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Gear / Technical Help => Post-Processing, Computer / Streaming / Internet Devices & Related Activity => Topic started by: Dutchman1101 on February 27, 2008, 09:41:37 PM

Title: WaveLab 5.01a Question
Post by: Dutchman1101 on February 27, 2008, 09:41:37 PM
Is there a way in WaveLab 5.01a when adding gain to make it so it never goes over 0db or would I have to normalize to do that?

Harrison
Title: Re: WaveLab 5.01a Question
Post by: sygdwm on February 27, 2008, 09:44:59 PM
isnt that the exact definition of what normalizing does? you could just raise the gain in pieces instead of the whole file/song/set. but that would sound funny and be a pita. whats wrong w/ normalizing?
Title: Re: WaveLab 5.01a Question
Post by: Sebastian on February 28, 2008, 11:49:34 AM
You could apply a limiter before the gain boost...
Title: Re: WaveLab 5.01a Question
Post by: T.J. on March 03, 2008, 10:31:14 AM
whenever i add gain in wavelab, i just get the peak level first and add gain close to zero.
Title: Re: WaveLab 5.01a Question
Post by: Dutchman1101 on March 16, 2008, 05:29:22 PM
Normalizing is the same as adding gain but normalizing wont go past 0db, correct? Essentially doing exactly what I asked in my first post?
Title: Re: WaveLab 5.01a Question
Post by: sygdwm on March 17, 2008, 02:53:06 PM
whenever i add gain in wavelab, i just get the peak level first and add gain close to zero.

i do this ^^ versus normalizing. but i dont know why.
Title: Re: WaveLab 5.01a Question
Post by: Dutchman1101 on March 17, 2008, 03:02:12 PM
Does normilizing degrade the quality at all? From the research I have done since I started this thread it looks like it is the same as adding gain but it just wont let you go past 0db.
Title: Re: WaveLab 5.01a Question
Post by: sygdwm on March 17, 2008, 03:06:50 PM
i really dont know. my gut tells me (w/o any research) that adding gain across the whole file seems to make more sense than just raising it in certain areas. could it also lower some louder sections?
Title: Re: WaveLab 5.01a Question
Post by: JasonSobel on March 17, 2008, 03:35:59 PM
typically, Normalizing does the exact same thing as adding gain, but doesn't allow any peaks to go over 0dB.  Normalizing will find the highest peak in the file, and make that 0dB (or -.5dB, or whatever you set it to), and will raise the gain of the entire file by the same amount.  This should sound the same as if you did the process yourself (by determining the what the highest peak it, and then adding gain manually to the whole file).

The confusion comes in here.  In some software programs (I'm at work, so I don't have WaveLab open in front of me), there is an option to Normalize based on average RMS value.  What that does is it'll raise the average RMS value of the whole file to a specific point.  The problem with this is that it doesn't look at the peak values at all, so if you raise the average RMS level by too much, it could push the peaks beyond 0dBfs and create clipping.  You don't want to normalize with this method.  But if you stick to the first method (Normalize based on peak values), you'll be all set.
Title: Re: WaveLab 5.01a Question
Post by: sygdwm on March 17, 2008, 03:42:06 PM
great explanation. +t
Title: Re: WaveLab 5.01a Question
Post by: Dutchman1101 on March 17, 2008, 04:41:13 PM
typically, Normalizing does the exact same thing as adding gain, but doesn't allow any peaks to go over 0dB.  Normalizing will find the highest peak in the file, and make that 0dB (or -.5dB, or whatever you set it to), and will raise the gain of the entire file by the same amount.  This should sound the same as if you did the process yourself (by determining the what the highest peak it, and then adding gain manually to the whole file).

The confusion comes in here.  In some software programs (I'm at work, so I don't have WaveLab open in front of me), there is an option to Normalize based on average RMS value.  What that does is it'll raise the average RMS value of the whole file to a specific point.  The problem with this is that it doesn't look at the peak values at all, so if you raise the average RMS level by too much, it could push the peaks beyond 0dBfs and create clipping.  You don't want to normalize with this method.  But if you stick to the first method (Normalize based on peak values), you'll be all set.

Thanks! +T