Topic: Cool Edit Pro 2.1 settings questions..

[phishn]

Hi,

I have Cool Edit Pro 2.1 and am looking for the ideal settings to do the following....

1. Remove clips.

2. Normalize

The particular source I am working with (recordings from IT) has a couple of clips(fireworks going off, balloons popping) and overall the levels are a little low.  Normalize seems to fail since there are clips.  What are the ideal settings to remove clips and normalize?  Folks here say normalize at 100%, but CEP says something about not all CD players being able to play at 100% and to use 96 %

[Brian Skalinder]

If the clips are from music, you don't you need to normalize.

If the clips are just from the balloons and fireworks, I'd compress those sections - say 10:1 at X dB where X is the loudest music during the same passage.  I know, I know...you'll be missing the dynamic range of those fireworks, they can be pretty cool.    Still, I'd go for the music.

After compressing, I'd add gain across the board to bring your levels back up to 0.

Others may have different ideas about how to address your question.  Sorry, I can't help on the normalization bit as I don't use that function in CE to up my levels.

[phishn]

so i guess the best question is..how do i remove clips and raise the levels the best way?

[Brian Skalinder]

so i guess the best question is..how do i remove clips and raise the levels the best way?

In this case, with only a couple loud spikes in gain causing the clipping, I say...well...my way!  

[phishn]

^^ ok, i used the method above and cut out the clips at -1.  when the levels were raised to 0 db most of the jagged waveform became flat at 0db.  Is this the way it should work?  

[Brian Skalinder]

^^ ok, i used the method above and cut out the clips at -1.  when the levels were raised to 0 db most of the jagged waveform became flat at 0db.  Is this the way it should work?  

Well...compressing 10:1 will make for a relatively flat waveform, but it shouldn't be ruler flat like it would if you just increased gain and forced those waveforms to become sustained overs.

You don't want the waveform cut off flat at 0dB when you increase gain.  The point of the compression is to reduce the levels of your balloons/fireworks so the balloons/fireworks waveforms do not turn into overs when you apply the gain.

I'm confused by what this means:  "cut out the clips at -1" - help me out?

(Wish I had CE here in front of me...won't have it til next week sometime when I get home)

[phishn]

the -1db is where i cut off the clipping...none of the music went higher than that.  not sure where i was in cep2..just did a search on compression and it took me there....  i used -1db , 10:1 ratio, flat, and rasie gain to 0 db..ill let you know what i was in when i get home.  Thanks for your help.

[phishn]

^^ or not necessarily "cut off" the clipping, but add the compression to -1db im guessing.

[Brian Skalinder]

^^ or not necessarily "cut off" the clipping, but add the compression to -1db im guessing.

Okay, I think I know what you mean.  I think you applied the compression to everything higher than -1dB.  Try changing the -1dB to a lower number...say, -12dB.  You can always undo it, but you'll see how it works.  Play around with different numbers.  It *should* reduce the levels of the balloon/fireworks relative to the music before and after.  You can also increase the ration from 10:1 to compress the fireworks/balloons even more, though there isn't a huge difference between 10 or 20 or 999 for this application, I don't think.

Lemme know how it goes...