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Topic: How do I know if a file is normalized ?

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Hi all,

When using the automatic gain function in atomixmp3 with normalized files this can distort the sound.

That's why I'm wondering how to check if a file is normalized or not.

Thanks in advance,
Greetings,
Tom
 

Posted Thu 25 Apr 02 @ 10:44 am
I tend not to use the auto gain function, because even on non-normalized files, it can still distort the sound.

To my knowledge there is no easy way of knowing whether a file is normalized, but there may be a program that will level the maximum peak of the file.

Generally, a normalized file ends up at 97-99% peak volume, so that may be a possible lution. Hope this helps

dj dawson uk ; )
 

Posted Thu 25 Apr 02 @ 11:16 am
GrimmPRO InfinityMember since 2003
What DJ Dawson said is pretty much correct. Unless you open up the audio file in a audio editing software that lets you analyse or visually see where the highest peaks are and at what level they are, you can't really tell. I've seen some files that were heavily amplified, then had a hard limit set to the file. The music sounded really loud, but there were no peaks that were clipping, so in a sense, the file was normalized because no audio clipped. But it really sounded WAY too loud. You just gotta look at the file yourself and make your own decision.

Grimm
 

Posted Thu 25 Apr 02 @ 11:34 am
That sucks... :)

What will happen if I normalize a file which is already normalized ? (will this influence the quality of the mp3-file)

If not, I will normalize all my mp3s.
In this way I won't be needing auto gain anymore ....
Correct ?

Thanks for your quick answers...

Tom
 

Posted Thu 25 Apr 02 @ 12:47 pm
Normalizing a track that is already normalized.. *hmm*
depending on how (with which parameters) you normalize it may or may not effect the quality.

What normalizing really does to a song is to adjust the level of the track so that it is in a specific range (usually somewhere 90-97%).

If you have an MP3 with a VERY low volume and normalize it that would be like cranking up the gain on a bad recording really... all the flaws in the file are amplifed with the song itself so it might make it worse.

Normalizing a song with a fairly reasonable level that falls within the target-range(= level is within the range set to normalize to) of the normalizer would mean that nothing is done.

If the song has a level OVER the target-range probably means that it is maxed out (= a pretty bad encoding). You can improve the sound of it slightly by normalizing but since it was maxed out some sounds would probably be out of range(=too loud) and therefor it would result in clipping when they are lowered...

Visualizing this in Atomix-terms is kinda hard but if we take another example: the frequency-bar-graphs shown in Winamp's built in visualisation or any graph like it.
If it is maxed out and the entire graph is hitting the "top" all the time the only effect normalizing would have would be to lower that top:
it would still hit a certain max-level only that the max-level is lowered slightly so it basically has the same quality.

 

Posted Thu 25 Apr 02 @ 1:42 pm
atriusHome userMember since 2002
I suggest you use a problem called AUTOGAIN.

If you're making a home-made CD just put your tracklist in this program, and let it normalize the tracks for you. This program calculates the gain not by peaks, but by average sound, which is much better. After that, just shut auto-gain off.

And if you just have to use auto-gain : analyze tracks before you play them.
 

Posted Thu 25 Apr 02 @ 6:19 pm


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