Normalizing drum samples

I've normalized most if not all of my drums.

Now I'm reading everywhere that normalizing is such a bad thing, degrading quality almost 90%.

Did I just f*ck myself?

No. You are fine.

Normalising is one of the best, non-degrading things you can do.

I say non-degrading because, even if you normalise and you boost the noise floor, you can still turn it down later.

I'd like to see where you are 'reading everywhere', because that is one of the most misinformed things I've read here.

Do you even know what normalising is*? If you look it up, learn about it a bit more, maybe you'll see how wrong that statement seems.

*it's just turning up the volume a specific amount, that's it.

It's funny you said that, but I'm also glad.

I was just looking for opinions about normalizing and ripping vinyl in 24bit and a lot of the answers were very negative towards the process of normalizing and swore not to ever do it.

Well 'ripping vinyl in 24 bit' and 'normalising drum samples' are two very different things.

For drum samples, I would say normalisation is not going to be a problem, and might actually give you more control over your mix later, because you will have more signal to work with. Also the 24 bit thing is not even an issue with a sampler since most are 16 bit anyway.

For ripping vinyl for some sort of archival purpose, I can't exactly say the same thing, as you might be going more for a exactly-as-it-was copy vs a good-for-a-sampler copy. Though I think I can still say normalising is one of the most 'reversible' processes you could do to any audio recording...all it's doing is multiplying all the sample values by a set amount...and if you multiply 0.5 * 2 to get 1, you can just as easily divide 1 / 2 to get back to 0.5.

the issue would be signal to noise ratio but it some cases this is either an issue or not. All depends on the signal. I normalize one shots all the time and if it degrades the quality I revert back or find a new sound.

Watch my free normalization tutorial.

Hope fully it will help to shed some light on the subject.

dopedee wrote:...and if it degrades the quality I revert back...

yep.
it won't change the signal to noise ratio, that's for sure.

youve been normalizing all if not all yours drums without even knowing what normalizing does? doesnt sound like a good idea

I normalize sometimes. Usually when I feel that a sample is too quiet. especially after doing certain things to it... I don't fully understand (technicaly) what normalizing does, but doesn't it just, as the name says; "normalize" the levels (I think to -3db... at least in audacity )

I'll check out the tutoial when I have the time, looks interesting..

Zukan wrote:Watch my free normalization tutorial.

Hope fully it will help to shed some light on the subject.

Thanks for the free tutorial. It´s quiet clear now. You can explain very good!

dopedee wrote:the issue would be signal to noise ratio but it some cases this is either an issue or not. All depends on the signal. I normalize one shots all the time and if it degrades the quality I revert back or find a new sound.

Same here.

I dont see any problems with signal to noise ratio cause most of the time the noise of the source signal itself will be much louder than the noise and the quantize noise of the preamp/soundcard (when recording in 24bit).

I normalize(peak) everything I record (24bit) to -0.3 dBfs (I've never heard of this other normalize method before and IMO its more limiting than normalize).

Always important: correct signal chain gain. Get the cleanest/loudest signal from the source. The channel gain of the DJ Mixer should be the first knob to turn when you rip vinyl. Next Channel fader all the way up (DJ mixer Mic channel mute or turned down. CH2 of the mixer turned down). Master of the DJ mixer 3/4 up. Then the gain of the soundcard up till the signal reach something like -10 dBfs.
Thats how I do it and never had problems with the signal (except rumble when I walk around in the room while recording. I got a wood floor and the subfreq of the walking reach the tonearm . I guess I need a new (really heavy) stand for the turntable.

peace

-niN wrote:... I don't fully understand (technicaly) what normalizing does...

all it is is turning the volume up. that's it.

i have read about some 'normalising' procedures that do more than that, but that is not normalising as it is defined.

normalising is simply turning up the volume so the loudest sample hits whatever level you want (usually close to 0 db).

last but not least;
to get a high SNR try to hold your cables from the record source short, even when the inputs are balanced,
cause not every phono-preamp has balanced outs....

f.e. when i had my 2000xl and i turned up the record gain, there was noise.
i figured out that my long cables (it were phone jacks to cinch and 2m long) are acting like an antenna for some frequencies....

when i bought my 1000, i cut the cables, now the are about 0,3 meters.