Boosting the sound on iPhone movie before sharing
July 5, 2019 11:01 AM Subscribe
I record video on an older iPhone and the volume is usually pretty low. When I play it back for my own use with headphone and/or VLC (which lets me boost the volume) it is usually just barely good enough. The problem is I have a recording that was particularly quiet that I would like to submit to others for evaluation. I can't ask them to do anything special to listen so I need to do something to my original to give the volume a hefty boost. Help!
Response by poster: The challenge is that I don't think it will let me increase the volume above 100% and that isn't loud enough.
posted by metahawk at 9:26 PM on July 5, 2019
posted by metahawk at 9:26 PM on July 5, 2019
Best answer: Good point, and one I didn’t think of. For reference, I'm using iOS 12 on an iPhone 6s Plus, so if yours is on an older version, this might be different.
I installed iMovie and created a new project to test the sound. Selecting the first frame brought up a menu with volume as one of the options. The volume slider will take the volume up to 500%, so there’s a lot of leeway there. The biggest issue then becomes one of distortion and/or amplification of ambient noises. There may be ways to mitigate the latter.
I used a video of my dog that had soft sound and verified I could boost it way up or drop it so low as to be inaudible. Again, older versions of iOS/iMovie may offer less control, but the current version offers quite a bit. You might be able to find other iOS-based video editing apps that would offer the same or better functionality. The upside is that iMovie is free and reasonably easy to use.
Let me know if you have questions or run into problems. I can play around and see what it can do. Hope this helps.
posted by malthusan at 2:44 AM on July 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
I installed iMovie and created a new project to test the sound. Selecting the first frame brought up a menu with volume as one of the options. The volume slider will take the volume up to 500%, so there’s a lot of leeway there. The biggest issue then becomes one of distortion and/or amplification of ambient noises. There may be ways to mitigate the latter.
I used a video of my dog that had soft sound and verified I could boost it way up or drop it so low as to be inaudible. Again, older versions of iOS/iMovie may offer less control, but the current version offers quite a bit. You might be able to find other iOS-based video editing apps that would offer the same or better functionality. The upside is that iMovie is free and reasonably easy to use.
Let me know if you have questions or run into problems. I can play around and see what it can do. Hope this helps.
posted by malthusan at 2:44 AM on July 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Malthusan - Thank you! You saved the day! I had tried QuickTime but not iMovie. Once you showed me where to look, I was able to recreate what you did. I need to play around with it a bit more but I think this will let me get it as loud and clear as possible given the poor quality of the original recording.
posted by metahawk at 12:04 PM on July 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by metahawk at 12:04 PM on July 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
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Apple Support: iMovie for iOS: adjust audio
posted by malthusan at 7:43 PM on July 5, 2019