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Normalise, Amplify or Volume increase
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| agentdansmith |
I use Audacity to record my mixes and was wondering what is the best post-recording method to use to give the sound a bit more welly.
Up until now, I don't do anything to recorded sound and just increase the volume on my amp when playing it back. They are never too quiet, they just need a couple more notched on the volume knob.
Now, I keep hearing people talk about normalising their mixes afterwards but I also read that you should not normalise your mixes as it messes with the dynamics of the sound and instead of a quiet part of a tune being quiet, it starts to sound louder than it should in relation to the louder parts (if that makes sense - hard to explain).
In Audacity, there is also a feature called Amplify which can be applied as many times as you like and increases the overall sound my 3db (I think).
Which method is technically better? If anyone has got a link to some factual proof as well, I would be grateful :) |
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| nefardec |
you're looking for a sonic maximizer or something similar
there is a software vst maximizer called Vintage Warmer by PSP which is pretty nice.
I have felt though that it tends to flatten a mix so be careful with the settings |
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| agentdansmith |
| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
you're looking for a sonic maximizer or something similar
there is a software vst maximizer called Vintage Warmer by PSP which is pretty nice.
I have felt though that it tends to flatten a mix so be careful with the settings |
Thanks for the reply and it is something that I will look into, but at the moment I'd really like to know which method I listed above is best and why? |
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| agentdansmith |
Just come across this about basic mastering techniques and found it very useful:
1) Editing - This is the first step in mastering, and it's very easy to do with any decent 2-track audio editing software. I've used Cool Edit, Cool Edit Pro, Sound Forge 4.5 (my favorite), and with Macs I've used Sound Designer II and Protools - all with good results.
The first thing I do is to zoom in on the soundwave of a song and snip off everything in the beginning except for a half second before the song begins. I leave a half second at the beginning, and convert that half second to silence. Some CD players will skip about a half second of the beginning of a song when in "skip" mode, so it's a good idea to leave a half second of silence at the beginning. Next, I go to the end of the song and decide how much space I want at the end, or maybe fade the song out. I'll usually leave 1-2 seconds at the end of a track, and convert that to silence also. If there are any glitches (musical or technical) in the song, it's fairly easy to copy, cut and paste the glitches out. The key is to zoom in on the soundwave to find the right selection points. Most of the stuff I do has drums, so I look for where the kick or snare hits are - the biggest peaks in the soundwave. Once I've got the editing done, I move on to...
2) Equalization - I usually find that my own recordings need to be brightened up, so I usually will use a four band EQ and give it a bit of a boost in the upper frequencies - 4k to 10k, and a shelf boost at 10k and up for more sizzle and "air". An important thing to remember is that when you boost frequencies in your recording, the soundwave will grow - if you've normalized your track before adding EQ, you may get some digital clipping - which if you've ever heard digital clipping, you know it sounds BAD! If you must do a lot of EQ boosting, you may want to lower the volume of the track by a db or two first. For this reason, you should not "normalize" your tracks before processing them.
I've found that the standard EQs that come with most digital audio software are okay, but the best results I've gotten are with the Waves Native Power Pack, with is a set of plugins for Sound Forge. It is expensive software (around $400) but well worth it. It includes many parametric and graphic eqs that all work very well.
3) Compression/Limiting - Compression is the key to producing a LOUD CD. Once you've gotten your track sounding good with editing and EQ, it's time to apply some compression or limiting. Once again, I've found that the standard compression functions that come with most of the major audio mastering programs are good, but you can't compress a track past a certain point without it sounding mushy. I've tried many different compression/limiting plug-ins, but once again the best I've used is the L1 Ultramaximizer that comes with the Waves Native Power Pack. The L1 Ultramaximizer is a professional look ahead limiter that can add many decibals to your track without comprimising the sound. I've been able to almost double the volume on my tracks, and have produced recordings that are just as loud sounding as the major label CDs. This plug-in kicks major tail, hands down.
One more word on "normalizing" - many people think that using the "normalize" function on their audio software will maximize the volume to its' full potential. All it really does is maximize the biggest peak of a track - if a snare hit in the track is 3 db above everything else, the snare hit will be maximized to the zero level, but everything else will still be 3 db lower. Compression/limiting will even it out, resulting in maximized loudness. I don't bother to normalize my tracks - I leave that to the L1 Ultramaximizer. It compresses the entire track and boosts the levels to the output you select (-.2 db is good).
There you have it... some basics to mastering your audio tracks. It may sound confusing, but if you get into it, it's a whole lot of fun! Also, TRUST YOUR EARS! Adjust the settings on each individual plugin (eq, compression) until it sounds right to you. Again, my favorite audio programs are Soundforge 4.5 for basic editing, and Waves Native Power Pack for eq and compression. |
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| starboy |
^ thanks for that info!
one question.. you use both the L1 Ultramaximizer and the Waves Native Power Pack for eq and compression? |
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| agentdansmith |
| quote: | Originally posted by starboy
^ thanks for that info!
one question.. you use both the L1 Ultramaximizer and the Waves Native Power Pack for eq and compression? |
Ha ha - I didn't write that above, I just copied and pasted it from another site. I haven't got a clue when it comes to mastering and by looking at the amount of responses I got from my original question, not many peopl on here do either.
So I thought it would be handy to post this for everyone else.
Anyway, back to your question... you get L1 Ultramaximizer in the Waves Native Power Pack. As far as I understand the Waves Native Power Pack is a collection of powerful mastering tools. |
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| starboy |
| aaah gotcha :) thanks |
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| Stu Cox |
| quote: | Originally posted by agentdansmith
I use Audacity to record my mixes and was wondering what is the best post-recording method to use to give the sound a bit more welly.
Up until now, I don't do anything to recorded sound and just increase the volume on my amp when playing it back. They are never too quiet, they just need a couple more notched on the volume knob.
Now, I keep hearing people talk about normalising their mixes afterwards but I also read that you should not normalise your mixes as it messes with the dynamics of the sound and instead of a quiet part of a tune being quiet, it starts to sound louder than it should in relation to the louder parts (if that makes sense - hard to explain).
In Audacity, there is also a feature called Amplify which can be applied as many times as you like and increases the overall sound my 3db (I think).
Which method is technically better? If anyone has got a link to some factual proof as well, I would be grateful :) |
Normalising is simply increasing/decreasing the volume to a standard level, either specified as a peak level (i.e. the highest value in the whole section of audio) or RMS (which roughly equates to the loudness of the recording). This does NOT change the dynamic relationships between sounds in the record - what you're thinking of there is compression, which does do exactly that.
The problem with normalising is...
If you're normalising to a peak value (you'd usually normalise to 0dB peak):
if one sound happens to have a really large peak and the rest of the track is quite quiet, it'll throw the whole normalisation out (i.e. everything will end up quieter than you might intend);
If you're normalising to an RMS value: technically, if the current RMS level of the track is lower than the RMS level you want to normalise to, but you already have peaks hitting 0dB, normalising to the intended level will cut off peaks, producing distortion. Also, if you find the RMS level of a whole track or a whole mix, breakdowns and quiet sections will reduce the overall RMS level, meaning if you're not careful you can end up making the loud sections too loud.
A lot of modern normalising functions (like the one in Sound Forge) can compress wherever clipping would occur, saving the peaks from clipping/distorting but slightly altering the dynamics of the track. Alternatively if you work out how much you need to boost/reduce the level by, you can do it yourself with a volume control in an effects chain with a limiter on the end to control the peaks.
I personally feel the most appropriate thing to normalise to is the level of a "loud" section in a track, usually the main section after the main breakdown (depending on the structure of the track) with everything going for it. Select a 4 or 8 bar section like that and find the RMS level, then normalise the whole track based on this value to comply with a "standard" (e.g. if you're normalising to -16dB RMS and the RMS level of this section is -20dB then boost the whole track by 4dB).
I've talked about things in reference to an individual track here, but you can apply the same ideas to a whole mix. If you were good with your gains when you recorded the mix, you can get the RMS levels from a few of the louder tracks and work out an appropriate amount to boost/reduce the mix from that. |
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| agentdansmith |
| quote: | Originally posted by Stu Cox
Normalising is simply increasing/decreasing the volume to a standard level, either specified as a peak level (i.e. the highest value in the whole section of audio) or RMS (which roughly equates to the loudness of the recording). This does NOT change the dynamic relationships between sounds in the record - what you're thinking of there is compression, which does do exactly that.
The problem with normalising is...
If you're normalising to a peak value (you'd usually normalise to 0dB peak):
if one sound happens to have a really large peak and the rest of the track is quite quiet, it'll throw the whole normalisation out (i.e. everything will end up quieter than you might intend);
If you're normalising to an RMS value: technically, if the current RMS level of the track is lower than the RMS level you want to normalise to, but you already have peaks hitting 0dB, normalising to the intended level will cut off peaks, producing distortion. Also, if you find the RMS level of a whole track or a whole mix, breakdowns and quiet sections will reduce the overall RMS level, meaning if you're not careful you can end up making the loud sections too loud.
A lot of modern normalising functions (like the one in Sound Forge) can compress wherever clipping would occur, saving the peaks from clipping/distorting but slightly altering the dynamics of the track. Alternatively if you work out how much you need to boost/reduce the level by, you can do it yourself with a volume control in an effects chain with a limiter on the end to control the peaks.
I personally feel the most appropriate thing to normalise to is the level of a "loud" section in a track, usually the main section after the main breakdown (depending on the structure of the track) with everything going for it. Select a 4 or 8 bar section like that and find the RMS level, then normalise the whole track based on this value to comply with a "standard" (e.g. if you're normalising to -16dB RMS and the RMS level of this section is -20dB then boost the whole track by 4dB).
I've talked about things in reference to an individual track here, but you can apply the same ideas to a whole mix. If you were good with your gains when you recorded the mix, you can get the RMS levels from a few of the louder tracks and work out an appropriate amount to boost/reduce the mix from that. |
Cheers for that mate, but would you say Normalising is better than using Compression (as posted above)?
What apps do you use? |
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