Topic: Do you normalize?

[Bdifr78]

Ok so I am just curious.  Do most of you normalize your recordings before tracking/burning/seeding?

I understand what it does and what the pros and cons are for the quality of the recording, but I am just wondering what most people do and what people's opinions are about this.

Thanks,
Joe

[jeromejello]

if i am going to seed it, i try not to... most people prefer the wav to be unaltered for bt's

for personal use... its whatever makes you happy.

[blu666z]

Normalizing doesn't do anything to the 'quality' correct?  It only raises the overall level.

-Keivn

[lordbelial]

I guess it's better to "masterize" a little your recording before tracking, seeding or even trading.

I use to raise a few db one of the two channels to have them at the same levels, then I apply a parametric eq., L3 multimaximizer and a high limiter. Believe me, the sound quality increases.

Anyway, I use to keep the whole wav unmastered, for if requested.

[noahbickart]

I tend to ride the levels closely at the beginning of the show, keeping peaks as close to 0db as possible. When I suceed, there is no need to normalize. However, if I ever, for whatever reason, have a show where the peaks are down 6db or more I normalize. Any digital artifacts that result from normalization are bound to be less bothersome than noise during playback anyway.

-Noah

[Kevin Straker]

I try to keep my levels high as I record the show, so I usually don't normalize. The only time I use it is when I know that the cd will be used in a portable cd  player or my car.

[macacopowa]

I usually normalize, and I am happy with the result 

[rocksuitcase]

I NEVER normalize.  I will raise the gain of an entire recording to 0.1 dB.  I rarely do any song to song gain changes, but have done so with recordings that warrant it.  For crowd originated spikes, I usually draw the line where the clapping or whistling I want to reduce is in between songs I will do it( alter levels), if it is during the music, I will not.

[greenone]

I do, but sparingly...only if the original recording has really low levels (like Noah said).

A question for those of you who DO normalize...I see a lot of info files that say something like "normalized to 97%" - why is this? Why not go all the way to 100%?

[lordbelial]

Well, anyone tapes, records and masterizes as they want. BUt I think it's better to record slightly down, so you are prevented from CLIPPING.

You can always rise the levels, normalize, compress, or whatever you want. But I never record at the limit of clipping, because If my record gets distorted, It's a mess, and It hardly can be restored from this clipping. Otherside, a low recorded show can be raised to 0 db. SO you can enjoy w/o clipping.

[Ed.]

i always run my v3 hot, probably get between 4-5 clips a show, nothing major, just a quick clip and i've never once noticed it in playback.

edit:  not to mention, normalizing is just an extra step in post that i'd prefer not to do.

[Unitmonster]

I always normalize to 0db afterward.  Never noticed any negative results from doing so (no noticeable noise floor or anything).  Out of curiosity, what's an L3 Multimaximizer and what does it do?

[keepongoin]

before i got the v3, i had no idea how hot or cold my levels really were on the JB3... so i would then, but not that i own a V3, i have yet to normalize any recordings.

[JackoRoses]

i always run my v3 hot, probably get between 4-5 clips a show, nothing major, just a quick clip and i've never once noticed it in playback.

edit:  not to mention, normalizing is just an extra step in post that i'd prefer not to do.

I tend to ride hot myself with the v3.
I get the peak indicator going throughout the show.Yet afterwards when I run the gain feature of wavelab it generally shows 0db as the top peak. I wish there was another indicator showing +1db or something on the v3 so I know if I am really over or just hitting 0.
Unless I am running conservative, I don't increase the gain on the recording.
I have had to do it only once so far.

[BC]

If my music peaks are are @ -3dB or less I will run the waves ultramaximizer, and note it in the txt file.