RMS

[surrounded3]

Hi there,


I've just watched this, and the first point is about RMS and tried to follow up on my own application.

https://youtu.be/hxhKx2C3Q3k

I get the value of my track to read -18RMS (using a 3rd party plug-in RMS meter)
The track looks really hot and actually peaks out at +2.96 db. Would that be normal? Am I going about this the right way? (Plz see pic attached)

I used the option to NORMALIZE TO RMS and I have set it to -18 db. If this worked I could pretty much set all my trk levels this way and have peace of mind that they are all optimized for my plug ins right?....I usually record at a decent level not too hot.

Any advice and help to bring some light on this matter would very much appreciated.

With Gratitude
Lisa

[ashcat_lt]

Not a big surprise. That RMS level is integrated across the whole item. It looks to me like it's about half quiet and half loud, so the integrated average is somewhere in between the two. That means that after normalize, the quiet part is probably below your target and the loud part is above.

That said, it's only a problem if it's a problem. There are plenty of ways to handle those peaks before you get to your final render.

We've got a thread going on that -18dbFS thing. There's some good info in the first few posts. Then it gets weird, but it might be worth taking a look.

[onewayout]

Originally Posted by ashcat_lt

Not a big surprise. That RMS level is integrated across the whole item. It looks to me like it's about half quiet and half loud, so the integrated average is somewhere in between the two. That means that after normalize, the quiet part is probably below your target and the loud part is above.

That said, it's only a problem if it's a problem. There are plenty of ways to handle those peaks before you get to your final render.

We've got a thread going on that -18dbFS thing. There's some good info in the first few posts. Then it gets weird, but it might be worth taking a look.

So does anyone know what the SWS:Normalize item to RMS function do? I'll set it for -18 db and when I analyze it according to SWS:analyze and display peak & RMS it tells me the ITEM is -18 db BUT when I put a third party RMS meter on the track it is waaaay higher than -18db...

Thx, jeff

[nofish]

ashcat_lt already explained why it happens above.
To avoid getting an RMS value too high when normalizing you could use 'SWS: Normalize item(s) to peak RMS' instead of 'SWS: Normalize items to RMS (entire item)'.

You can also experiment with the 'SWS: Set RMS analysis/normalize options' -> 'Window size for peak RMS' setting. 0.3 (300 milliseconds) would give you VU meter like response I think).

[onewayout]

Originally Posted by nofish

ashcat_lt already explained why it happens above.
To avoid getting an RMS value too high when normalizing you could use 'SWS: Normalize item(s) to peak RMS' instead of 'SWS: Normalize items to RMS (entire item)'.

You can also experiment with the 'SWS: Set RMS analysis/normalize options' -> 'Window size for peak RMS' setting. 0.3 (300 milliseconds) would give you VU meter like response I think).

This works GREAT so far!! Thx....

can you tell me what the SWS:analyze display item peak & RMS is showing then...I googled this but cannot find out any info on it...My reading now on the RMS meter is getting the -18db but the analysis is like -26db...

[nofish]

The 'analyze display item peak & RMS' displays the RMS value over the entire item. (Agreed that's not too obvious from the action description...)

So if you have normalized to peak RMS before it's expected that the RMS value over the entire item is lower (especially if the item has significantly varying dynamics as you'd then get a relatively high peak RMS so the item is 'turned down' more during normalizing.)

[surrounded3]

That's some good stuff, thanks a lot!!

Thank you for all the input on this one.

[onewayout]

Originally Posted by nofish

The 'analyze display item peak & RMS' displays the RMS value over the entire item. (Agreed that's not obvious from the action description...)

So if you have normalized to peak RMS before it's expected that the RMS value over the entire item is lower (especially if the item has significantly varying dynamics as you'd then get a relatively high peak RMS so the item is 'turned down' more during normalizing.)

Excellent, thx nofish and the SWS: Normalize item(s) to peak RMS' works great no matter if the trk is hot or too low it brings it right up or down to the recommended -18db for plug in use!! AWESOME!! (-:

[nofish]

Yeah, often I prefer normalize to peak RMS (instead of entire item RMS) too for this kind of task.
Glad it helped, you're welcome.