Normalizing in SF and high volume in Vegas -Sound Forge - PC

Subject:Normalizing in SF and high volume in Vegas Posted by: vitalforces Date:2/16/2005 10:44:04 AM As a non-pro sound guy (meaning a writer-director who reads a lot of books and does editing & color correction in Vegas) who's putting together a rough cut of a DV feature for festival submissions, can anyone comment on whether this is my error or just ignorance of a normal process: I do initial sound correction in Vegas 5 (equalizing, noise reduction, compression), then go to Sound Forge so that I can use its Normalize feature. When I take the normalized audio and put it back on the timeline in Vegas, it triggers the "clip" message on the VU meters like crazy. I presume I'm simply just supposed to lower the master volume control in the Vegas project until no clipping occurs, and happily render on. But am I missing a process or setting along the way? I am using the Normalize plug-in's preset for "voice" which defaults to RMS and not peak signals. .
Subject:RE: Normalizing in SF and high volume in Vegas Reply by: Chienworks Date:2/16/2005 11:14:27 AM How about simply lowering the level that it is normalizing to in Sound Forge by a dB or two as necessary?
Subject:RE: Normalizing in SF and high volume in Vegas Reply by: Chienworks Date:2/16/2005 11:22:02 AM Another thought occurs ... presumably you've got the volume on the Vegas track turned up while you're working on that track. When you bring the normalized version back in from Sound Forge, do you put it on the same track? If so, then the volume would be too high now. If you're using the master volume controls to compensate for the audio pre-normalization, are you setting them back to normal after bringing in the normalized version?
Subject:RE: Normalizing in SF and high volume in Vegas Reply by: vitalforces Date:2/16/2005 11:22:29 AM I'll try that. Just needed a reality check. I am fascinated by audio but can see that it's a whole field of human endeavor by itself.
Subject:RE: Normalizing in SF and high volume in Vegas Reply by: vitalforces Date:2/16/2005 11:27:41 AM Replying to your afterthought, Chienworks: I am putting the normalized audio on a new track, but for a master "setting" I had just double-clicked on the master volume controls originally (in Vegas) and left it at that. The double-click puts the controls about 2/3 of the way up the vertical slider in the GUI, but by all means I'll just adjust till it falls under the clipping 'ceiling.' Thanks again for your thoughts on this.
Subject:RE: Normalizing in SF and high volume in Vegas Reply by: vitalforces Date:2/16/2005 11:31:28 AM P.S. When we started shooting the exteriors of the film I had a new sound crew--a DAT expert and his boom operator. I told him I believed that audio is so important that it's at least half the value of a film. I thought he was going to kiss me. Not that there's anything wrong with that.... .
Subject:RE: Normalizing in SF and high volume in Vegas Reply by: spiderlegs Date:2/24/2005 4:18:13 PM Why are you normalizing the track so soon in your recording process? I mean, unless the sound is really low (which you'd be better off re-recording the track), don't worry about normalizing until after you've mixed the other tracks, otherwise, you're sort of adding an extra step, especially if you're mixing it first (which is what it sounded like--forgive me if I'm wrong), normalizing, then mixing again. You'll muddy up your sound AND get clipping that way...IMO.

Subject:Normalizing in SF and high volume in Vegas

Posted by: vitalforces

Date:2/16/2005 10:44:04 AM

As a non-pro sound guy (meaning a writer-director who reads a lot of books and does editing & color correction in Vegas) who's putting together a rough cut of a DV feature for festival submissions, can anyone comment on whether this is my error or just ignorance of a normal process:

I do initial sound correction in Vegas 5 (equalizing, noise reduction, compression), then go to Sound Forge so that I can use its Normalize feature. When I take the normalized audio and put it back on the timeline in Vegas, it triggers the "clip" message on the VU meters like crazy. I presume I'm simply just supposed to lower the master volume control in the Vegas project until no clipping occurs, and happily render on. But am I missing a process or setting along the way? I am using the Normalize plug-in's preset for "voice" which defaults to RMS and not peak signals.
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