Is it possible to know how many DB a given Normalize execution boosts the signal. If not, I would like (and find very helpful) a field to be displayed after the effect has been executed that tells me how many DB the selection was boosted.
Where I would use this is on the loudest of multiple soft tracks. Let’s say Normalize boosts it 5db. Then I’d go to all my other tracks in the set (these are music tracks in one record album) and do Amplify to +5db. I don’t want to normalize each track; I want to keep all the tracks at the same volume RELATIVE to each other.
Use the Amplify effect instead. Amplify will default to whatever gain is needed for 0dB normalized peaks.
Or if you just want to check the peak levels you can run Amplify, note the default amplification, then cancel. For example, If Amplify defaults to +3dB your peaks are currently -3dB.
[u]ACX Check[/u] will also report the peaks for a file.
WOW, you’re right! I never saw this in the help for Amplify! “When the Amplify dialog first appears it shows in the Amplification (dB) box the amplification amount needed to create a New Peak Amplitude of 0 dB, thus maximizing the volume of the selected track. If this is your goal you can just click the OK button.” I always wondered WHAT that default value was! I wondered why it wasn’t the last value I had used! I see now… there’s a REASON it’s “broken”… it’s a FEATURE, HA HA HA! So, during the time gap between clicking “Amplify” and the appearance of the dialog box, it has to be doing a scan of the entire selection. Uh… Actually no. I just tried an hour-long clip and I can infer from the instant response that the data must be being analysed during file-load, not effect invocation. Regardless, it works!
So what I shall do is select all of each of my clips, then open the Amplify dialog box for each one, noting the DB values. The one with the lowest value is the one I’ll apply to all clips. This, in effect, normalizes the whole album as though it was one big track. I do this as I don’t want to boost the softer songs any more than the louder ones. (Whole album was recorded too softly.)
THANK YOU!
This, in effect, normalizes the whole album as though it was one big track.
Personally, when I (rarely) digitize vinyl I combine both sides into one long track for noise/click reduction, optional EQ, and normalization. I only make separate tracks at the end of the process.
If I’m making a CD (which I haven’t done for awhile) there are ways of using a cue sheet to add track markers while burning from one big file.