Got this interesting question about normalization in mastering:
Well, if I’ve got a bunch of tracks and I want to get them all in the same range and everything, I make a CD of them using Windows Media Player, then rip the tracks back off the CD. Why? Because Windows Media Player uses Normalization on all the tracks – and they all sound like perfect brothers by the time they hit the CD.
People don’t talk about Normalization much and I’d love to know why not – surely it’s a great shortcut to making things sound sonically similar?
I answered his e-mail but I thought everyone could benefit from the answer.
Normalization is just a way to raise the gain or volume of the track and to make a bunch of tracks sound at the same level. It’s just a volume knob with a fancy-sounding name.
It doesn’t affect compression, EQ or any of the other parts a mastering engineer uses when mastering a song. Having the tracks at the same volume is only the START of the mastering process.
When everything is at the same volume(gain) it’s easier to compare back and forth because if one track is louder it will (subjectively) sound better to you.
Granted, I’m not familiar with what Windows Media Player does to audio exactly, but I’ll hazard to say that it’s up to no good. Using your Windows Media Player probably makes all the songs sound at the same level and very comparable to each other.
But they’re far from being “mastered.”
My advice is this:
Know what you’re doing. Know what your processors are doing. Don’t just push a button and take it on faith. – Click to Tweet!
When I’m mastering I know what every part of my mastering chain is doing since I don’t trust nondescript “make loud feel nice” buttons since I’d like to know exactly what’s being done to my audio.
Bottom line is, it’s better to know what everything is doing instead of pushing buttons and hoping for the best. You also feel smarter, which is always a good thing.
Learn more about mastering with Ian Shepherd’s Mastering with Multi-Band Compression.
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7 Comments on "Why Normalization is NOT Mastering"
Hey, Björgvin, if Windows Media Player is in fact normalizing by the standard definition, then he’s simply lucky that his tracks ended up playing nice with each other. My understanding of normalization is that it raises the loudness of each track so the highest peak in the track is 0 dBFS. It takes into no account the dynamic range of each track or the RMS level.
It may be that WMP is not, however, doing classic normalization. I know that iTunes employs an algorithm called “Levelmatch” which does attempt to match the RMS of the tracks when you dump them to an iPod or play them back on computer speakers.
Thanks for the great posts,
Rob
I understand that normalization is not mastering. My question is whether or not to begin the mastering process with a normalized audio file. Any thoughts? In logic, when you bounce a mix to a stereo file, there is a checkbox for normalizing. I guess I’m curious as to what others are doing with their mix files. Ian Shephard uses a gain plugin early in the mastering signal chain to boost the level going into the EQ, MB comp, limiter, etc. What’s the difference between using a gain plugin vs normalization?
It’s not really helpful to normalize before you’re mastering. I interviewed Ian about and I asked him your question. Check it out here: http://audio-issues.com/mastering/40-minutes-of-exclusive-information-about-home-mastering/
Nailed it … Normalisation is just a technical step
computer speakers that are made by Bose are one of the best but they are quite expensive. I usually use Creative Labs computer speakers. “‘”;.
With appreciation
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“a way to raise the gain or volume” gain it not the same as volume so this is misleading information
Thanks for commenting. I think it’s pretty clear in the context of the article, but you are right.