Quote:
Originally Posted by schwa
I'm not sure this would be good as automatic behavior. Limiting is already supported, but I think it would be a bad outcome if one loud click caused an entire rendered file to be automatically reduced in volume by any amount.
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Hmm not sure how to argue with this, in my opinion it is a good outcome if you want a render to remain as faithful as possible to the original audio while avoiding any compression or distortion.
A few scenarios I can think of where it could be useful:
Imaging a user mixing a track on levels slightly too hot for the dynamic range he needs. He may end up with one or more spots above 0dB without noticing before render. He may not want the dynamics of the track to be changed and may be happy for a slight attenuation saving him from clipping which he can reverse at a later production stage anyway if he wants (unlike limiting). This user can just always leave this feature on as a safety measure, knowing it will protect him from all potential clipping on render without artificially boosting a mix which may be intentionally quiet and does have enough headroom.
Or imagine re-rendering a file that peaks at 0dB and is resampled on import. It may end up having peaks above 0dB after resampling. This overload protection option would allow us to not worry and just render the file at the new sample rate with the gain automatically adjusted slightly to avoid clipping, while not being touched in situations where the resampled file does not reach 0dB.
Not to mention MP3s which often come from tracks mastered at high levels and may clip converters. Reaper allows to read such MP3s including their overs and allows to normalize them and render them into a lossless format, saving the file from clipping. Also here an 'overload protection only' option would allow this to happen only for files which are mastered too hot and leave other files alone.
Another situation I had recently was that I had to stream some CDs into Reaper. Some CD masters have been limited to -0.4dB, others to -0.2dB or -0.1dB and some even did hit 0.0dB. With masters at -0.1dB or 0.0dB any small error during such a process could lead to overs. In this situation I would have been happy about rendering them through 'overload protection only'-normalization, knowing that masters won't be altered in any way, unless for some reason there were a few peaks above 0dB. I think slightly reducing gain in this situation is less destructive than limiting.
There could be more examples but to sum it up, it is a setting that people can switch on and know that whatever they render from Reaper won't be clipped or compressed and will not be changed in volume unless it is absolutely necessary. I am also not the only one who would use such an option. I have seen it implemented in other software with several users happy to use this setting.
Please give it to us. We will find ways to use it wisely
Normalize Render: Overload Protection Only (DONE)
Linear Mode
