So, uh... for people who never really record or play with others... how does one go about hitting the golden -3 to -6 peak thing?
I use audacity for this. After your track is ready to go select all and use the normalize effect, and you can set what you want the peak db limit to be. Simple and free.
Nice! Been using Audacity for a long time, just didn't know exactly what peeps were getting at. Any fear of the normalize action reducing dynamics?
I would not normalize the track... that's doing more to the dynamics than you think and is completely unnecessary, especially if its getting mastered.
The easiest way is to put a limiter plug in on your master track in your daw and set the thresh hold to -3db, then you reduce the input gain or the track volumes until you see it never or just every once in a while bounce off of it. If you reduced track volumes then you can remove the limiter plug in and be good to go, if you use the input gain in the plug in to reduce volume than leave it there but raise the threshold up to -2db without touching anything else. That way even if it peaks over a lil its not detrimental, and who ever is mastering will have tons of headroom.
If your using your phone theres no help for you unfortunately and we'll do the best we can with it.
Iommic Pope wrote:
Skip, you rule. You hate people so much, you're willing to discredit all human progress, its awesome.
Audio normalization is the application of a constant amount of gain to an audio recording to bring the average or peak amplitude to a target level (the norm). Because the same amount of gain is applied across the given range, the signal-to-noise ratio and relative dynamics are generally unchanged.
Is there something im missing?
And im totally not trying to undermine you, because your method seems much more effective in numerous situations.
D.o.S. wrote:I'm fucking stupid and no one should operate under any other premise.
Audio normalization is the application of a constant amount of gain to an audio recording to bring the average or peak amplitude to a target level (the norm). Because the same amount of gain is applied across the given range, the signal-to-noise ratio and relative dynamics are generally unchanged.
Is there something im missing?
Normalization is a process applied to the digital wav file itself and makes unnecessary and permanent modifications, its basically finding the highest setting on your gain knob to get your peaks to the desired level and then cementing it there. I much prefer using say the gain control and bringing it up or lowering it down within the DAW, because then the original WAV file is untouched and I can make modifications to my mix as necessary, especially if you have plug ins on that track.
Iommic Pope wrote:
Skip, you rule. You hate people so much, you're willing to discredit all human progress, its awesome.
kbithecrowing wrote:And im totally not trying to undermine you, because your method seems much more effective in numerous situations.
hahahaha no worries dude! Theres a reason that audio engineering is considered a science as well as an art form, and the technical stuff gets uber confusing.
Basically Normalization is permanent to the wav file unless you re-normalize to a different volume, at which point you could have just used the gain knob in your DAW from the get go and not mutilated the wav file in the process....
Iommic Pope wrote:
Skip, you rule. You hate people so much, you're willing to discredit all human progress, its awesome.
Ahh, k, that makes sense. I kinda used it as the final step before putting my stuff online for consistent volume sake (aka the most basic mastering possible ) but since there will be a master job on here I can leave it to someone else.
D.o.S. wrote:I'm fucking stupid and no one should operate under any other premise.
So far interested parties:
Me (so the QC is non-existent, obvs)
BoatRich
Blackened Soul
kbit
Ugly Nora
backwards voyager
aen
jrmy
Dark Axel
skullservant
spacelordmother
PeteeBee
sonidero
kaeth
Ancient Astro
monkeydancer
trace
Brandesmann
Deltaphoenix
Ugly Cassanova
and
Mr. November is on the fence
with Monkeydancer.
and doommeow
Seems like a nice fence.
This is up to date between both threads, I think.
Last edited by D.o.S. on Wed Apr 22, 2015 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kbithecrowing wrote:Ahh, k, that makes sense. I kinda used it as the final step before putting my stuff online for consistent volume sake (aka the most basic mastering possible ) but since there will be a master job on here I can leave it to someone else.
That's basically its intended usage, a real basic mastering process for a finalized wav of a mix. Don't worry we'll get you loud and sounding good!
spacelordmother wrote:
Nice! Been using Audacity for a long time, just didn't know exactly what peeps were getting at. Any fear of the normalize action reducing dynamics?
Nope, it just takes the highest peak in the audio, and raises alllll the volume until that peak hits the determined level. So you want to have your dynamics/compression and everything done done done before you go normalizing/maximizing/mastering. Otherwise, as I learned the hard way, there can be some microsecond spike in volume and your whole fucking song gets TURNED DOWN by normalizing.
Chankgeez wrote:
DWARFCRAFT: We are not fucking around this year.
I would actually propose a time limit after we figure out how many people are contributing. A CD can only do 80 minutes, after all...
I would be happier putting together a 10 minute-or-less piece than having a 3 dude compilation.
jrmy wrote:
Also, if any design help is desired, I'm happy to do whatevs.
I mentioned this somewhere (possibly the other thread): I will gladly submit abstract photos to be used as art candidates. Peep my current album art for the style, if anyone wants to vote yay or nay. Im not good wih design though...
D.o.S. wrote:I'm fucking stupid and no one should operate under any other premise.
) but since there will be a master job on here I can leave it to someone else.
