Sound Forge - Normalisation

[Sir Toolious]

Hi
I have Sound Forge 6.0, just wanted to know a little more about the Normalisation feature. I have a recording (stereo dump from Tascam DA88 to Tools) which is very low signal. I can put the wave into sound forge and use the normalisation feature to boost all of the level without clipping (it applies dynamic compression). Just wanted to know what are the dangers of this, could it be very noticable to the human ear. i can see the compression working, it makes the wave fatter without peaking, however it gives the wave a very thick straight up n down look.

 

[Farview]

normalise the peaks not rms. Then it won't compress it wil just turn the volume up. If you look on the normalise window you will see something that says peak or rms, click peak.

 

[K-dub]

There is a caution...

I NEVER normalize all the tracks...for come summing time, everythings turned up to "11" and heavy compression/limiting is required to keep everything under control.

Remember, you don't want to be forced to hard compress. It mandates unnatural coloration of the recording.

If I remember correctly, the program can normalize so that the peaks reach only -6 or -12db (or something of that nature). THAT'S more the neighborhood where you want to be.

Most professionals go much lower than that. There are people who track where you can barely read the digital meters on their tracks (-24 to -30)...and they're the folks recording Elton John.

0db digital is not 0db analog. 0db analog usually falls -12 to -18 db down from 0db digital (dependent on the particular hardware). So if one is to realistically try and hover around 0db analog, then one's digital average should be around (-12 to -18db from digital) 0db analog and allow that extra "space" to be your headroom to handle the hot transients...just like it would be there in the analog domain.

Once you've summed all your tracks, and IF the recording level is STILL a little low, THEN you can normalize the mix to get it up to top level. As suggested above, do NOT let the program auto-compress...and peak-normalize so that the highest point of the tune reaches 0db (or -6db) w/o compression. If you do decide to compress from there, then choose your own settings after listening to what sounds best.

Best,

K-