Which to use: normalize or gain?

[David Topple]

I did a live multi-track concert recording recently of various singers and instrumentalists, some of whom, for reasons which are irrelevant here, had to be recorded with very low signal levels in case these suddenly increased radically and caused clipping (though as the recordings were 24 bit they're usable). I've now got to edit and mix the whole project and want to have some sensible levels to work with. Nevertheless, I've never been a fan of normalizing WAV files, so I suppose instead of normalizing it's best to use the 'gain' plug-in. Does anybody have views on my best options? Thanks.

[sbag]

gain

[DrFord]

Stay away from Normalize. Without going into the myriad of reasons, it is know to add errors and jitter. Do it by hand... use gain.

[albee1952]

Another thumbs up for GAIN. The only time I have used Normalize in my 6 years of PT was the other day when I recorded some cover stuff off youtube. Since it was already mastered(and then crushed into MP3 format) I normalized each track to 98% so they would be balanced after I burned the tracks onto a CD.

[David Topple]

Returning to this thread from a couple of months ago, I recently read somewhere (I forget exactly where) that even an audio suite 'gain' plug-in will cause minor artefacts in an audio file. If so, can anybody give me information on exactly what artefacts may arise? I've used 'gain' in Pro Tools quite a bit recently, mainly in order to export files as reasonably loud MP3s afterwards so that someone for whom I'm doing some editing can get an idea of the 'work in progress'. I haven't noticed any deterioration when listening to the WAV files with gain applied, even on high-quality headphones.

[barstool719]

I find most artifacts are due to either poor editing or crappy recordings, and have never noticed any from the AS Gain plug. I use it quite a bit for individual region adjustments, but not for mixed tracks to be exported.

somewhat OT:

i dont use the gain plug the same way you do, but ive noticed better overall sound when mixing with the trim plugins instead of the faders.

[The Egg]

+1 for Gain here!

[Will Russell]

Hmmm. I use normalize all the time for tracks that come in too hot from other studios. I normalize peaks to -6dB. Seems to me that normalize is simply a gain change with the computer calculating the amount of gain for you, yes?

I searched back to 2005 and found no posts mentioning "errors and jitter" due to normalizing. Please explain. I'm very interested!

Regarding mixing with the trim faders, you might want to read these:

http://akmedia.digidesign.com/news/d...ixer_49122.pdf
http://akmedia.digidesign.com/suppor..._Box_26689.pdf

All the best,

[Ben Jenssen]

This is just silly.

Of course normalize is just gain or gain reduction based on the highest peak level and where you want that level to be after normalize.

And of course gain increase or reduction will cause rounding errors and such, but in most cases at an insignificant level. If you audiosuite gain a file down by 100db, and then increase by 100db and repeat a few times I guess you will hear distortion after a while, but that's not real world.

[Will Russell]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

This is just silly.

Of course normalize is just gain or gain reduction based on the highest peak level and where you want that level to be after normalize.

And of course gain increase or reduction will cause rounding errors and such, but in most cases at an insignificant level. If you audiosuite gain a file down by 100db, and then increase by 100db and repeat a few times I guess you will hear distortion after a while, but that's not real world.

I completely agree!