Basic audio question about attenuation

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Phil Gosselin

-Do you normalize or not?

Under normal circumstances with a good recording, no.
Sometimes, yes.
Despite internet rumors to the contrary, normalization does not change the signal to noise ratio. It may make the noise floor more audible, so would any other method of turning up the volume of that track.

And that's the point - it's just a volume control. In typical peak normalization, the clip will be scanned, the highest peak will be found. Then, a volume setting is computed and applied that will raise the highest peak to a pre-determined level. Sometimes you can assign that level, depending on the particular NLE or DAW or filter you're using.

E.g. for a multitrack recording where I've recorded one track out of 16 too low to work with easily on the timeline, maybe I can't see a good waveform display, a quick normalize to -9db will get me in the ballpark. But this is no different than manually finding the loudest peak and turning up the track gain or clip envelope so that peak hits -9 on playback. I'd use normalize because it's quick.

So much for track normalizing. Final mixes may be normalized as well, typically to adjust peak level for different distribution requirements. This is less common, I think, but the method always made sense to me.

Originally Posted by Phil Gosselin

(how to make mono?) A) Duplicate the layer and put one on the left and the other on the right OR combine the channels to it get to be "stereofied" instantly? To be honest I don't hear any difference...

If you do it right, there isn't much of a difference.

Neither method is optimal... duplicate layers use up more workspace and can slip out of sync, or you might miss the 2nd track when cutting picture. Combining channels to create dual-channel mono (not "stereofied"!) can work fine until you have some noise on the quiet channel, or perhaps a camera mic that you really didn't want mixed in. Then you end up with a noisier track.

The best method varies between different NLEs. On some, you would select clip properties, channels, mono, from left channel only. On others, channels, sources, L from Ch. 1, R from Ch. 1.

This is assuming your good track was Ch. 1 - Left in the original recording.

[Phil Gosselin]

Thank you Seth, your time is greatly appreciated and your explanation illuminating.

I too am a Vegas user, is there a way to set the normalize level in it?

Thanks again

[Rick Reineke]

A mono track is all that's wanted from your G3 recordings into Vegas, and would be typically panned to center (which is the default for a 'mono event') Right-click the event and choose "Channel" reveals the contents menu: 'Left', 'Right' or 'Both', choose the track with the 'good' audio.. if dual-mono, choosing either/or, yields a less cluttered TL and really no quality difference.
You can peak-normalize the 'event' by right-clicking the event and choosing "Properties> Normalize> Recalculate".
The master buss (or subsequent rendered audio file) could be normalized via a plug-in or done manually with the usual tools.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Like Rick said...

In Vegas Pro: The key sequence is: right-click on an event, Switches | Normalize.

To change this default normalize level, select Options | Preferences | Audio | Normalize Peak Level

As per Rick, you'd need a Normalize filter (sony doesn't provide this) to normalize at a media, track, bus, or master level. Those last three would be more typical of shortcutting the setting of peak level for a distribution. I've had very good luck with various free VST filters downloaded from the net...

[Phil Gosselin]

Thank you both.

I just received my H5 yesterday and for it's price it is a pretty nifty recorder. Time for experimentation!

Now, one thing that has been bugging me for a while. Is there an audio FX's/tweaks equivalent to Levels and Color Curves?

I know that this is case by case but let's assume that I did a shoot and the sound is fine but a little more "oomph" wouldn't hurt. Are there in quick and cheap ways (in Vegas) to make it nicer, much like the Levels and Color Curves for the visual?

Thanks

[Rick Reineke]

There's plenty of plug-ins that come with Vegas Pro as well as many, many free and pay-for plug-ins are available. Vegas supports both DX and VST audio plug-ins. Frequency equalizers (aka, EQ) and compressor-limiters are the most common for audio post. Knowing how to use these are another story, most have pre-sets which can be a good starting point.
Not sure what you mean by "oomph".. but I would equate it to 'punch', low-mid frequencies around 100-300Hz.

[Paul R Johnson]

The audio version is really dynamics and compression, and there are plenty of flavours, so again experimenting. Just be aware that many people have problems hearing compression until it's really OTT. Gentle compression just keeps it to the front, but once you go mad, then all sorts of nasty artefacts creep in. Many people automatically dial in a few D&b of compression and set a particular release, while other like me do it only when it needs it