sorry - here's the real post

W

Waysid

New member
Sorry, for some reason the text of my last post didn't show up. I'm on a different computer now so this should work. So here is my question. (with preamble)

I am recording a demo for our band. We have tracked our parts and I have made a rough mix that I want to burn to CD. My mixdown has resulted in a wav file that is really "peaky" and "jagged" which is preventing me from burning a hot CD without lots of clipping. I have done some reading and understand that eq, compression and normalization may help bring down these peaks. I have a basic understanding of how each of these work but am wondering what is the difference between compression and normalization? Where would each one be applicable? Any other tips would also be appreciated.

Thanks, and sorry again about those other crap posts.

Chris
 
Yeah thats a great page. I have actually read that before and it cleared up a lot of my problems with compression. I'm still unsure of what normalization is? Is it just another word for compressing music into a less peaky form, or is it something different? If so when do you use it.

thanks,
Chris
 
Normalization simply figures out how much digital headroom you have (how far below 0 db your recording is) and then 'turns up the volume' of the recording by that amount, it leaves the relative volumes unchanged.
 
So does that mean that normalization can be done "by hand" even though it would be a bit tedious over several tunes?

The reason I ask is because I have a DPS 16 that does not have a "normalise" deal and I do not have any music software at all for the 'puter.
 
Normalization analyzes your audio to find out how far below 0db it's highest peak is, it then recalculates and replaces the original file with one that has it's highest peak at 0db or whatever level you specify. The big disadvantage is that the noise contained within the recording is made louder by the same amount. I guess it is possible to simulate normalization manually, you would have to re-record the material that you wanted to normalize at the highest level possible before clipping (at odb). This would only simulate normalization since you would not only be making the existing noise louder but also adding more noise due to the re-recording process.
 
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