normalizing audio

Category: Geeks r Us

Post 1 by blake (Zone BBS Addict) on Thursday, 30-Mar-2006 10:36:58

Hi. Does anyone know of a free program for normalizing an audio file? Normalizing means having all sounds at the same volume.
Blake

Post 2 by blink183 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Thursday, 30-Mar-2006 19:13:20

I would recommend using Replay Gain instead of normalization. You can use a replay gain-aware player like Foobar 2000 which can perform the normalization, or you can download the program specific to the file type you are trying to normalize: i.e. mp3gain for MP3s. You can get it from mp3gain.sourceforge.net.

Post 3 by WillieTheWoof (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Friday, 31-Mar-2006 8:23:10

does this program actually change the file or simply look at the files you are playing and normalize the levels?

Post 4 by Wraith (Prince of Chaos) on Friday, 31-Mar-2006 8:34:36

I use Goldwave to do my normalization. It's trial version is more than adequate for this purpose. I set my audio to half dynamic level, then apply my effects, then normalize everything to 0 DB.

Post 5 by guitargod1 (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Friday, 31-Mar-2006 8:58:50

There is a freeware program I came across a few months ago where you can normalize audio. I didn't grab it and don't remember the name off hand but google might help... Keep in mind though that this can really mess with the dynamic range of your audio. Don't do it to music if you can help it! Depending on what this audio is, your better bet would be to load it into sonar or sound forge for example and add a multi band compressor or limiter and things like that so you aren't just pushing up everything to zero db. If you want more advice on this, get in touch with me privately.

Post 6 by blake (Zone BBS Addict) on Saturday, 01-Apr-2006 9:09:20

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
Blake