Topic: Normalize, Hard Limit, or Raise Gain

[delpy88]

I just tapes my first show. I used CA-14's> Sony PCM-M10 Mic in.  I left my preamp on during the week, for got check the battery before I left and found my battery was dead once I got to the show (rookie mistake).  Overall I am pleased with how my recording sounds, but I want to raise the levels.  About midway through the show I adjusted my levels up because I was nervous I was running a little low.  About at the 48 minute mark.  How would I go about adjusting the levels for the entire show up?  I have not done any post work before and am using Audition.  If I Normalize, I believe that will only take the peaks from the louder part of the show and keep the pre-48 minute section quiet.  I am still trying to figure out Hard Limiting and how it works, so I was just going to raise the gain on first part up to 48 mins and then the part after I raised my levels at the show. Any suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6568/39730612.jpg

[live2496]

The ear is the best judge of these things. I would say raise the level of the first 48 minutes so that it sounds like the rest of the program. How you do this is going to depend upon your software. Some can do this non-destructively giving you a way to preview the audio before committing to any change.

Gordon

[Cheesecadet]

FWIW, many folks around here would say your levels were fine before you bumped them up...especially if recording in 24-Bit.  Get friendly with the volume envelope feature.  Audition allows for non-destructive editing so you can play around with it and always go back and try again if you don't get it right the first few times.

Personally I never normalize my recordings.  I generally will use the amplify gain and hard limit features when I am mastering my shows.  Keep in mind you will introduce compression if you are trying to boost the gain over 0dB while utilizing the hard limit feature.  I use it sparingly. 

When I record I generally like to keep my levels around -10dB with peaks around -6dB.  Sems to work well for me but everyone is different and I'm sure others will chime in.

Just my .02

[Redrock]

When I record I generally like to keep my levels around -10dB with peaks around -6dB.  Sems to work well for me but everyone is different and I'm sure others will chime in.

Just my .02

After a few recordings, that is what I've found too.