Output levels... Normalize... leave it?

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Level 1

29 points

Output levels... Normalize... leave it?

I'd like some opinions... As I'm learning how to mix with Logic, I'm finding that I perhaps have a tendency to have track levels to high, resulting in a "overage" at the output channel. I don't hear any clipping, but I'm getting some "red" in the output buss.

I'm recording and bouncing to 24 bit Aiff and then opening the un-dithered stereo tracks with Ozone 4.

Anyhow, In a perfect world I'd mix everything perfectly and everything would just occasionally hit the "yellow'. Then there will be enough headroom for Ozone to work it's magic. I'll get there (hopefully;), but in the meantime...

These "peak" bother me... and I don't really think I want to put any sort of limiter on the output buss for fear of hearing it squish. So..

1. Would I want to normalize? I for some reason have a fear that the normalize algorithm is for emergency only, and is gonna change my beautiful sound to mush. Admittedly, my opinion of "normalize" has been formed more from message boards than my ears;)

2. Or would I just pull down the output fader so the overall mix isn't peaking. Am I gonna lose something doing this?

3. Just leave it, hoping that there is enough built in headroom... and I can pull the input down when I put the file into Ozone.

These aren't long peaks of +6 here... more like occasional +2 or +3's. And like I said, I'm not hearing any distortion... and I can pull the resulting file's input down in Ozone.

Thanks for any help...

Mac Mini 1.83 - 2gig Ram, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Aug 11, 2009 9:38 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 11, 2009 10:00 AM in response to dscorzish

dscorzish wrote:
I'd like some opinions... As I'm learning how to mix with Logic, I'm finding that I perhaps have a tendency to have track levels to high, resulting in a "overage" at the output channel. I don't hear any clipping, but I'm getting some "red" in the output buss.

I'm recording and bouncing to 24 bit Aiff and then opening the un-dithered stereo tracks with Ozone 4.

Anyhow, In a perfect world I'd mix everything perfectly and everything would just occasionally hit the "yellow'. Then there will be enough headroom for Ozone to work it's magic. I'll get there (hopefully;), but in the meantime...

These "peak" bother me... and I don't really think I want to put any sort of limiter on the output buss for fear of hearing it squish. So..

1. Would I want to normalize? I for some reason have a fear that the normalize algorithm is for emergency only, and is gonna change my beautiful sound to mush. Admittedly, my opinion of "normalize" has been formed more from message boards than my ears;)

No. Absolutely not. All you're doing is shifting your peaks to 0dBFS and all other levels in proportion.

2. Or would I just pull down the output fader so the overall mix isn't peaking. Am I gonna lose something doing this?

That's fine. Or you could grab all the track faders and bring down the levels, or add a gain plug-in on your tracks if they have automation which you don't want to disrupt, and bring the levels down across the board by the same value.

3. Just leave it, hoping that there is enough built in headroom... and I can pull the input down when I put the file into Ozone.

No, just don't leave it. You have no headroom for mastering, and you cannot exceed 0 dBFS on your outputs.

These aren't long peaks of +6 here... more like occasional +2 or +3's. And like I said, I'm not hearing any distortion... and I can pull the resulting file's input down in Ozone.

I wrote a short article about some of this which may help you.

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Answer 2

dscorzish Author

Level 1

29 points

Aug 11, 2009 10:18 AM in response to John Alcock

Thanks... I do have automation on these tracks, so the idea of selecting and pulling all of these down is daunting, I didn't think of a "negative" use of a gain plugin... thanks for the article too.

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