Problem with Normalized Gain Scaling

[DougMac]

Dude...

I normalize to 11.

Doug

[Craig Maier]

Quoting Doug:

I normalize to 11.

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So do most record pop record producers today. Take a look at the waveform of some pop records and you shall see.

Craig

[Marc Hildebrant]

Normalize to 11 !

Gad....

Marc

[Brian]

There's a fascinating article on Level Practices in Music Production at:

http://www.digido.com/index.php?opti...id=22&Itemid=2

It's a 2 part article and, if you follow the link at the end of the article to Part II, there's a graphic that shows the wave form of a John Mellencamp hit single from 1999. It fills the measurement window. Absolutely flat on top and on the bottom - no peaks or valleys of dynamic range of any kind. The producer of the cut described it as "light bulb" music - the song starts and all the indicator lights on the VU meters come on! As the author asked, "are we in the business of making square waves?".

The article is quite interesting and documents the trend toward using "K-level" meters and standardizing control room monitor levels.

Brian

[Drew]

If you want to read the book that that article came from, pick up "Mastering Audio, The Art & Science" by Bob Katz, one of the premier mastering engineers of our time.

The "K System" processors are ones he developed himself, much like George Massenberg did with his array of limiters, EQ's, etc.

I have the book and it is fascinating.

Doug, do you also use Dubbly when you normalize???

Drew

[Brian]

Bob, thanks for the tip on the book. I'll check it out.
Brian