# Normalize Chain different from Normalize effect

**URL:** <https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/normalize-chain-different-from-normalize-effect/49790>\
**Category:** Windows\
**Created:** [July 26, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/normalize-chain-different-from-normalize-effect/49790 "2018-07-26T16:29:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![frosted](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@frosted](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/frosted)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/normalize-chain-different-from-normalize-effect/49790/1 "2018-07-26T16:29:50Z")

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I’m not sure why exactly, but applying Normalize in a chain is producing a very different waveform from applying Normalize in audacity.  
 ![audacity_2018-07-26_12-26-21.png](https://forum.audacityteam.org/uploads/default/original/3X/f/4/f46268879acc5fdb70a094a00f89314055cb873c.png)  
This shows the results. Top is original .mp3, middle is normalized in audacity (-16db, apply offset=1/yes), the last clip is the result of the same normalize parameters applied in a chain.

The sound itself seems to be offset by .05 seconds.

Wondering what the problem is here exactly and how to fix it?

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**Author:** ![steve](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@steve](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/steve)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 4:36pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/normalize-chain-different-from-normalize-effect/49790/2 "2018-07-26T16:36:49Z")

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I’m guessing that the offset is because you exported as MP3. Did you?  
MP3 always has a bit of padding at the beginning - it’s a limitation of the MP3 format.