Normalizing

B

bjamin86

New member
Hi,

I have over 70 backing tracks that i want to all have the same volume so this way i dont have to play around with the volume knobs on my small mixer when playing a gig.

Is this called normalizing? please let me know what program to use, i just tried Audiograbber 1.83 and when i load an mp3 it says, "the file was neither a pcm wave nor a digital audio file". All my tracks are mp3s and im trying to normalize all tracks so i dont have to mess with the volume. also if you know any better programs to do this you can let me know about that as well.

thanks.
 
Normalizing will make it so the highest peak in each file is the same volume as the highest peak in every other file.

This will do nothing towards making them play back at equal volumes. Human hearing conjures up what we recognize as loudness from many different factors. Peak loudness does not rank high among those factors. The best thing to do is to open the files in an audio editing program, manually move faders up and down until everything seems to have equal loudness, and then export it all back out.
 
Chibi is right, you have got to use your ears!

If you had lots of money, you would go to a studio to get the backing tracks mastered. This would sort out the volume levels and EQ to make them sound consistent in the studio.

In reality though, when you play live, different backing tracks need different levels so it probably wouldn't fully sort out your problems.

I'd suggest getting some audio editing software (Audacity is a free one) and normalising everything to start with and then see which tracks need to be brought down when you rehearse.

Good luck.
 
Chibi Nappa said:
Normalizing will make it so the highest peak in each file is the same volume as the highest peak in every other file.

This will do nothing towards making them play back at equal volumes. Human hearing conjures up what we recognize as loudness from many different factors. Peak loudness does not rank high among those factors. The best thing to do is to open the files in an audio editing program, manually move faders up and down until everything seems to have equal loudness, and then export it all back out.
Click to expand...
Actually there is also RMS normalizing which can be done in batches.
 
bjamin86 said:
Hi,

I have over 70 backing tracks that i want to all have the same volume so this way i dont have to play around with the volume knobs on my small mixer when playing a gig.

Is this called normalizing? please let me know what program to use, i just tried Audiograbber 1.83 and when i load an mp3 it says, "the file was neither a pcm wave nor a digital audio file". All my tracks are mp3s and im trying to normalize all tracks so i dont have to mess with the volume. also if you know any better programs to do this you can let me know about that as well.

thanks.
Click to expand...

You have to convert the MP3 files to .wav files for many Audio Programs to load them so you can work on them. Find a file converter.

The files you have are all beats right? They are probably all compressed and normalized and mastered and limited already.

Open the files one at a time in an .wav processor and change the Volume to a consistent level.

That will keep the integrity of the files you bought.
 
NYMorningstar said:
Actually there is also RMS normalizing which can be done in batches.
Click to expand...

RMS does factor much higher than peak level when determining loudness, but it is still not enough to get the job done. EQ alone will throw in a monkey wrench. Really the only way to do it is by ear.
 
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