we have an old DVD recorded several years ago. Its a historical recording from a fav. relative, now deceased (had a heavy accent) and his words/the sound are very soft and difficult to understand. We have tried to play on our various computers, drives etc…however sound remains extremely difficult almost impossible to hear clearly.
My question: Is there any way to increase the volume of this original recording, we’ve obviously attempt by turning our computer and other devices as high as possible but no joy? any ideas would be appreciated…
Yes, but it’s not exactly easy for someone who’s never done it before. The (oversimplified) process is basically
Extract the data stream from the DVD (lots of programs can do this)
Normalize audio levels, taking care not to make stuff you already hear, or background noise, too loud (this is the beotchy part)
Merge the new audio data with the original video data without becoming de-synchronized (not too hard as long as the audio length wasn’t mangled in the previous step)
Master and burn a new DVD (Decent number of programs available)
Step 2, the audio normalization, is where people will get frustrated and throw their hands up in despair. Audio engineering isn’t as simple as just cranking a couple of dials on a mixer board, and is why top-tier bands will actually delay an album just to get the engineer they want.