Bouncing a vst instrument track and normalizing clips

[Psychocidal]

I have a track that's low-energy at the start, breaks for most of the song, then it comes in with a lot of energy at the end. I'm wondering if I should bounce the individual clips, with their own volume at the optimal level (around -12dB), normalize each individually (again, around -12dB), then set their level in the mix, or would it be better to capture the whole track as it is in the rough mix, meaning the waveform would be lower in the first clip than the one with the energy.

Hope that made sense

 

[rob aylestone]

IF you have a quiet bit, then powerful bit, the back again, and normalise them, then won't you need to reduce the louder levels to restore the quieter bits if you do this, rather than leave the faders?

With automation so easy, the only real thing is running out of fader travel. I always cheat a bit in Cubase and use a straight line in a compressor and use the make up level knob to raise a quieter, less raunchy track up a bit to restore a decent split in the max vs min fader travel. I can't think when I've normalised a portion of a track in normal use - often to fix a mistake, maybe, but fader riding always seems to feature at some point. If you normalise bits, then you still ride, just different amounts?