Is It Necessary to Normalize?

[Angelo Mike]

Probably, yes. You’re bringing up the noise floor when you normalize audio and in my experience should have waited to clean up your audio until after it was normalized, since that’s where it’s going to have more of an effect. Unless someone knows of another way. But that’s how I’ve been editing audio for three years.

[Graham Bernard]

[Angelo Mike] ” should have waited to clean up your audio until after it was normalized”

Angelo, Debbie has said she had done this. We all need to hear just how clean it was prior to Compression prior to Normalization.

Grazie

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 + PowerShot SX50HS Bridge

[Bob Peterson]

Normalization increases the volume of all sounds. If you do it, it should be the first step in your processing of audio. I do not normalize since I like to leave a little headroom, but I do normally increase the volume is much as I am comfortable with as my first step in processing. Then, I denoise it, and I can tell how strong the denoise process needs to be. I apply compression within Vegas which does not alter the audio file. At that point, for me, noise has never been an issue, but the door is still open to make adjustments.

[Debbie King]

Thanks Grazie and Angelo:

I used RX3 and I didn’t even use my headphones. I watched the graphs which showed that the noise had been eliminated. This is why I felt comfortable compressing. I was told to compress first then normalize. Should I have done it the other way? My thought is that if I had normalized, I would have noticed that noise was still being heard and could have cleaned more. When I went back into those areas that still had noise and opened up RX3 again, a little of noise showed on the graph, but not much. When I deselect normalize and kept the compression then opened RX3, there was no noise on the graph. It took me almost 2 months to clean the audio for.this film. I am so tempted to proceed without normalizing. I just want to get your opinion on whether normalizing is really necessary, although I know that it enhances well. Another thing happened also. Before normalizing I had leveled the volumes to get the audio as close as possible using volume envelopes and the pull down on each clip that needed it. Afterwards, I played the entire film to hear the balance, and it sounded well balanced. When I normalized, it threw everything out of balance, so much so, that I found myself going back to the beginning to level everything again. So, I’m not only recleaning the audio; I’m releveling it also. I have a deadline for this film to be fully completed by end of month, and if I have to redo everything, I will definitely miss it.

My other dilemma is that I am normalizing directly in Vegas, so I cannot determine how much normalization I need or want, as some third party softwares allow. If normalization is necessary, can I normalize directly in RX3 per Track, not clip? I have Cubase. Is it possible to pull the entire audio file into Cubase and normalize there. I have multiple tracks too. Doing it inVegas, has caused problems because where there is noise, I am not in a platform to clean it directly in the software. Also there is another problem that normalizing created. When I cleaned the audio the first time, there was a little artifact on some dialogue, but not audible without headphones, so I kept it. Now, when normalizing, the artifacts are very audible; super metallic without headphones, although no background noise is heard. So, if I decided to normalize that clip first, before cleaning, let’s say, I will have more noise to clean and end up with enhanced artifacts worst than what I already have. Catch 22! Right now, at this stage, I really have a problem, but if I normalize I will. Any advise or should I just leave well enough alone and start the final mix.

I am also trying to get my volume measured for theatre volume, and have been advised on what the levels should be; I believe 85 to 105db. Is that for the master volume after mixing the film between -12 to -6? I have to buy a device to calibrate my speakers, but do I need a third party software to set the RMS? Can I do it directly in Vegas?
I see RMS, I believe, in Wave Hammer Sound.

Many thanks,

Debbie

All the best,

Debbie

[Debbie King]

Hi Bob:

Thank you. I didn’t normalize or raise the volume first, because there was already noise, lots of it, that needed cleaning. Some of it difficult to clean without living some artifacts. So, if I enhanced the volume before cleaning, it would have been much more noise to clean up leaving more artifacts and resulting in me not being able to use the clip. Catch 22! I was given advice to clean first, for that very reason. My thought was, if I am using a software that can see the sound when I cannot hear it, should suffice, and normalizing should not be a problem. I was wrong. Normalizing found the noise that was not visible before in RX3.

Many thanks,

Debbie

[Debbie King]

Hi Bob:

Thank you. I didn’t normalize or raise the volume first, because there was already noise, lots of it, that needed cleaning. Some of it difficult to clean without leaving some artifacts. So, if I enhanced the volume before cleaning, it would have been much more noise to clean up leaving more artifacts and resulting in me not being able to use the clip. Catch 22! I was given advice to clean first, for that very reason. My thought was, if I am using a software that can see the sound when I cannot hear it, that should suffice, and normalizing should not be a problem. I was wrong. Normalizing found the noise that was not visible before in RX3.

Many thanks,

Debbie

BTW: When I compressed, it made the volume much louder, and I didn’t hear any noise. So I am not sure where the noise came from, except to say that the clips just weren’t fully cleaned. At this stage, I can get more volume through the compression without hearing any additional noise. I’m tempted to stick with this. Thanks DK

[Angelo Mike]

[Graham Bernard] ” [Angelo Mike] ” should have waited to clean up your audio until after it was normalized”

Angelo, Debbie has said she had done this. We all need to hear just how clean it was prior to Compression prior to Normalization.”

What? She said she normalized audio last, after cleaning it up first.

[John Rofrano]

[Debbie King] “BTW: When I compressed, it made the volume much louder, and I didn’t hear any noise. So I am not sure where the noise came from, except to say that the clips just weren’t fully cleaned. At this stage, I can get more volume through the compression without hearing any additional noise. I’m tempted to stick with this. Thanks DK”

That is exactly what you should be doing.

Normalization is implemented poorly in Vegas Pro. Unlike other NLE’s it normalizes each event individually so that they can be wildly different in volume from each other instead of normalizing across all events to level them out. This causes more problems than it solves.

I would stick with what you have. Normalization is a fix for recordings that are too low. If this is not your current problem, then you don’t need to fix it. (i.e., if you are happy with your volume then just be happy) 😉

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Steve Rhoden]

“Since I cleaned the audio and compressed it, do I really need to normalize?”
The simple answer to that particular question Debbie is No…

Steve Rhoden (Cow Leader)
Film Maker & VFX Artist.
Owner of Filmex Creative Media.
Samples of my Work and Company can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/FilmexCreativeMedia

[Debbie King]

Hi John and Steve :

Thank you so much. You have no idea how refreshing it is to hear this. Yes, when I normalized, the levels that I created where thrown off and the levels were everywhere. I literally would have had to go to each clip and make the adjustments again.

Thanks again.

Best,

Debbie