.
gollark: Ah yes, that.

References
  1. Morris, Tee; Terra, Evo; Williams, Ryan C. (2008). Expert Podcasting Practices For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 134. ISBN 9780470259191.
  2. "The Levelator® from The Conversations Network". Web.archive.org. 1999-02-22. Archived from the original on 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2014-03-28.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  3. "The Levelator® from The Conversations Network". The Conversations Network. 2015-11-30. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  4. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-levelator/id1493326487?mt=12
  5. Geoghegan, Michael W.; Klass, Dan (2008). Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Audio and Video Podcasting. Apress. pp. 114–116. ISBN 9781430204732.
  6. Lastufka, Alan; Dean, Michael W. (2008). YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts. O'Reilly Media, Inc. p. 50. ISBN 9780596554248.
  7. "The Levelator® Loudness Algorithms". The Conversations Network. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2015.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
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