Normalize Vs Volume increase Options

[tinpanalley]

I'm having trouble figuring out which of the two is better for me to create a vinyl recording at the highest volume without clipping.

I capture a record via my preamp into Audacity, and I get what seem to be relatively low levels even though I make sure the levels are right when I record (Peak: -6.4db, RMS -24.6db). Am I doing something wrong? Or are those levels right? These recordings don't seem as loud as mastered CDs.

Anyway, to get the most accurate sound possible, should I use normalize or just increase the volume? If normalizing makes everything sound the same at a peak level, doesn't that completely screw with the dynamic range of the music?

Thanks!

[tinpanalley]

If I'm going through a recording process with a mono record, where I'll be summing the two channels picked up by a stereo cartridge, where should the channel summing process happen? Basically, should I declick the raw 2-channel recording or declick-pop once the channels have been summed?

(Just in case, yes I know there are mono stylii, I know a stereo stylus on a mono record isn't true reproduction, I'm not buying a mono stylus, that level of fidelity doesn't interest me. Got heck elsewhere for even suggesting a stereo stylus on a mono record.)

This post has been edited by tinpanalley: Nov 12 2011, 23:28

[botface]

Basically, should I declick the raw 2-channel recording or declick-pop once the channels have been summed?

Most people will advise declicking then summing to mono. However, I have achieved better results with some 78's that were in very poor condition by recoding them mono in the first place - by summing the channels before the preamp and recording to a mono track. So, I'd suggest trying both of the approaches you mention and seeing which one works best with your source material

[tinpanalley]

by summing the channels before the preamp and recording to a mono track

Hey thanks for the reply. Appreciate it. But I don't think I have the capability of doing this. At least I wouldn't know what to use.

[2Bdecided]

by summing the channels before the preamp and recording to a mono track

Hey thanks for the reply. Appreciate it. But I don't think I have the capability of doing this. At least I wouldn't know what to use.

It's identical to recording in stereo then converting to mono as the first stage in software. So there's no advantage to recording in mono IMO+IME.

I record, declick, decrackle and denoise 78s in stereo, then convert to mono as the last step. It works far better than converting to mono first (or capturing mono). The artefacts from the automatic restoration tools are pretty much the same either way per channel, but are reduced by about 3dB relative to the music when converting to mono as the last step, since they're not 100% correlated between the channels (and the music is, or should be).

YMMV - depends on the recordings and the restoration tools I guess.

Cheers,
David.