1

I have some tracks - not music.

When I look at the curves of the clips, they look to be of the same level. I want to normalize them at a specific peak level, say -6 dB. But I get very different results, as one of the audio files, may have one tiny peak, that goes a few dB above the rest.

When I do a "Normalize" in Audition, the files then do not end up being at the same level, as apparently, the build-in Normalize function in Audition, apparently applies to the max peak at any given point, in the audio file. Which of course screws up the levels, across many files, when normalizing.

I wonder if there's a trick or a VST plugin, that can actually do what I need - normalize by the average max level, and not taking into account, one or two tiny peaks in the audio.

As I'm working on hundreds of files, I don't really wanna spend time on using hard limiter, compressors or similar, as I for once really don't know how to properly use these, and because each file is around an hour long. But I'm open for suggestions. Also, many of these peaks, I can't really see. But they must be there, since a normalization doesn't give the same result, across files.

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

So here is how I solved this - thanks to Mark, for pointing me in the right direction.

In Audition, in "Window", enable "Amplitude Statistics" window. Then select the entire clip, or at least a big part of the loudest parts of the clip. In "Amplitude Statistics", click on "Scan selection". it will give you a lot of info about the scanned selection. In the buttom, it will say ITU-R BS.1770-3 Loudness: -xx,xx LUFS., where the x is the value found by the scan.

Say the value found was -11,38 LUFS. And you want to adjust the clip to -14 dB (YouTube and streaming platforms). You then have to lower the value, by -2,62 dB, for the entire clip.

Click Ctrl+A to select the entire clip. The quickest and dirtiest way to lower the entire clip, is the small HUD, that is always present over the top audio track. It has a spiller wheel, and a +0dB value. Click on the "+0", and it will change to a text input field. just write "-2,62", and hit [Enter]. You can also raise or lower the dB via "Effects" -> "Amplitude & Compression" -> "Amplify".

This entire process only takes a minute longer, than by using "Normalize", and the difference, or should I rather say lack of difference of volume level across clips, is zero! Although two separate clips can look far apart in volume level, by looking at the curves, they are now perfectly levelled!

Improve this answer
1

we don't normalize audio by peak level any more. We use Loudness - LUFS/EBU128 strategies.

Improve this answer
2
  • There's a free and opensource tool to do loudness normalization in batch mode : freelcs.sourceforge.net
    – audionuma
    Oct 1, 2022 at 6:29
  • Although Mark only gave little clue on how to solve this, it was still something I could use. I first tried a few plugins, that I found out via a Google search, supported this approach of adjusting sound by LUFS level. But these worked very slow, and were also expensive plugins. But I then remembered I've seen that LUFS value in a build-in tool of Audition, called Amplitude Statistics. It's a (very) quick scan of an audio file, that provides info, like Total RMS - and ITU-R 1770-3 loudness in LUFS. So I basically run that, then boost or lower the clip, so all files are equal in LUFS.
    – Akyhne
    Oct 2, 2022 at 8:04

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.