Hi PG:
I’m currently recording a weekly talk show - 3 participants/tracks) using Cubase 7.0.5 (OXS X 10.8.) and editing the mixdown with WL8 (iMac OS X 10.8. Much of this is fairly new to me.
I’d like to be able to reduce the loudness range with no, or limited use of compression. WL’s Loudness Normalization as I understand it shifts the average loudness of a whole file or selection to a predetermined level and introduces compression and/or limiting to avoid generating digital peaks too close to or over 0dB. But it does not level loudness within the file/selection.
A very useful kind of process, which I haven’t seen in WL8, would be to be able to reduce/expand the dynamic range by a user defined amount guided by a user-defined loudness curve computed from the file or selection. In the new world of EBU R-128 there is likely to be plenty of headroom and much less if any need for peak limiting. A process like this would sure beat my current ‘fine hand craftsmanship’!
Is something like this in the works? Am also interested in what’s happening currently in WL development in the loudness area?
By the way I’d like to use WL instead of the Cubase Sample Editor to edit Cubase tracks but haven’t found out how this works from the manuals, or by looking around (sorry, a Cubase question I know!).
And finally, I’ve been following some of the WL8 blogs a bit and want to say I’m impressed and appreciate the interaction and willingness on all sides to continuous improvement of an already great product. Especially appreciate PG’s interest and willingness to jump in quickly and get to the core of user concerns. Nice work. Great community!
Help welcome on any or all the above. Thanks.
But it does not level loudness within the file/selection.
Not sure what you mean. This is precisely what WaveLab does.
A very useful kind of process, which I haven’t seen in WL8, would be to be able to reduce/expand the dynamic range by a user defined amount guided by a user-defined loudness curve computed from the file or selection
I have something like this in mind, ie. “normalizing the dynamics”. The way to achieve this, technically speaking, is not so obvious, however.
Could I perhaps make the observation that an elegant automation feature … where the user can quickly draw an automation profile over the wave that is going to be processed … would perhaps be more useful than an entirely automatic function. This is because the way individual programs react to different compression schemes is variable, certainly difficult to predict and dependent on taste (which is really what we are paid for).
But it does not level loudness within the file/selection.
Not sure what you mean. This is precisely what WaveLab does.
I understand that Wavelab loudness normalization essentially moves the average loudness level of a file to a different one but doesn’t change the dynamic range except if limiting/compression is required to avoid peaks above 0dB.
What I’m suggesting is that an automation curve shaped like the negative of the loudness curve could be generated and used in a process to reduce the dynamic range to the degree the user requests - say 0 - 100%, without compression/limiting. In this case, the average loudness would remain the same but the dynamic range would change instead of the other way around.
PG wrote:I have something like this in mind, ie. “normalizing the dynamics”. The way to achieve this, technically speaking, is not so obvious, however.
Could I perhaps make the observation that an elegant automation feature … where the user can quickly draw an automation profile over the wave that is going to be processed … would perhaps be more useful than an entirely automatic function. This is because the way individual programs react to different compression schemes is variable, certainly difficult to predict and dependent on taste (which is really what we are paid for).
Hi Paul and PG:
Agreed. My ‘bare bones’ idea is something I would find valuable with simple unprocessed voice audio.- but there is a lot of potential for a richer feature with both automated and manual possibilities.
Want to encourage PG to pursue his ‘normalizing dynamics’ idea.