why do you normalize your recordings?

[andromedanwarmachine]

perhaps pulling back to the core question;

the purpose of normalisation is to present an even and sensible level of program material, either to playback on any system safely, or act upon with further post production signal processes which will not be complicated by dynamic peaks.

As I understand it...

JimP

[ashevillain]

perhaps pulling back to the core question;

the purpose of normalisation is to present an even and sensible level of program material, either to playback on any system safely, or act upon with further post production signal processes which will not be complicated by dynamic peaks.

As I understand it...

JimP

That sounds more like RMS normalization. Peak normalization does not affect the dynamics.

[morst]

I used to raise peak levels in Audacity to just under -0.2dB peaks using the Amplify effect, but now I use hard limiting and sometimes even multiband compression in Digital Performer.

Live shows with peaks near 0dBfs don't play back as loud as studio or other mastered recordings with average levels raised up. I try not to squash the music, but if you're willing to squeeze the occasional snare drum hit or bass guitar fart, you can get a LOT more playback level out of your recordings. Another byproduct of this is that crowd sounds don't stand out as much after limiting, as you're raising the level of the music but not the crud! 

[audBall]

I used to raise peak levels in Audacity to just under -0.2dB peaks using the Amplify effect, but now I use hard limiting and sometimes even multiband compression in Digital Performer.

Thanks for bringing this up.

Can you elaborate on what exactly you're doing when using these?  My limited (no pun intended) experience with them generally ends up in quick confusion.  I have some recordings that could definitely benefit something like this and probably end up taking much less time versus editing each section independently.  I use Audition and it appears to have a HL and MC.

[Shadow_7]

I use hard limiting to quiet the audience clapping if it's not that different from the content.  I also use it to tame the over jealous drummer who has to hit the very last note (and others) 3x's louder than any other sounds in the entire set.  I don't do much of that other stuff.  But I do do a highpass and lowpass filter to ensure that the remaining frequencies fall within the specs of the speakers that I most use.  Depending on the content and location.  And I do that before resampling from 24/192.  Which does wonders for the perceived noise floor.  And the visible one in the waveform.  While most mics spec from 20Hz to 20kHz, they actually pick up and transmit frequencies well outside that range in most cases.  Which, if only in perception allows for those beyond human hearing frequencies to be accurately filtered off when sampling at such a high sampling rate.

[phanophish]

Why not just turn up the gain on your playback???

Sometimes, the playback system has a limited amount of gain available...

This

[morst]

I used to raise peak levels in Audacity to just under -0.2dB peaks using the Amplify effect, but now I use hard limiting and sometimes even multiband compression in Digital Performer.

Can you elaborate on what exactly you're doing when using these?

Barely. I'm just learning but my buddy digtalist0ne has some tricks in his sleeves, and I'm starting to get the hang of it. All plugins sound different, so make sure you actually like the ones you're using. The Masterworks limiter & the multiband are adequate, but it would not be unreasonable to spend thousands on software to emulate classic gear costing hundreds of thousands!

While most mics spec from 20Hz to 20kHz, they actually pick up and transmit frequencies well outside that range in most cases.  Which, if only in perception allows for those beyond human hearing frequencies to be accurately filtered off when sampling at such a high sampling rate.

some people can hear beyond that too. Wonder if your bandpass limiting is audible to them? If we get bionic ears, or direct brain implants, you'll want that stuff back, so save the masters!