Old 06-22-2017, 02:47 AM   #1
nirospring
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Default Plug-in to "Normalize" Volume

I want to put a plug-in at the end of my chain that will volume correct for other plug-ins.

I'm testing VST guitar amp modulation presets, but the volume levels vary so much from one setting to the next.

I don't want to compress or limit since this will also effect the way I perceive the sound.

When you right click on an audio file you can pick item processing: normalize. And this picks the loudest transient and turns the entire file as loud as it can go without distorting. That's what I was thinking I want, but in a plug-in.
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Old 06-22-2017, 03:16 AM   #2
mpl
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It is impossible to normalize in realtime (because normalize = analize WHOLE item, then increase/decrease gain relative to highest peak).
You can try ReaComp with huge RMS, very long attack and very long release.
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Old 06-22-2017, 07:34 AM   #3
DVDdoug
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Quote:
as loud as it can go without distorting.
This won't help you that much, but...

- REAPER itself uses floating-point internally and it won't clip (won't distort).

- You can clip your DAC if your "digital volume" is too high (if it goes over 0dB) but that only affects your monitoring where occasional clipping shouldn't be a big issue. And, you can help to prevent that by leaving some headroom in the digital signal, and if you need it louder crank-up the analog volume control on your monitors/amplifier.

- "Regular" WAV & FLAC files will clip if you go over 0dB, but if you render to floating-point WAV* they will happily go way-way over 0dB. So, one approach is to render to floating-point, then open the floating-point file and normalize (possibly as part of your "mastering").



...Some people use a limiter on their master-bus to set the peaks. But if you don't want to do that, you'll probably want to take the extra step of re-opening the rendered file and normalizing to bring the levels up or down for 0dB (or near 0dB) peaks.



* You shouldn't distribute a file that goes over 0dB because your listeners will get clipping if they play at full digital volume into their DAC.
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Old 06-22-2017, 07:58 AM   #4
MRMJP
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There are some useful SWS actions to normalize items to a user defined RMS or LUFS level.

I don't think you'll find any real-time plugin solutions but I'd love to be proved wrong.
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Old 06-22-2017, 08:07 AM   #5
Otto Tune
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Might be misunderstanding, but it sounds like you don't want normalization so much level matching before and after your plugin chain/amp sim. Something like this?

http://www.tb-software.com/TBProAudio/ab_lm.html
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Old 06-22-2017, 08:33 AM   #6
ashcat_lt
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mpl View Post
It is impossible to normalize in realtime (because normalize = analize WHOLE item, then increase/decrease gain relative to highest peak).
You can try ReaComp with huge RMS, very long attack and very long release.
Huge RMS already does something like long attack/release, and in fact attack/release just complicates and confuses things. You could just set those to 0 and let the RMS do the smoothing.

That's kind of the problem with that method. It'll take a while for ReaComp to "notice" and correct for level changes. If you're doing A/B tests, that time where it's slowly turning down kind of ruins the perspective.

Don't we have a JS level-matching solution floating around. You kind of have to wrap each plugin with two other plugs. The one on the output compares its level to the one on the input, and adjusts its own gain to match.
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Old 06-22-2017, 08:48 AM   #7
Dynsdale
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Think you are looking for AB Level Matching. TB Pro Audio wrote some great JS plugins. Very easy to use:


Auto Gain Staging: http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=141370
AB Level Matching:http://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php...8&postcount=17

EDIT: Here is the direct link to the Level Matching Plugin:
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=140268

And a video tutorial:
http://www.learndigitalaudio.com/ab-...-free-plug-ins

Last edited by Dynsdale; 06-22-2017 at 09:10 AM. Reason: added correct links
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Old 06-24-2017, 12:12 AM   #8
nirospring
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Otto Tune View Post
Might be misunderstanding, but it sounds like you don't want normalization so much level matching before and after your plugin chain/amp sim. Something like this?

http://www.tb-software.com/TBProAudio/ab_lm.html
Yes this looks like what I had in mind!
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Old 06-24-2017, 12:13 AM   #9
nirospring
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dynsdale View Post
Think you are looking for AB Level Matching. TB Pro Audio wrote some great JS plugins. Very easy to use:


Auto Gain Staging: http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=141370
AB Level Matching:http://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php...8&postcount=17

EDIT: Here is the direct link to the Level Matching Plugin:
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=140268

And a video tutorial:
http://www.learndigitalaudio.com/ab-...-free-plug-ins
The download links bring you to a website where I believe the registered version is around $50. Is that correct? I saw the mention of free within some of the posts, but perhaps that's for the demo version.
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Old 06-24-2017, 02:24 AM   #10
martifingers
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DVDdoug View Post
...Some people use a limiter on their master-bus to set the peaks.

Is this best practice or not? Or maybe I should be asking in what circumstances (genres?) would this be a good idea. I am guessing that it would be a bad idea in music (eg classical?) in which the dynamics may be extreme but crucial to the "feel" of the music. I am also guessing it would be wrong to just put a limiter on as a (lazy) safety feature to catch stray peaks.
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Old 06-28-2017, 04:32 PM   #11
Dynsdale
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nirospring View Post
The download links bring you to a website where I believe the registered version is around $50. Is that correct? I saw the mention of free within some of the posts, but perhaps that's for the demo version.
If you go to their download page- http://www.tb-software.com/TBProAudio/download.html - the free js version is pretty far down.

You are looking for AB LM JSFX
Unzip file and place it in the Effects folder (Use Options - Show Reaper resource path to find the folder).

Sorry for the late answer

Last edited by Dynsdale; 06-28-2017 at 05:11 PM. Reason: Added link
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Old 06-29-2017, 07:49 AM   #12
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you don't need a plugin to normalize. if you want to normalize, then select a clip or a bunch of clips and right click, normalize. or use the action shortcut.

maybe what you want is just ReaJS Master Limiter, or Event Horizon Clipper. play with the thresholds to increase the loudness as much as you like.
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