Leveler - Audacity Manual

# Leveler

### From Audacity Manual

Leveler is a simple, combined compressor and limiter effect for reducing the dynamic range of audio. It reduces the difference between loud and soft, making the audio easier to hear in noisy environments or on small loudspeakers.

It is best suited to speech recordings but at heavier settings or used multiple times it can also be used as a simple distortion effect for voices or instruments.

Use Compressor for higher-quality, more configurable compression of dynamic range.

  Accessed by: Effect > Leveler...

## Degree of Leveling

Controls the amount of leveling that is applied to the signal. You can choose from: Light, Moderate, Heavy, Heavier or Heaviest. Moderate is the default setting.

Try running the effect two or more times at Heavier or Heaviest setting on a normally-recorded voice to produce an "aircraft pilot" or "walkie-talkie" effect.

## Noise Threshold

Sets the noise threshold for the effect. The options range from -20 dB to -80 dB in -5 dB increments. The default setting is -70 dB. For audio that is not already at maximum volume, higher threshold settings tend to amplify the audio by a lesser amount, and may reduce the chance of background noise becoming obtrusive.

## The buttons

Clicking on the command buttons give the following results:

- Manage gives a dropdown menu enabling you to manage presets for the tool and to see some detail about the tool. For details see Manage presets.
- Preview plays a short preview of what the audio would sound like if the effect is applied with the current settings, without making actual changes to the audio. The length of preview is determined by your setting in Edit > Preferences > Playback, the default setting is 6 seconds.
- OK applies the effect to the selected audio with the current effect settings.
- Cancel aborts the effect and leaves the audio unchanged.

## Links

|< Index of Effects, Generators and Analyzers

|< Effect Menu

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