Neither whisper nor bang but somewhere in between
July 19, 2019 2:09 PM Subscribe
Is there an app that would allow me to set a constant volume for my phone media?
I'm often listening to YouTube videos on my phone right before bed. These are often interviews or Colbert/Seth Meyers/SNL monologue playlists and so the volume will change from conversational to loud to quiet again to blaring end jingle/ad. I try to set the volume just loud enough that I can follow the conversation but often end up getting startled when the volume picks up with the end-of-show tune.
Sometimes I've drifted off to sleep and the sudden volume increase wakes me up. I cannot set the volume any lower or I won't be able to make out the words.
Is there an app that would allow me to set a constant volume for my phone media? Not too loud and not too quiet - just fairly constant. I looked up several "equalizers" but I don't think they do what I want them to do. Too quiet is just as bad as too loud. I do not need this for music, just spoken word stuff, so mostly YouTube or podcasts. I'd appreciate specific app recommendations instead of categories. My ideal app would play conversations at their normal volume but "cap" anything above a certain volume so that the sound would never exceed a certain level of loudness - not sure if I'm making myself clear.
Oh, and I have an Android phone.
Any tips or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.
Sometimes I've drifted off to sleep and the sudden volume increase wakes me up. I cannot set the volume any lower or I won't be able to make out the words.
Is there an app that would allow me to set a constant volume for my phone media? Not too loud and not too quiet - just fairly constant. I looked up several "equalizers" but I don't think they do what I want them to do. Too quiet is just as bad as too loud. I do not need this for music, just spoken word stuff, so mostly YouTube or podcasts. I'd appreciate specific app recommendations instead of categories. My ideal app would play conversations at their normal volume but "cap" anything above a certain volume so that the sound would never exceed a certain level of loudness - not sure if I'm making myself clear.
Oh, and I have an Android phone.
Any tips or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.
Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestion. Just to clarify, I'm not looking for an app to equalize volume across apps but a way to keep the volume capped below a certain threshold.
posted by M. at 3:17 PM on July 19, 2019
posted by M. at 3:17 PM on July 19, 2019
The general thing you’re looking for is a compressor, not an equalizer. Compressors roughly make quiet parts louder and loud parts quieter, thus ‘compressing’ the dynamic range to be smaller and have less variation than the original signal. This is sometimes also called ‘loudness normalization’
I think it would have to work at the OS level on the audio out stream, so it would work for all apps/ the whole phone.
Unfortunately all I can see at a quick google is stuff that is geared toward musicians, but hopefully that terminology will help your search.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:57 PM on July 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
I think it would have to work at the OS level on the audio out stream, so it would work for all apps/ the whole phone.
Unfortunately all I can see at a quick google is stuff that is geared toward musicians, but hopefully that terminology will help your search.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:57 PM on July 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
I use the Castro podcast app, which has an “Enhance Voices” feature that does what you want, but it’s only for podcasts.
posted by mskyle at 5:07 PM on July 19, 2019
posted by mskyle at 5:07 PM on July 19, 2019
An alternative solution, if you feel comfortable with it, would be Youtube Vanced, an app that 'tricks' Youtube into thinking you have a paid Youtube subscription. One of the benefits is the elimination of ads completely.
posted by aquamvidam at 5:25 PM on July 19, 2019
posted by aquamvidam at 5:25 PM on July 19, 2019
There are some options given in this article. Overall "limiter" on the app store or "phone volume limiter" for an internet search might be more useful terms for you.
posted by trig at 11:26 PM on July 19, 2019
posted by trig at 11:26 PM on July 19, 2019
Response by poster: Thank you for the suggestions.
Unfortunately it appears neither compressor apps nor limiter apps seem to work in the way I described - the limiter prevents you (or your kid) from accidentally turning up the volume but it doesn't influence the actual noise output that depends on the source.
It seems odd that no one has made such a thing.
posted by M. at 5:14 AM on July 20, 2019
Unfortunately it appears neither compressor apps nor limiter apps seem to work in the way I described - the limiter prevents you (or your kid) from accidentally turning up the volume but it doesn't influence the actual noise output that depends on the source.
It seems odd that no one has made such a thing.
posted by M. at 5:14 AM on July 20, 2019
Best answer: You may want to check if your phone has any audio settings built in by the manufacturer (not by Google) that do this. Moto phones (often) have the Dolby Audio app which does have a setting to do this. It looks like Samsung phones might have an equivalent, but I can't figure out for sure.
Unforunately, I believe that it is not possible to write an app for Android that does this, because apps are not allowed to interfere with (or listen in to) the audio that other apps produce, for security reasons. Therefore it would be impossible for an app to know when to boost and when to lower the volume.
If your phone is rooted, some posts suggest ViPER4Android.
posted by thegears at 10:27 AM on July 21, 2019
Unforunately, I believe that it is not possible to write an app for Android that does this, because apps are not allowed to interfere with (or listen in to) the audio that other apps produce, for security reasons. Therefore it would be impossible for an app to know when to boost and when to lower the volume.
If your phone is rooted, some posts suggest ViPER4Android.
posted by thegears at 10:27 AM on July 21, 2019
Response by poster: It looks like I just have to deal with the issue but it helps to at least understand why.
Thanks again everyone!
posted by M. at 12:38 AM on July 25, 2019
Thanks again everyone!
posted by M. at 12:38 AM on July 25, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Dmenet at 3:11 PM on July 19, 2019