How to find the loudest point in an audiofile

I have a problem with a long audio file, I need to find the peak point. How is that done in Cubase 8?

Hi,

You could use the Statistics of the Audio event.

You can of course find the peak level…but as far as I can see you can’t show where it is in the file.

Or, you are right…

So there is no way to have Cubase “pointing” to the loudest sample in an audio file?

You can look at the graph in the wave editor?
What peak are you talking about?
Peak of a sample on a track
Peak “somewhere” in your mix?
Peak on your master, not knowing what’s generating it?

What are you trying to achieve?

In Logic you can search an audiofile to find the loudest point, this can be handy if hou have several mixes of the same material and wants to be sure that they are not too different in volume.

Hi,

I’m sorry, but the highest peak doesn’t tell you anything about the average volume.

Look at the very loud Full-Orchestra piece, normalised to -0.3dB, and Solo Fluet concert maximised to -0.3dB. You will find -0.3 peak in both of them. But the feeling of the volume will be totally different.

I know, I know. But I just want to find the peak, haven’t got the time to go into details. So this is NOT possible in Cubase.

Wavelab can :slight_smile:

You can use Statistics to detect the Max. Sample Value (write it down) then use Detect Silence and in the fields Open Threshold and Close Threshold insert your Max. Sample Value, Set Min. Time Open to 0 and Pre- and Post-roll to 0, then click Process, whole Event will be removed except very small piece, Select your track go to Edit->Select All on Tracks then Transport->Locate Selection Start then Undo Detect Silence. Now you have your cursor at the position of the Max. Sample Value.


Regards.

My goodness, that is impressive!

1 Like

WOW! :laughing: That is brilliant assuming it works.

Or as suggested above buy a light version of Wavelab. Eventually you might get seduced and buy the full version.

Wavelab goes WAY beyond Cubase in the editing, batch processing and error detection realms. And now after a 10 year absence, they are once again integrated and life is much better. Focus the sample in Cubase, click on open in Wavelab, do what you want to do, then go back to Cubase and carry on.

I have used Cubase since 1997 and Wavelab full version since WL4. I could not do what I do without both. When Steinberg released Cubase SX, they dumped that wonderful integration. I have been mad ever since that time. The joy came back with WL9. And finally, PG the author of WL gives excellent support via the WL forum. Often the solution comes the same day!

I don’t get paid to say these things.

OK, chief - if you were to convince a home hobbyist* Cubase guy about why WaveLab Lite would be helpful to them … how might you do that? :smiley:

  • “Masters” in Cubase, to make Soundcloud songs for family and friends … nothing more pro than that … but always looking to learn new things to improve!

I have never used any lite version so I’m only familiar with the full version. There must be a comparison chart somewhere?

You are aware that once again Cubase8.5 and Wavelab 9 are integrated.

Home hobbyist:

Batch processing and Batch conversion: (using all cores of your PC is an option) You can convert hundreds .wav to .mp3 files in minutes. Sure there are lots of free programs that do that. But how about not only convert, but normalize in one process too? Or maybe not only convert, but normalize, re-name, (batch re-name) add something, take something out etc all in one process.

Smart Bypass: Ever in a mastering situation where you are comparing the processed song to the non-processed song and your client keeps choosing the processed version? But the processed version isn’t necessarily better. The processed version is just slightly louder convincing the client it sounds better. Smart Bypass eliminates the volume bias problem so both versions are the same loudness. This way you can focus on the actual differences.

Spectrum Editing: both master section and surgery mode. Very useful and powerful. You can filter individual frequencies to get rid of the bad stuff.

Analysis and Error detection/correction: has saved some embarrassment before sending a master to the CD plant. Also with analysis, wavelab can take 2 files and compare them. Sure you can flip phase to see if they null. But how about taking the 2nd file and processing it with some slight compression. Wavelab compares those 2 files, determines they are not the same, and then creates a 3rd file, a “delta file” which is the audio difference between the two. With the delta file you can listen exclusively to the compression happening…and nothing else. It’s very educational. Do the same with EQ or whatever. I have even tested L-2 dithering. Changed the shaping create a delta file and listen. With L-2 shaping I can’t even remember, you might not even hear the audio difference, but you will see the difference.

Audio Montage: It’s where you assemble your CD. So CD’s are almost extinct, but this is where you do it. Need more/less silence between songs? Take a live recording and set the exact stop/start times. Add CD text. Make sure its Redbook compatible. Check for more errors.

Go look at Wavelabs 3D frequency analysis. I haven’t seen anything better and this was included way back in WL4. You can even rotate around the 3D graph for any view you wish. It’s the best frequency analysis I have ever seen.

Auto split: Take an old record or cassette and record it into Wavelab. Then Wavelab will turn it into a file with all songs with whatever format you wish.

Import audio CD’s then use a data base on line to assign the title/artists.

Thats all I can think of at the moment. For myself the only thing lacking in WL9 is effects automation. Effects morphing exists, but it is more convoluted than a simple Read/Write system like Cubase. PG has said better automation is coming soon. I’m sure I have forgotten a lot of stuff, but from the perspective of a Cubase user, these features are what stands out.

That’s great, greggybud, much appreciated!!

It works!

If I’m not mistaken, Winter Rat is “Sebastian” from Green Music Productions, one of the best Cubase teachers on the web!

Sorry, but you’re mistaken.

So sorry! But of course, still thank you for the great tip!

Sound Forge have “Find peak level” with option to specify exact level, is it max or min or something between. Audio engineers here are asking for a feature, but someone tells them that they don’t need that feature (it’s not important!). It’s a bit stupid situation. So question is open - how to find a specified of max peak level? Just by pressing Ctrl+F in Audio window and select value or option max.