Normalising......Good or bad?

[jasedee]

Hi,

Well, I asked my lecturer about it, but didn't really get the response I was looking for.

The general vibe I got was that there is indeed a time and a place for normalising, but in most circumstances people use it as a tool to try and fix a mistake of recording at too low a level. In digital audio, the clearest and most precise audio is that nearest to 0dBFS, where our full 24bits are utilized. anything below that is apparently "out of focus", and normalising is an attempt to push our audio up to where all of our Bits are working for us. Michael Paul Stavrou's book, "mixing with your mind" goes into this theory in great detail, and outlines the difference between digital and analogue recording (with cool little diagrams too).

I will endevour to uncover the awful truth about normalising.....Maybe we need to speak to a mastering engineer?

Cheers,

jase