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Topic: To normalize or not ... (Read 4521 times) previous topic - next topic
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To normalize or not ...

I haven't done a needledrop since the days of 1X burners costing almost $700. Hell, I'm pretty sure the term wasn't even in use. My old Dual turntable with Stanton cartridge is no longer usable (moving accident resulting in $200+ damage to repair). As my ears are barely usable I merely bought a semi-decent (if there is such a thing) USB Sony turntable. It works for me.

Diversion: terrible USB background noise (no ground wire?) when recording from USB, tinny/echo-ey sound via mic-in (laptop, no sound card). I could live with the mic-in sound but thankfully Adobe CS4 Soundforge eliminates the background noise via USB and I am quite happy with the result. For simply playing LPs, the turntable through my ONKYO amp/receiver is better than I'd hoped. Remember: My ears are no longer golden, if they were ever better than pyrite.

To my question ...
I have been looking into Normalization. I have read here (that which I could comprehend), as well as googling. From what I found and could understand I remain confused/uncertain. I understand why you'd do it if you have "mixed" sounds/sources, but if what you have is the side of an LP, why do it then? I understand why you would if one recording session was recorded at one set level and another was at a wholly different level. I'm a lazy SOB and would not want to have to go changing playback volume. But if I am using the same recording level, again, why Normalize?

Isn't the sound coming in essentially already Normalized (assuming each recording made is at the same level). Isn't Normalizing messing with the original sound, making it something other than lossless?

Thanks for any consideration for my noobieness. Back in the day I Normalized all those transfers (about 100 LPs) just because I didn't even consider it.

To normalize or not ...

Reply #1 –
First comment: “lossless” or not via normalization (which is just amplification to some set level) is not meaningful for a recording from an LP. There is no “correct” or “exact” source to refer to. Record several times from the same LP, on the same equipment, and you will get several different results, differences with more variation than amplifying any one of them will give you. Getting emotionally tied up about the kind of change amplification makes to the data in the digital domain is silly.

Without manipulation, the recording is never “normalized” in the sense we are discussing. You could achieve it in the analogue domain if you are going through a variable amplification preamp with which you set the final record level to your “normalized” goal. This way would let you make the peak level of all your recordings the same -- if you first went to the work of finding the peak input of each LP so you could adjust to it. It is far easier to do this post recording, on the computer. I’m assuming the input level to the soundcard is below clipping, as you are rather screwed already if it isn’t.

With the fixed circuit of most TT to phono preamp to soundcard set-ups (i.e. no extra piece of equipment after the phono preamp to control signal level), the recording level will differ considerable from LP to LP. Possibly this isn’t so if you record only one genre that has rather limited dynamics, but with much variety, there can easily be 20dB peak difference between one LP and another.

Given these results, normalization might be considered a significant convenience, in order to avoid so much analogue adjustment at playback time. If you don’t care about this, there isn’t any reason to normalize.

To normalize or not ...

Reply #2 –
Thanks very much, Andy, for your time, information, and writing at my level. I think part of my problem was my thinking being clouded by frustration. So much of what I found to read had to do with particular facets of normalization, as if everyone in the discussion were already in agreement about the "why" and were only concerned with the particular matter at hand.

Again, thanks.

To normalize or not ...

Reply #3 –
I almost always normalize.  I don't see any disadvantage.  Most CDs are normalized and most modern CDs are compressed to death, so it's unlikely that a digitized LP will sound excessively loud.  (I normalize the album as a whole... I don't normalize the individual tracks.)

Quote
Isn't Normalizing messing with the original sound, making it something other than lossless?
Yes, it alters the bits/bytes and there are tiny quantization/rounding errors, but digital volume adjustment is considered lossless.    (Analog volume adjustment can also degrade the signal-to-noise ratio, so it isn't "perfect" either!)  Things like noise-reduction & equalization also "mess with" the original sound...  hopefully in a good way!

Quote
I haven't done a needledrop since the days of 1X burners costing almost $700.
There is a lot of helpful information about digitizing & cleaning-up records on this page[/color].  (I paid something like $995 for my first CD burner, and the blank CDs were about $12!)

To normalize or not ...

Reply #4 –
Quote from: DVDdoug on
I almost always normalize.  I don't see any disadvantage.  Most CDs are normalized and most modern CDs are compressed to death, so it's unlikely that a digitized LP will sound excessively loud.  (I normalize the album as a whole... I don't normalize the individual tracks.)

Quote
Isn't Normalizing messing with the original sound, making it something other than lossless?
Yes, it alters the bits/bytes and there are tiny quantization/rounding errors, but digital volume adjustment is considered lossless.    (Analog volume adjustment can also degrade the signal-to-noise ratio, so it isn't "perfect" either!)  Things like noise-reduction & equalization also "mess with" the original sound...  hopefully in a good way!

Quote
I haven't done a needledrop since the days of 1X burners costing almost $700.
There is a lot of helpful information about digitizing & cleaning-up records on this page[/color].  (I paid something like $995 for my first CD burner, and the blank CDs were about $12!)

More good (and reassuring) info. Thanks.

Dang! I'd forgotten how much the blanks were!!