I've got a bunch of crap takes and no idea what I'm doing...

[thisnameistaken]

Recorded a bunch of tracks with my band yesterday, but on the brass parts the levels are all over the place and I'm going to have to patch a few takes together to get a good track. Is it bad to do some normalisation to get the levels right from take to take, or is there something else I should do instead?

I've got whatever comes with Pro Tools M-Powered 7.3 at my disposal, and no previous experience of mixing anything, but I do have plenty of trial n' error time available.

[maxrossell]

Ther's nothing wrong with normalisation as long as you don;t clip anything and the tracks are clean, but if you're talking about a single take where some parts are louder than others, you could try some compression.

[thisnameistaken]

It's more a matter of getting the levels right from take to take, because there's no one take that doesn't have a big mistake in it. Unfortuantely I've got about 30 takes per tune to rummage through and find the good bits in... And probably re-arrange and generally make better. I'm not hugely concerned about quality, they're rough demos, but I do have to use the tracks from this session because everybody's going away for christmas now.

I did some googling last night and everybody was saying normalisation is a mug's game, which is what worried me. Do those people just get perfect recordings out of everyone all the time?

[cheddatom]

I don't know what sort of normalisation you're talking about. I do this kind of turd polishing a lot though. If I have a lot of CPU power available, I keep each take on a seperate track. Then cut out the bits from each track I don't want. Then use the mixer to level them out. If I dont have the CPU power, I will cut them all up, but then when done move them all onto one track. If the levels are out I sort that by adjusting the gain of each individual cut.

[SteveO]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='684151' date='Dec 14 2009, 05:40 PM']I did some googling last night and everybody was saying normalisation is a mug's game, ...[/quote]

sounds a bit odd, as that's what happens with every track anyway, i.e. balancing the volume to mix with the rest if the tracks.

I'd just get on with it, normalise all the brass tracks then chop and paste as you see fit. Who cares if its 'not what the pros do' as long as it sounds right.

[Huge Hands]

In my experience, normalisation not only "stretches" the quiet music signal to an average level, but also stretches the noise floor.

I have used normalisation to good effect on several band demo tracks to good effect, but on some the noise in the quiet bits is too obvious and distracting.

I would imagine a lot of pro engineers use normalisation, so I don't know why it is a "mug's game". Probably the hi-fi snobs talking there!

Obviously, over use of it can cause loss of dynamics, introduce distortion (as other have mentioned) and in some cases totally change a sound.

However, this isn't always a bad thing, you might get some good effects from it!

For me, sound is subjective and experimentation should always be the key (always keep copies of the originals so you can start again of you go too far!)

For people to just dimiss it like that is a bit closed minded as far as I am concerned.

Again, just IMHO!

Edited December 15, 2009 by Huge Hands

[cheddatom]

Normalisation can mean bringing the peak level of a wave up to a set level. It can also mean reducing the dynamic range of a wave. I'm not sure what you're on about here. Either way when sticking together performances you're better off doing it manually IMHO.

[longtimefred]

im not really clued up with recording brass parts but i guess its the same as any audio signal once its in pro tools eh! Could you not find the peak of the best level take you have and get the compressor to match that? sorry if that sounds a bit noobish.

[ironside1966]

There is no quick fix the best results will be gained INHO from compression and automation
But if the volume changes are in the context of the song don’t be tempted to flatten all the waves out only to put them back with automation, use compression on a group track to help bond them together

Edited December 15, 2009 by ironside1966

[thisnameistaken]

Some good advice in here, thanks everybody. I'll try putting some of it into practice tonight.