Topic: Normalizing/volume adjustment problem

[su6oxone]

So I've been curious about this for a long time but finally decided to ask. 

Basically, when I  process a show on my computer in SoundForge, I normalize using peak levels to -0.1dB.  The problem is that there are always some number of occasional spikes in volume (screaming, clapping, whistling, cymbal/percussion, etc.) that are higher than the average volume of the music, resulting in a less than optimal increase in the volume overall (so the show is too quiet because of the occasional loud peaks).  In the past, sometimes I will manually find those peaks and decrease the volume and then re-scan the peak volume and normalize afterwards. 

But I was wondering if there is some processing tool that can decrease the peaks while normalizing/increasing the rest of it.  Can I just normalize to a lower level first, approximately where the peak of the main music is at, which would bring down those occasional spikes, and then normalize again to a higher level afterwards?  I'll try to fiddle around at home today but wondering if there is any tool or method that other people have used to deal with this sort of issue. 

[Chuck]

A Maximizer does what you need. WAVES has the L1, L2, & L3.
There are freeware versions. Try TL's Maximizer (http://www.audiomastermind.com/detail-tls_maximizer-9198.html) as I have used that and think it does a good job.

[su6oxone]

Thanks, I'll give it a try tonight!

[duch]

Soundforge can do it by itself, just select "Average RMS level (loudness)" rather than "Peak level" in the normalize window.

Check "Use equal loudness contour", click on "Scan Levels" to get the RMS level of your unprocessed recording, then accordingly select the target RMS level for the normalization . Make sure that you have "Apply dynamic compression" selected in front of "If clipping occurs", and then hit OK.

For instance if your recording has an RMS level of -16 dB and you select -10 dB, the average loudness of your recording will be increased by 6dB, and every clipping peak will go through a limiter, lowering them just under 0 dBfs without making them sounds ugly.

You should also know that RMS level is not an exact mathematical transcription of how our ears perceive loudness, so it might happen that two records normalized to the same RMS level have a slight perceived loudness difference, depending on the audio material. Other ways of measuring loudness and producing results closer to our perception exists, such as Leq (RLB) and LKFS (R2LB), but you should be mostly ok with RMS.

If you feel that the way Soundforge peak limiter process audio is not transparent or good enough, you should use other limiting plug-ins, such as the Wave L-serie Chuck told you about.

[su6oxone]

Thanks duch, I never knew what that was for, but this sounds exactly what I need to get the volume up to a decent level without having occasional clipping/peaking/distortion.  I'll try it out tonight and see if I can get it to work properly, thanks again!

[newplanet7]

Thanks duch, I never knew what that was for, but this sounds exactly what I need to get the volume up to a decent level without having occasional clipping/peaking/distortion.  I'll try it out tonight and see if I can get it to work properly, thanks again!

Let us know how this worked out.
I also use soundforge and usually I just go in and use the pencil tool
to minimize unruly spikes before normalizing.
I just settled on the fact that there wasn't a function that did this.
I've always stayed away from RMS normalizing because of squashing dynamics,
where peak just adds volume to a specified point to the whole file equally.

[capnhook]

+T duch