Pro Tools Normalize Plugin for True Peak Setting?

C

CaseyCayce

New member
Hello, Home Recording Folks...

I've got a really complex, 12-minute soundtrack project with a lot of tracks, all needing to be adjusted for headroom. Though not clipping, they were all recorded on the hot side and need to be tamed for mastering later. My research shows clip gain adjustment to be the best approach and I've got this "Normalize" plugin in Pro Tools that will allow me to set a True Peak value, select a clip and render it with a single click to the -4db I've settled on. Is this a safe, legit way of doing it? The alternative is going into each clip's gain adjustments and dragging the slider to the level I want, and there are easily a couple hundred of them in this mix. The normalize approach would be a lot easier, if it's legal.

Thanks.
 
Legal? There's another topic running at the moment where somebody is recording low, and asking about normalizing? Same thing here. All you need is no distortion. Why do they need to be tamed? clip gain, normalization or simply lowering the faders tend to do the same things practically. There could be problems with bus mastering if every track is very loud, making the stereo output or groups going out of range - but protools manages this well, as do all the other popular DAWs. The feeling, if I have read it properly, is that people now don't chase the numbers, but just pay attention to that in the last stages when the destination has published specifications for loudness in submitted audio files.
 
rob aylestone said:
Why do they need to be tamed?
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I'm wondering the same thing. And I don't mean to start any kind of debate or anything. I'm sincerely wondering why they need to come down. If they're not distorting, it doesn't matter if they peak at -.0001, technically. As long as they don't clip.

It could be because the sum of all those "hot" tracks (they're not really "hot", but just the sake of this conversation....) will overload the master. If that's the case, then I would just turn down all the faders.

But again, I don't have all the details, so there might be a good reason I'm not thinking of.
 
CaseyCayce said:
The alternative is going into each clip's gain adjustments and dragging the slider to the level I want, and there are easily a couple hundred of them in this mix.
Click to expand...
Click the timeline up top then edit>select all.
If all of your tracks are in wave view that'll let you drag clip gain up/down for all tracks by the same amount in one move.

If they need adjusted by different amounts per clip then, I guess, ignore this.
 
Something to remember if you normalize peaks and then start applying things like EQ, that +3dB boost that you stick on the track can kick it "over" the 0dB. I understand wanting to boost the levels of the track visually so that it's easier to pick points for things like automation or cut/paste operations. When you've got a track that looks like a flat line, it's harder to visualize the exact point for those operations unless you can zoom individual tracks. If the DAW zooms all tracks, then some get too tall visually, so normalizing will render a more consistent visual reference.

I've tended to normalize tracks, and when mixing, I can simply cut levels rather than cutting some and boosting others. I don't hear any ill effects using that processes.
 
If all the tracks were recorded on "the hot side" (maybe distorting a bit?), there ain't much you can do to "tame" them. As mentioned above, pull the faders down. (Better get busy, with two hundred tracks! Sometimes there isn't an easy way.) Next, if you're going to continue working with the person or persons who sent you the hot tracks, tell them to cool it. There's no need for it. I do know, though, that these days involve a lot of producers not being all that careful about recording too hot. It's crazy, but I read an article about the production of a song which was a huge hit for Olivia Rodrigo ( I think it was "Driver's License"). The mixer mentioned that some of the tracks came in "hot," if I recall. How could that be? Years ago Tony Maserati, an A-list mixer, complained that tracks would come in different sample rates sometimes! He declared, "there has to be standards here!" But there aren't sometimes.
 
The OP joined, posted and never came back. Posted the same post on sound on sound and they said much the same and he didnt respond?
 
rob aylestone said:
The OP joined, posted and never came back. Posted the same post on sound on sound and they said much the same and he didnt respond?
Click to expand...
I've noticed this trend here and elsewhere. This forum used to be way more active. People want instant answers and results I guess.
 
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