Can't get tracks to normalize properly

Racerx wrote on 10/10/2002, 7:23 PM

I decided the other day to create an audio cd project through VV3, since I'd never done it that way before. Now the normalize function wasn't something I was all that familiar with, so I read up on it, and gave it a try. Well, it didn't work. When I listened back to the disk once it was burnt, the track levels weren't normalized, and they were still off from each other. Did I do something wrong?

Comments

ibliss wrote on 10/10/2002, 8:47 PM

Were the tracks from various differnt sources?

Normailize basically works by finding the loudest PEAK values in the audio and then increasing the level of the whole audio file so that the peak hits a predetermined level - usually 0db (digital).

If you had an audio file with a person whispering for 1 min (say, peaking at -30db)and a gunshot halfway through that peaked at -5, when you normalize it it will look at the -5db level of the gunshot and increase the overall level by 5db so that the peaks were at 0db.

If you took out the gunshot and used normalize, it would see the whispering peaking at -30db and increase the overall level by 30db so that the peaks were now at 0db.

You can understand from this example that that 2nd audio file would sound much louder than the first. Ideally you would look at the first file, see that it has increased by 5db, and then apply an increase of 5db to the second file. This would make the two 'match up' to the listener.

If you are using pre-recorded tracks, you can be certain that they already hit 0db at some point - in which case Normalizing would have no effect.

'Un-Mastered' demo songs from different sources will most likely have different peaking charateristics, and the important thing is to be aware of the average loudness of tracks. By all means use the Normalize function, but you will still have to level match between tracks by ear. You can do this using the Volume Envelope in Vegas.

Mike K

Racerx wrote on 10/12/2002, 8:49 PM

Here's the thing: These tracks were pre-recorded tracks, but they were taken from the SAME album, just at different times. I was converting one of my old albums to cd, so that I could play it in my car, and I transfered them at different times. There were no eq changes between tracks, just, maybe some difference in recording levels. With that said, I would think that once normalized, my tracks should've sounded similar in level to each other, just like on the album, right?

Control_Z wrote on 10/13/2002, 8:31 AM

Nope. What you're describing is called 'radio gain' - where all your songs are normalized in relation *to each other* - not just within themselves.

MP3Gain will do it losslessly on a whole directory of mp3 tunes (and is free). http://www.geocities.com/mp3gain/

I usually just do it with the volume maximizer in wavehammer (set to -12db for DV).
Problem is lack of automation, but it works for oft-used tunes or a single .wav on a timeline.

wcoxe1 wrote on 10/13/2002, 7:35 PM

Control-Z

Could you please elaborate on your use of WaveHammer? That is something I have never tried, and, welllll! Who wants to waste time when experts have already pioneered for us. Please!