Normalize is a digital process where the audio file is scanned and the peak signal level is determined. The overall volume level of the file is then raised such that the peak signal is just below digital full signal. If done to several tracks the peak levels will sound the same, but the average volume of any given track may still be higher or lower than another track. Don't normalize if any other digital manipulation is to follow. |
What would one do if they had a collection of .wav files ripped from various CDs, and those tracks were of greatly different overall volumes, and one wanted to achieve a coherent volume balance for the whole set of them - to make a mix tape (CD) for example? I've resorted to manually increasing/decreasing amplitude track-by-track before, resorting to my own audio memory to achieve a smooth volume balance - an okay, but time-consuming approach. There must be some automated way to do this? |
I was curious about this myself awhile back. So I open two wave files with great volume differences. I then burned the two tracks for standard cd playback - the sounds were much more compressed and not listenable. I then ripped the two track into wave forms and compared them to the original. I saw the low and high frequency of the higher volume track truncated. So don't normalize if you want to preserve the original quality. |
Sd2005gt, at what stage and by what method did you normalize the two tracks? For a detailed discussion of the faults and benefits of normalization, read this from the recording mag Sound On Sound. |
