Normalize Loudness

The addition of the Normalize feature to Resolve 15 is nice, but I wonder if it's too little, too late.

The feature seems to work in the familiar fashion, on peak signal levels. But with the advent of using Loudness rather than signal level to mix audio, is the Normalize feature really all that helpful? Do people still want and use this?

For myself, I would find it much more useful to have Normalize work in the Loudness domain, rather than Peak Signal. It would measure the entire clip (or range of selected clips) and adjust the volume so that the Loudness target was achieved, while respecting the True Peak set for the project. (Which would mean we need a user adjustable True Peak setting under General>Audio Options.)

What do you guys think?

Hi Jim

Agreed, I think normalizing isn't much use to meet a specified window for broadcast or other prescribed loudness goals. Are you mixing for something like the CALM Act?

If so, the peak levels are a part of it. A good limiter would be more useful to get the audio mix density / loudness levels where you need them. Normalizing has always meant find the peak in entire segment or mix, and then set it to whatever level you want. Yet that may not get the loudness in the range you want, especially if you have a couple segments that have a strong peak, but the rest is much lower.

If you want to adjust for a loudness target, a good limiter helps shape the density of the mix. Are there really quiet parts that are bringing down the overall loudness? Is the music or voice too dynamic causing the loudness to be out of whack? Controlling individual tracks with some compression/limiting and/or the overall mix loudness with the same can be a better way to get the loudness where you want, while still keeping the overall peak inside the delivery range.

Fairlight has a decent sounding limiter. I prefer one that has an input drive and a output ceiling for ease of adjustment to meet some loudness levels. Some other great limiter plugins that I use in projects:
Voxengo Elephant http://www.voxengo.com/product/elephant/
Sonnox Limiter https://www.uaudio.com/uad-plugins/mastering/sonnox-oxford-limiter-v2.html (the Sonnox link takes you to a UAD site for some hardware specific tools...Sonnox also has a VST version if my memory serves right.)

Side note: too much limiting sounds horrible, like much of today's music that is full of clipping and distortion. Aim for 1-3 db overall limiting max in most cases.

If anyone wants to read a bunch more about loudness levels / limiters, 5.1 vs stereo mix, etc., here's a nice thread from years ago: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/post-pr ... m-act.html

Hope that helps. Sean