Change volume
Raise or lower volume by an exact dB or a linear factor.
Runs locally in your browser. Enable JavaScript to use the interactive tool. The practical details remain available below.
What Change volume actually does
A volume change is the one audio edit with an exact answer, and it is still worth seeing. Raising the level of a recording that is already close to the ceiling clips it, and clipping is far easier to see in a waveform than to hear on the first pass. This page draws the source and the result on one shared scale, so the change is a visible change in height rather than two pictures that look the same because each was drawn to fit its own box.
How to use it
- Choose an audio file. The waveform is drawn locally.
- Set the change as decibels of gain, or as a linear factor.
- Switch on the limiter if the level is going up and headroom is uncertain.
- Run, then compare the two waveforms and the two versions.
Useful for
- Lifting a recording that was captured too quietly.
- Pulling a file down by an exact amount before mixing it with another.
- Seeing how close to the ceiling a recording already sits.
Limits worth knowing
- Raising the level raises the noise with it; nothing here separates them.
- Without the limiter, a large increase clips. With it, the peaks are held back and the shape changes.
- A recording already clipped in the source is not repaired by turning it down.
Questions people ask
Is the file uploaded?
No. Everything runs in this tab.
Should I use this or the loudness tool?
This applies an exact change chosen here. The loudness tool measures the recording and works out the change needed to reach a target.
Why do both waveforms use the same scale?
So that a level change is visible. Drawing each one to fill its own box would hide exactly the thing being changed.