[LAU] Ardour: exporting woes

Thorsten Wilms self at thorstenwilms.com
Mon Mar 21 09:40:03 UTC 2016


On 20.03.2016 23:28, jonetsu at teksavvy.com wrote:
> What's the difference between this 'normalisation' and a heavy
> compressor ?

Normalization in this context looks for the maximum single sample 
amplitude in a piece of audio, to then apply a factor to all samples, 
such that the new maximum amplitude is the maximum possible in an 
integer format. Right below clipping level.

It cannot be done in real-time, as you would never know if the peak has 
been reached.

If you hear a difference after such normalization, it may be due to
- level-dependent frequency sensitivity of your hearing
- distortion introduced by over-driving an analogue audio component.

This is peak normalization. There is also (less common) loudness 
normalization working with average power or human-perceived loudness.


A compressor can work in real-time and does not apply a static gain factor.


-- 
Thorsten Wilms

thorwil's design for free software:
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/


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