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OMT/iMedia Touch - Normalize Cuts

D

ddrop87

Greetings.

We're still on v2.6.

We do not have a house level, ie: 4 stations in one building and not one person saves
production and/or uploads audio at the same level. That's problem 1 which we need to deal with.

I'm working on leveling out the audio chain from studio to engineering then to tx site, leading me to this:

I'm using the playback normalization feature in ON AIR...anyone use, have used, have thoughts on using?

Lastly because our cuts are NOT at a house level in OMT I'm thinking of using the Trim and Normalize feature on
said categories in OMTPROD....1. So we have some sort of common level. 2. So we don't have
to use the Normalize in ONAIR.

Can anyone chime in on this topic?

Any help is appreciated.
 
Or you could post giant signs in your production studios that say "NORMALIZE YOUR FINAL MIX TO 0dB!!!" I've never understood why it's so hard for people to grasp that that's necessary. These people work in radio, they should know better.
 
JoshTheRadioDude said:
Or you could post giant signs in your production studios that say "NORMALIZE YOUR FINAL MIX TO 0dB!!!" I've never understood why it's so hard for people to grasp that that's necessary. These people work in radio, they should know better.
Click to expand...

I would not recommend 0 dB. I would recommend -3 dBfs or 80%.

R
 
Why, when you have control over that at the board? Even in automated situations, you're just leaving room for noise in the chain. You should never have files that peak below 0dB, that's just wasting headroom. Do the volume control elsewhere.
 
JoshTheRadioDude said:
Why, when you have control over that at the board? Even in automated situations, you're just leaving room for noise in the chain. You should never have files that peak below 0dB, that's just wasting headroom. Do the volume control elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Because the nominal level for digital is -15 dBfs. You should calibrate your automation level output using a 1 kHz ref level tone so that -15 dBfs equals 0 dB on an analog board / chain. If you then normalize all your audio files above -3 dBfs, you are in effect overloading your audio chain resulting in clipping and distortion.

R
 
Last edited:
ddrop87 said:
We do not have a house level, ie: 4 stations in one building and not one person saves
production and/or uploads audio at the same level. That's problem 1 which we need to deal with.
Click to expand...

I would check at your local TSC (Tractor Supply Corporation) and see if they sell bull-whips now days. Gives the staff a great incentive to get familiar with whatever standard you decide on in your shop.
 
Robert Bass said:
Because the nominal level for digital is -15 dBfs. You should calibrate your automation level output using a 1 kHz ref level tone so that -15 dBfs equals 0 dB on an analog board / chain. If you then normalize all your audio files above -3 dBfs, you are in effect overloading your audio chain resulting in clipping and distortion.

R
Click to expand...

Or you could simply level your output from the automation to equate 0dBFS with 70% on the board. No overload and it gives you headroom on the fader in case something is too soft. Different ways to skin a cat, sure, but it's a heck of a lot easier to adjust a piece of hardware to get the effect you want than it is to constantly adjust file after file when everything, from music to agency spots, comes to you at 100%.
 
In OMT, the normalization feature in PROD will increase only your peak audio levels to 0db. The normalization should be done during productions; however, if it wasn't, then, yes, go ahead and normalize the entire category and then create new VIS files. You might find, however, that the normalization will not work well on a track that has just one or several high amplitude peaks because only those peaks will be raised to 0db and the rest of the mix will be raised little.

Yes, the playback normalization feature works fairly well (I've seen it used for music mostly). Just make sure that you create VIS files as well. I would start with about 2200 for the "average audio level" entry and then adjust from there. You should enable this feature even if you do normalize during production.

You really should smack your production folks. It's extremely easy to normalize during production, and there's really no reason not to.
 
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