[MPA] Sound Level of tracks

[John McDaniel]

On Feb 12, 2007, at 12:34 PM, Scott Jacob Loehr wrote:

> For even more control of levels within a song, I import the songs  
> into Digital Performer (my DAW MIDI/Audio sequencer/recorder of  
> choice), and use volume automation to increase the volume on the  
> soft parts and pull back the volume on the loudest parts.

[snip]

> With most studio mixes, I'll find the loudest peaks and transients  
> within a song and reduce them by a few decibels in Digital Performer.

Save yourself the time and trouble by getting a high quality limiter/ 
compressor and learning how not to overuse/abuse it.

Unless you can perform a normalize function with the added feature of  
an adjustable headroom, it's not a wise choice in many circumstances.  
Simple normalization will do nothing toward evening out the perceived  
volume of disparate tracks. IF the normalization algorithm takes RMS  
values into account, you _might_ get some satisfaction regarding  
volume balancing.

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John McDaniel
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