Anthony Lee Winns Jr. is a longtime technology project manager who has set in place and maintained complex IT networks. A music aficionado, Anthony Lee Winns Jr. enjoys pursuing music production projects in his free time.
One of the fundamentals of creating songs that were recorded using multiple tracks centers on normalizing the sound. This involves changing overall volume to meet specific targets and is distinct from compression, which also alters sound dynamics. A common use is to bring a quiet audio file up to the level of a louder file without impacting the dynamic range.
When there are many audio files at various volumes, normalizing can be essential in matching volumes such that the overall sound is clear and balanced. A track can be unpleasant to the listener if one key element such as drums or bass is too loud or not loud enough.
One method of normalization is peak volume detection, which boosts every track to the loudest volume possible (up to 0 dBFS in digital production). However, as individual tracks often mix soft sections with peak volume sections, RMS volume detection often provides a better way of ensuring natural sound qualities across a range of audio files.
When working to create the best music possible, mixers should remember that normalization results in some loss of sound quality and should be used sparingly.
