Audio: voice, music and cleanup

Voice, computer audio and extra tracks are separate things in Fouvia, each with its own volume. That is settled at capture time: the microphone gets its own file from the start, which is why you can work on the voice without re-encoding the video.

Volumes

Microphone and computer volume live in the Audio module panel. Each piece of the Video track has its own, so you can pull down the sound of one specific stretch without touching the rest.

Sound library

Open library brings up royalty-free music and effects, cleared for commercial use and modification, out of an open catalog of about 5 million tracks. One click drops a sound on the audio lane, right under the video track and on the same time scale: drag the block to move it and its edges to trim.

With a sound selected, the Music button in the toolbar opens volume and fades for that sound. The app ships with a built-in Featured list, so the library never opens empty, offline or on first launch.

Cleaning up the narration

The cleanup section treats the whole voice track. Anything you turn on there plays in the preview and exports exactly the same:

• Background noise removal: fans, air conditioning and the electrical hum behind your voice.
• A de-esser, to cut harsh S and SH sounds without dulling the voice.
• Plosive softening, against the low thump you get without a pop filter.
• Breath ducking, which turns down the air between sentences without shortening the take.
• Compressor and limiter, to keep the level even and stop peaks before they distort.
• Loudness normalization, at the YouTube, podcast or TV target.
• A bass, mids and treble equalizer, plus centered mono, the professional default for voice.

The audio check

Analyze audio measures the narration and flags what is off before you export: clipping peaks, loudness above or below the platform target, audible noise, uneven level. Every problem comes with the button that turns on the matching fix.

Music that steps back for speech

With a track on the audio lane, Duck music under speech makes the music pull back on its own when someone talks and return in the gaps, with adjustable amount, attack and release.

Recording a voiceover

You can narrate over the edit you already have. Hit record, press play, and start talking: the voiceover lands on the audio track exactly where you started.