Should one first normalize the entire soundtrack or clip and normalize individual bird songs? (1 Viewer)

[RickStillBirding]

Greetings, All!

I have recently taken up recording the birds in my yard using Merlin Bird ID. I transfer the resulting .wav files to my Mac where I am learning to use OcenAudio.

Suppose I have a five-minute soundtrack that contains three or four good bird songs dispersed throughout the soundtrack.

Is it better to first normalize the entire soundtrack to -3.0dB (as I read is the standard), or should I clip the three songs into individual soundtracks and normalize them separately?

Or does it matter? I’ve tried both ways and cannot tell any difference.

 

[Mono]

You need to look at the track before making a decision. If there are any spikes, from wind noise or handling noise or whatever, then you need to edit them out before normalising otherwise the peak will be the top of the spike rather than the actual bird song.

 

[RickStillBirding]

Thank you, Mono! I appreciate the answer and the explanation.

 

[Jon.Bryant]

The process of normalisation is really about making a sound collection consistent - the listener doesn’t want to have to wack the volume up for a very quiet recording, then be almost deafened by the next! So the -3dB is a good guide but not a rule.

If you have editing software, as stated by Mono you should remove unwanted noise prior to normalisation. I normally remove unwanted noise, normalise and then edit again to create the final recording - some artifices become more noticeable after normalisation.

Each sample that you cut from the recording should be normalised separately, so that the bird vocals peak at -3dB. However, if the recording is not great (the signal to noise ratio is not good) you may find this makes the recording too noisy. In this case try normalising to a lower value (say -6dB) and accepting that you have a quiet recording that you cannot push too far. I have uploaded quiet a few recordings below -3dB and never had any complaints that I haven’t followed guidelines.

As you say, if you have two sections of vocals of similar loudness (and the birds are the loudest things n the track) you will not really detect any difference between normalising an extract and normalising the lot.

 

[RickStillBirding]

Thanks, Jon, for describing the tactic and the information about quiet recordings. I have a few!