can you boost the level of a mixdown without normalizing?

[dobro]

Just before I dither down to 16 bits, the two things I typically do are hard limit and normalize in Edit View. Depending on the mix, I knock 4 dB off everything and then normalize it to gain volume on the whole things, cuz my CDs typically sound quieter than commercial CDs. (I don't mind that much, but I don't want the difference to be too glaring, so I like to close the gap a bit if I can.)

But is there a way to do it without normalizing? I can think of only one: after I hard limit, I bung the mixdown back into multitrack where I can solo it and then boost its volume to close to 0 dB, then mix it down again into Edit View. Or would I *not* have to mix it down again?

 

[Strryder]

After mixdown, you can open the mixdown file in edit view, and "just" use the hard limiting on it, when you set the maximum ampitude you are in effect "normalizing" the file to your intended output level, I usually set the max amplitude to -.1db, that should be one tenth of a db under clipping.

I always save the hard limited file as a different filename so it won't overwrite the original mixdown.

It almost always takes several tries to get it right, sometimes as the volume goes up, the track might need some additional EQ tweaking.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I don't understand the issue....... limiting+normalizing is exactly the same as limiting+gain-to-raise-level.

What's are you perceiving difference to be?