Disregarding all the discussion and going back to the original post, why not try getting a plugin like the Hornet VU Meter (it's like, 6 euros or less all the time) and then use it to set the levels of your tracks automatically? That way it will automatically gain stage all tracks to a level where a mixing engineer will think you really got it together. Or better yet, maybe just manually change the volume so that's reasonably loud with headroom? In Studio One, it's literally no more than dragging the top of the waveform and moving it up or down.

When I receive tracks for mixing, usually the volume of them are rarely the issue. There's infinite headroom until clipping, anything you do after recording really doesn't do me any better or worse.

 

I figure you are careful enough not to turn your tracks into a limiter on each so normalization should be ok if you aren't limiting.
If they are limiting, mastering engineers are not fond of heavy limiting on final mixes because limiting is often the final stage of their process.

 

Always normalize tracks. The question is what dB to make the peak setting? It's all about being tidy, organized, and consistent . . . leads to a cleaner mix. ;-)

 

If it doesn't clip it literally doesn't matter since digital audio has infinite headroom... Worst case scenario the engineer has to turn up or down the volume. Once it leaves the preamp there's no best or worse.

 

There are a lot of so-called experts out there so that's not an easy question to answer. I figure that if you intend to Master it and add EQ, Compression, Imaging and limiting, somewhere in the vicinity of -3db to -12db would do it. Some say -6db... If you never go above -3db you should be ok. The idea being the loudness comes at mastering.

 

im sure simon and garfunkel and motoerhead used the same parabolas

 

I personally would not normalize stems. I want stems to add up to the mix. So when I have all stems routetd to the output the mix should be the track as I had it. If I would normalize them, lets say the pads would be way too loud.
There are a lot of mastering engineers who are happy when they get stems. Sometimes fixing something in a stem is less hassle than doing it in the mix. But again: If you normalized them, the engineer would have to bring them back to the level you intended them to be, more work, more possible errors.
I don't think that there are any reasons to normalize at all.
What you get back from mastering will be -0.1 dbfs no matter what you delivered.

 

i dare to say normalizing was never intended for classic music mix/mastering purposes

 

C'mon man, it's not that hard to read the original post. The whole thing is about normalizing the tracks before sending them to mix. The mix engineer will change the volume anyway, so it doesn't matter if you normalize or not since the volume is digital and will always sound the same if you bring it up or down.

Normalizing is pretty much pointless unless you're recording at random levels every single time.

 

As much as I try to keep recording levels consistent, the levels will be relatively "random." I normalize and MANY other professionals do too. For me the question is . . . what is the optimal peak level to normalize? I have recently discovered that True Peak can actually go beyond the target level, while Peak will not.

 

Yikes, I'll close this thread. All the best.

 

Weeooooo!

 

It doesn't matter because it's going to sound the exact same if your DAW normalization only adds or remove volume from the track. If you really care about optimizing, you should just gain stage to -18dbfs and leave it at that. Volume is a non-issue in the digital domain.

 

even the -18dbfs thing is questioned or not used by many reputable engineers
--
and im on steves site about plugins clipping

 

wasnt that was plendix said in a way.....

 

Professional audio engineers don't use the Normalize function of a DAW to adjust levels. Trust your ears instead.
The Normalize function only addresses digital numbers, not the content of the music. Your ears respond to average loudness, not peaks.

 

was made for radio stations and batch processing for others tasks than mix/master music...
unfortunatelly there are many aproaches for gain staging but normalizing for sure is the oppossite of gainstaging to me .
normalizing all stems to a fix dbfs or whatever it is ,no matter what instrument/element it is , is really wtf to me....
and i always wonder why nobody asks or talk bout genres in such threads ....im just a amateure but nobody can tell me there is no heavy difference in approach in mixing a block squash genre or a acustic band ....

 

Most are trained sound engineers. Ultimately, mixing and mastering is a craft. Very good sound engineers have a lot of professional and listening experience, which is why good bands go to the appropriate recording studios. The craft is always the same, but the decision of what you can get out of the recording so that it doesn't just sound good but great is reserved for only a few sound engineers. Interviews with great sound engineers are also recommended.

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