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What do you mean by audio normalization? Aren't you talking about compression?
by efilife 1y ago
What do you mean by audio normalization? Aren't you talking about compression?
- komali2 1y agoSome movies have portions that are really quiet and others that are quiet loud. Depending on your taste you may prefer to not have the experience of turning up the audio so you can hear a quiet conversation, then having your ears blown out by a loud explosion or whatever. Director's tastes be damned, I'm trying to relax over here!
- jack1243star 1y agoIn audio processing, the more precise term for it is compression (dynamically adjust gain). Normalization usually means that the gain is adjusted so that the highest volume meets a certain level. (Like what YouTube does)
- thayne 1y agoBut compression is ambiguous because that could also refer to compressing the video stream to reduce the size of the movie.
- kbouck 1y ago> compression is ambiguous I think the unambiguous term for this is "Dynamic Range Compression" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression
- lucideer 1y agoCompression is an entirely different thing. Compression isn't just gain adjustment - it's a specific type of audio processing that increases perceived "gain" (loudness) of the entire source audio by "compressing" the levels of loud frequencies & increasing the levels of quiet frequencies. Normalization increases gain of all frequencies at any given point-in-time while reducing gain of all frequencies at other points in time. It doesn't reduce dynamic range.
- throwaway290 1y agoSorry but you really misunderstand what normalization and compression means. "quiet frequencies" :D
- lucideer 1y agoI assure you I don't. I'm not sure what the scare quotes are about but if you point out what I'm misrepresenting I can try to explain it a little better.
- throwaway290 1y agoYou don't need to explain, I know the subject. Compression acts on the amplitude of the entire audio signal, not "quiet frequencies". You can start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression Normalization as it normally is used is offline process where you up the gain of the whole audio so that the loudest noise is 0dB.
- recursive 1y agoI think you're describing a multi-band compressor. "Normal" compressors do indeed do gain adjustment. They usually do this without regard for the frequencies present. Only the amplitude matters for normal compressors.
- lucideer 1y agoNot specifically talking about multiband. Normal compressors do effectively do gain adjustment - it's not really the same as a typical amp since their core function only reduces gain, then makeup is applied to the entirety to compensate - but yes the result is effectively gain adjustment. As for doing it "without regard for the frequencies present", if you compress a mix with a base guitar & high vocals, the impact of the compression on the base will be different than on the higher notes. This is aside from (/in addition to?) attack & release applied on a per-track basis & more just about the natural effect of dynamics within frequency ranges.
- Dwedit 1y agoIt's not the same thing. Normalization is scanning to see what the highest volume scale you can use without introducing clipping, then multiplying every sample by that scale. Compression is very different. The volume scale isn't constant, and the original sound is distorted significantly. I often use a compressor to listen to video game streams because they tend to have the game audio be way too quiet. Having the compressor on causes the game audio to become louder with some minor distortion, but distorts the streamer's voice significantly.
- efilife 1y agoI know about this. This is why I asked