Ableton Forum

...that is the question!

What exactly does the Normalize function do when rendering audio? When should I use the normalize function?

Much Thanks for any tips as usual,

David (living in a world on the brink, kept sane by Live)

Hi
All it does is find the peak gain in your file, and (For example) if it's -2db, it adds 2db to all the track, so it will be 'bormalized' to 0db.
Of course, the real process is a bit more complicated, but basiclly this it what it does.
I think that first a track should be balanced, compressed, and only then normalized, 'cause most unbalanced tracks avarage volume is much lower than the peak.

Thanks!

And here was I thinking it was something really complicated

Cheers,

David

Caution should be used with normalize. If your recorded piece is near 0db, it's usually ok to Normalize. If your recorded signal is weak or low, it will be brought up to 0db, but so will the "noise floor" (basically the hiss or noise recorded with the sound.

To hear what I mean, record a low volume signal and normalize it. You will most definitely hear the noise floor, even with the best recording equipment.

Good luck!

Satellite Splinter - http://www.ampcast.com/satellitesplinter

Thanks E-Doo for the extra advice. Just out of curiosity, why are tracks normalized to 0dB? Is that the optimum 'listening volume' for people?

Cheers Again,

David

Actually, a lot of people I know normalize to -.2db or so to allow headroom before they ship the songs to be mastered. I simply try to make my songs as loud as possible, getting as close to 0db without going over and then I use a compressor/limiter to make the songs louder.

I use Ozone 2.0 by http://www.izotope.com

The multiband compressor and limiter sounds very good.


Satellite Splinter - http://www.ampcast.com/satellitesplinter

thanks

edoo, you're probably hurting your music more than helping it!

personally, i mix no where near 0 db... i usually peak out at 3db and leave the 3db for errant peaks...

I never normalize. Normalize is a 'one size fits all' gain system, but in reality one size does not fit all. Leave headroom as SC mentioned in the last post (I tend to leave 5-6db) and learn how to use compression/limiting properly to bring up the gain in a more controlled way.

Live's normalize doesn't include options to normalize below 0dbFS and if your track is loud and hypercompressed, it could quite easily be clipping or intersample clipping, which would never be detected - if you have a limiter with oversampling, you can avoid this, even at 0dbFS (although typically I master CD to a peak of -0.3 and mp3 to -1.1).

Some normalize options, like Sony Soundforge, has options to normalise to -0.3, -0.6, -1.0, -3.0 and -6.0 in it's templates and is user customizable - Live's normalize is not.

That image is phenomenal, adventurepants.