Should You Be Normalizing Your Audio?

[@jamesrossmusic6013]

Good advice... I was normalizing all the time on my final mix file.

[@rauldude5698]

I was just having that noise floor problem with my dialogue. This video cleared everything up for me. Thank you so much. Your content is awesome. Super informative

[@GoodLuckChum]

the video is 3:55 BUT it took me so much longer to understand it because I had to keep looking things up. The video is so compact, but there is so much information in here! Thank you so much for this!

[@JimMetzendorf]

I'm a podcast editor and agree 100% with your best practices for normalization. What I like to do with dialogue tracks is loudness match them all to -23LUFS as part of a file prep process that also includes mouth de-clicking, and mild noise reduction using iZotope RX.

[@robertulrich3964]

I agree. I used to use RMS but you can use lufs even before finalizing

[@michael_baron]

Am I getting this right, you normalise the input and not the final output? Why this way round?

[@JimMetzendorf]

Michael Baron I always do both. I level match the input files to -23 LUFS so I have a consistent starting point for each track. I mix and master to -18 LUFS for final podcast distribution.

[@nathaniel_eras]

Thanks for the refresher on the subject and getting directly to the point.

[@xander_amestri]

Thanks dude, i've been normalising my voice-over this whole time and it was definitely doing more damage then good!

[@TheWhyteKnyte]

Wanted to say thanks for the variety in terms of in depth and surface level content. These shorter videos are a bit easier for beginners like me to consume and learn before trying to really listen in on your longer content.

[@justarsenio4308]

Maaaaaannnn Alex, you are a life saver! I’ve been using normalize to -.01 DB on all my dialogue tracks 😭😭. Thanks for giving some clarity on what it does and best/worst use case!

[@HiddenCali]

You are the best. Hoping you are doing well.

[@TheSeeminglySane]

Thank you yet again, as i dive into this world of editing your information has been of amazing value.

[@shuaibvp]

This is good stuff. But I see a lot of tutorials using normalization for dialogues. Now I'm confused. Could you share your workflow on dialogue tracks . TIA

[@TimothyJohnRGR]

This is by far the best and simplest advice i've heard on the subject. Thank you!

[@AlOne-xg6dv]

A really good explaination of this tool with real cases presented. Thanks.

[@D4Darious]

Good stuff Bruh-bruh

[@AffanTaj]

Legend commenting on a video of another legend! I learn from you both!

[@frugal10191]

Thank you, that was very useful. I had never really understood where normalisation came in the workflow. In a related note, what is your take on "Loudness", specifically how do you prepare your videos to meet KZbin loudness requirements?

[@remektekmedia6641]

Excellent information - stuff that I would not have thought of! Learnt a lot, thanks.

[@cheqreligion]

Thankyou for the help I have a question Why do some vocals don’t want to normalize?

[@mysteradio]

well-presented info. thank you.

[@psalmsinthekeyofchrist8246]

Excellent tutorial, thanks...

[@createed692]

As an audience, I will like peak-normalisation as a secondary volume control knob to avoid getting shocked by sudden Loud spikes when watching a movie. Normalisation knob for the centre speaker for some movies with unintelligible dialogue and RMS-normalisation knob for the surround speakers. That's from my understanding of your explaination. Now I have to search for video playback software using a computer. Probably post-production video editing software... I don't do production though.

[@bodarville6527]

Thank you, this clears up a lot for me!

[@tommyzai7038]

Absolutely! There is no legitimate reason not to . . . normalize all audio to Peak. I use -1dB. Then adjust levels. Why leave a wimpy or inconsistent level? It blows my mind that some major DAWs do not have a normalize feature.

[@justnotg00d]

Confused. One person says never use a gate, another says to use it. One says to normalize, one does not. Who do you go by?

[@axk]

It really does depend on what you’re trying to do and why you’re doing it. You should definitely use a gate….IF it makes sense. Just like you should DEFINITELY NOT normalize everything….unless you need to. At the end of the day, there are 1000 different ways to work with audio and none of them are “right” or “wrong”. But there are some guidelines that help get you where you need to go faster and easier, and that’s what I’m trying to share from the major studio/professional perspective.

[@painlesstragedy]

to be honest perfectly honest you should NOT be normalizing your audio in fact if your mic is setup perfectly it will AUTO NORMALIZE YOUR AUDIO. If you Flat Line you'll get noise even with a Noise Gate device or Iolator in fact Gain is what causes Noise if your equipment is setup right your volume should be around 70% with like a 10% gain boost ((Remember what I said about gain tho)) on your Line input Mic Channel 1/2 and your quality should match your recorder 192000 khz, 24 or 32 bit. If you see a Volume Wave in live recording with no hiss or buzz or noise than your good. If still problem with noise well I use a Pyle Noise Isolation DI Box. Works like a Charm...

[@johnnydee7480]

The video I’m secretly waiting for you to make would be. A Rode videomic NTG using USB into final cut using the voiceover option and applying all types of stuff to make a dialogue sound good. I like using that option because it’s super quick in my basement studio.

[@MoCo_Filmmaker]

Always learning from your videos!

[@raqeemstudios]

well explained! subscribed! btw you look like serj tankian from SOAD :)

[@hiawrj]

External .wav recording vs internal .aac camera recoreing in regards to audio quality and dynamic range if preamps and everything else is equal. Struggling with which to use, it's nice to not have to sync.

[@seipslix]

Hey Alex! I really like your videos! I would like to know what you think about the loudness normalization for example in davinci resolve with the EBU R128 standard. I don´t know what to think about stuff like that. On the one hand it is important to get the loudness correct for youtube for example but like you said in the video it can destroy your whole mix if you are doing it on the wrong parts... cheers from Germany!

[@nerdtv3636]

ALEX...YOU GAVE US THE INFORMATION WE WANTED BACKWARDS....GIVE US THE ANSWER QUICKER THEN EXPOUND

[@evrkm]

Great video as usual. Quick question totally unrelated, what is the fader board you are using with your DAW and that we see in your back ground?

[@loalex937]

Nice video!

[@wdhowlet]

These are so helpful!

[@rathuone3001]

Please answer sir should we amplify first nd denoise later or denoise first and amplify later? I'm confused which gives better results? Are there presets available for parametric equaliser I find it difficult to do tweak it manually

[@hiawrj]

Yes please tell me also :p

[@robertulrich3964]

In most daw, amplify is 100% reversable so it doesn't matter what order you go in although for me I do it towards the beginning to easily see the visual wave forms

[@rathuone3001]

@@robertulrich3964 thanks but if I denoise first and amplify later noise gets amplified

[@radiozelaza]

how about normalizing audio for KZbin? any tips?

[@sethholston6128]

I feel like once I had software with the option to normalize I used it often. These days it’s rare that I use it for the type of work I do.

[@HiteshKumar-nx5wc]

Sir, I loved your video.! But I have a question to you. Please help me out. Should I normalize my audio. I am a teacher and I create educational KZbin videos ? And I use boya M1 mic.

[@baxterfanboy9116]

When I edit audio in Audacity (like a song from my favorite band for example) can normalization be a good method to prevent clipping?

[@brazickofficial443]

thanks again for a great video, but I have a question to ask, every time I mount lav on someone I have clothes move rattle or some different destruction, is there a way to handle that except tape and is it a known issue or im just doing it terribly wrong?

[@rlarkdgh]

Hi, Alex. I wonder what kind of a speaker stands youre using? Im looking for something thats not gonna take away all the space but bold at the same time.

[@selvakumarrajendran9872]

I’m just starting out and your videos greatly helps ! I just need your opinion on Rode NTG-5 , as this is the mic I can afford at the moment . Is it any good in its range ?

[@jochemknoef]

Situation: I want to make a more clear distinction between the writing process and mixing the song I wrote. Let's say I have a song with a variety of transients and ambience. I think of printing/bouncing all the ingredients of the song I am done writing with, so I make stems out of them to really start mixing. Should I normalize the audio when bouncing the stems? I understand this will throw off my mix balance I had during writing, but that's okay, I didn't start mixing at that point yet. Thoughts? :D

[@dariolance7637]

Hey Alex, I can´t load any of the audio previews on your website. It always says "Unable to load file".

[@axk]

Well that’s not good! What browser are you using?

[@dariolance7637]

@@axk Just standard google chrome. It's probably the file format. Just export it in a different one and try out, if that works.

[@anyuisbjoern]

What is this LUFS and true peak?

[@WaynePryce]

So everything but voice gets normalized?

[@ralphbullis40]

Great

[@SalawuIbrahim]

Hey Alex, if you make a course for a million dollars it'll be totally worth it! Please make it affordable so we can access it when you do. I feel it coming, you rock!

[@robertulrich3964]

Some people use lufs for normalizing and there are standards for KZbin and theater.

[@TheOrignalCarpe]

I would have thought as you are promoting an audio channel, you would sort your own audio, unless of course KZbin's processing is causing the issue. A little constructive criticism, take out a touch around 5k to remove a little of the sibilance. (SPTF)

[@Joshua-iz1go]

Nothing about my audio is normal anyway

[@davegreen7853]

Ok actual proof these people know nothing , some say normalise dialog, not the music, he is saying the opperisit. Others say don't normalise every track. KZbin is just out to fuck you over, You have to watch at least 20 different peoples versions and test what they say against each other until you work out the facts.Lufs do not get me started on Lufs !

[@blueorb4151]

thank you random bald man