Normalize Audio

I also want you to normalize your audio. Normalizing is where we analyze an entire audio region in order to find the single ‘loudest’ sample or moment in the region. Normalizing determines the difference between this sample and some set level. By default, this set level is 0dBFS. The process then determines how much gain to add to the sample to make it equivalent to 0dBFS. The ENTIRE region is then multiplied by this same factor, thereby raising the gain or amplitude of the entire region by that amount.

0dbFS stands for “zero decibels full scale”. In a digital system, that is as loud as any sample can be represented by the digital data. In other words, no sample can be represented as louder. Everything below 0dBFS (i.e. -3dBFS or -12dBFS), references how much dynamic room there is between that moment and the loudest possible representation.

This concept is confusing. By normalizing your audio to some level (whether 0dBFS or -3dBFS), you are not necessarily making your audio region (or track) “sound louder.” Instead, you are multiplying every moment by the same amount, thereby reducing the amount of room between the loudest moment and the loudest possible representation. But you also increase the difference between the softest moment and the softest possible representation.

Furthermore, how loud something is played is entirely reliant on the analog components that audio is eventually played through. The user of these components can change the loudness by affecting the gain of the audio system.

There are times when we want to normalize our audio to adjust the level of the entire sample. In this case, we want to normalize to -1dBFS. By doing so, we are making it so that you do not have to turn your analog audio gain up AS MUCH.

However, even after we normalize, you may notice that your resulting audio does not sound AS LOUD as “professionally produced” music tracks. That is because these tracks are altering the average perceived “loudness” of a track. This average perceived loudness is what makes something seem loud or soft, relatively. We will learn more about this later.

We will normalize as follows (this will change later in the semester).

1. Initial Normalization

Either select “Normalize Items” to normalize a selected region by right-clicking, and selecting it from the “Item Processing” sub-menu.

Alternatively, if you press the “i” at the top right of a region, you can bring up the “item properties” window. There you can press the “normalize button” half way down the window.

2. Gain Amount Applied

Your audio will now be normalized to 0dBFS. You should see how much the gain of the item/region was raised represented in the top-left of the item/region. (Note, in some instances, you will also visually be able to see that amplitude gain was applied to the item/region, as the peaks will be higher.)

3. Reduce Peak to -1.0dBFS

Finally, move your mouse to the top of the audio item/region until you see double-arrow icon as your mouse pointer (it should look like to vertical arrows with a horizontal line). You can then drag click and drag the item gain down to -1.0 dBFS.

Fades

The final thing we are going to do is add a fade-in and fade-out to our audio. A fade, as the term implies, fades the volume, and resulting gain-over-time of an item/region from infinity (i.e. no audible sound, written as -inf, and said as “negative infinity”) or fades an item/region to infinity. The following image demonstrates how the audio amplitude is multiplied smoothly over time, from infinity to the desired amplitiude.

Add a Fade With Your Mouse

To easily add a fade-in in Reaper (or conversely, fade-out), move your mouse near the left-upper-most corner of an audio item/region. You will see your mouse pointer change to a fade-in (or fade-out) icon.

Once you see the fade-mouse-pointer-icon, you can click and drag to the desired length.

{ NOTE: } For fade-in, I would suggest between 0.25 and 3 seconds. For fade-out, I would suggest between 1 and 5 seconds. For this assignment specifically.

After applying a fade-in/out, you should listen to it, and adjust the length based on what you determine the appropriate length should be.