Topic: can normalizing cause static/clipping?

[jagraham]

I am tracking some shows from the weekend and I normalized all of them to 200% in Audacity1.5.  One of the sets has some distortion where the levels are hot.  Is there any way that Audacity could have caused this or does it originate from the actual recording?  Sorry if this is a dumb question but I really don't know and im sure someone has experience.  I'm a little too lazy to get the JB3 out and transfer the thing again.  Thanks for any help in advance!

[setboy]

I'm a little too lazy to get the JB3 out and transfer the thing again.  Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[jagraham]

do you have anything to contribute other than  ?
FYI, i actually redid a couple of the shows and still cant figure it out.  it took about 7 hours to transfer all the shows i taped over 4 days yesterday.  was the actual question inappropriate for this board?

[JasonSobel]

I normalized all of them to 200%

that's your problem.  Here's a short explanation of what normalizing actually does.  When you normalize a file, it first looks and finds the highest peak.  It then adds a constant amount of gain across the whole file to get that highest peak at 0dB.  (for example, if, before normalization, your highest peak is -4dB, normalizing would add 4dB of gain to the whole file).  But that's normalizing to 0dB, or 100%.  If you normalized to 200%, then you are essentially pushing many portions of your recording into clipping.  To use the previous example, if your highest peak was -4dB before any processing, and then you normalize to 200%, it's going to add 8dB of gain across the file.  So any point that started out above -8dB will now be pushed into clipping.

[setboy]

do you have anything to contribute other than  ?
FYI, i actually redid a couple of the shows and still cant figure it out.  it took about 7 hours to transfer all the shows i taped over 4 days yesterday.  was the actual question inappropriate for this board?

If your to lazy to do something and you tell us that, then why should we spoon feed you.

[jagraham]

thanks jason thats a lot of help!  another problem i think is that i used +30 gain on the stc-9000 so the levels were already hot.  seems like they are fine on the "master" so ill just retrack those shows.  the shows that i used less gain on during recording don't have the problem.  so basically, sound going off the graph on cdwav/audacity is where the clipping occurs?  does this mean that i should only do normalization to 100%?  i have usually normalized to 140 or 150% and havent had any clipping issues, maybe ill have to go back and check those shows.  i hope i havent been fucking up my recordings but better late than never to learn something like this.

it is unfathomable that some of you people get on here just to find shit wrong with someone elses post.  we cant even have a conversation and make a "wrong" comment without someone being a smartass.  is everything said on an internet message board supposed to be taken literally?

[boojum]

OK, the masters are good.  In digital it can always be made louder.  But your are screwed if it clipped in the original.  Get it??  So just normalize to 98% and let it go.  Normalize a copy.  Do not screw with the masters.  And someone said if the master is not physically in four places it is not safe.  We always practice safe computing. 

I never record hot.  My machinine shows yellow levels when it gets to using the limiter.  So I do not let it get to yellow levels; forget all about the red levels.  I can always raise it in post.  It is kind of like adding salt to soup: you can always add more but it is the Devil's own job to get it out.

Cheers

[3-Fan]

Just remember that the Church 9000 preamp knob is not a gain knob but a volume knob.  So if you don't have the knob cranked all the way to max, the recorder is still seeing the full gain structure just at a lower volume.  Thus maybe why you weren't peaking on your recorder, but possibly still clipping the peaks.

This happened to me once, and then I learned.

[Roving Sign]

In Audacity - dont use "Normalize"

Use "Amplify" - The amplify function will automatically calculate how much gain you need to add to make your highest peak 0db.

In the amplify dialog - make sure the "Dont allow clipping" box is checked.

(note: I havent used version 1.5 yet...so YMMV)

[ilduclo]

OK, the masters are good.  In digital it can always be made louder.  But your are screwed if it clipped in the original.  Get it??  So just normalize to 98% and let it go.  Normalize a copy.  Do not screw with the masters.   It is kind of like adding salt to soup: you can always add more but it is the Devil's own job to get it out.

Cheers

not necessarily! Clipped peaks can be restored very reasonably if the transfer of the original to pc is not done using dc offset correction. After the original is transferred, you can use clip peak restore and it sounds pretty good.

Agree with the normalize to 98%, good there. Also, for sure work with copies, keep a separate original on pc and also at least on a cdr.

good luck!