Re: Head room and amplification after recording

[Dan Dugan <>]

John V. Moore, you wrote,

>I normalize to 90% when I am getting recordings ready for a 
>publication. This gives me a starting standard and makes most cuts 
>"listenable" without having to change the volume for each.

Well, OK, but I don't recommend normalizing anything. Normalizing is 
based on peak level, which has little relationship to loudness. 
Loudness is what you want to balance, at least when mastering music.

In the case of nature sounds, we want natural perspective. It doesn't 
make any sense to turn up quiet ambience recordings. They're supposed 
to be quiet. You wouldn't turn up the quiet movement of a symphony so 
it peaked to the same level as the finale!

-Dan Dugan


________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________