On Tue, 01 Jul 2003 20:38:11 -0500, Lord Hasenpfeffer wrote:

Martin Tillman wrote:

Previously...

Message-ID:

It amazes me that I can rip a WAV directly from an older commercial CD,
"normalize" it to 2dB beyond zero (i.e. -10dBFS) and then encode from it
an MP3 that sounds dramatically better than its own CD source.

This is true. It does amaze me. Only now I know more about why this is
the case. The original CD source is "unnormalized" in my sense of the
term. The MP3 is made from a normalized WAV.

Your definition of normalise is flawed, as is your practice of it.


In in general, most
people (including me) tend to believe that louder is better ... because
with loudness comes clarity.

Louder is just louder. Depending on the circumstances louder is either
better or worse than quieter. Therefore, 'louder is better' is actually
totally meaningless.


This remains... an MP3 made from an older, quieter, unnormalized WAV
sounds poor to me compared to an MP3 made from a normalized one at the
same level of volume.

I've proved you completely wrong with your Chris Cross example. Care to
listen to my proof?

I frequently listen to my MP3s in random shuffle
mode. Without "normalization", "remastered MP3s" sound are louder and
clearer sounding that "unremastered MP3s". Therefore, it is useful for
me to normalize older WAVs so that all of my MP3s have a nice, even
loudness. If I don't the older MP3s sound like crap in comparison the
newer "remastered" ones.

Faulty terminology, faulty logic, faulty use of the software.

Hint: There is nothing fundamentally wrong with true normalistion, nor
the desire to to have certain tracks sound more or less as loud as other
certain tracks, under certain circumstances. However, buggering the
dynamic range is totally wrong if you care about music, and even more
wrong when you don't realise you're doing it.

Hint 2: Do a search for 'Replay Gain'. If you can understand Replay
Gain you will be a better person. (Shock Horror! Replay Gain will
require that you normalise many of your tracks to around 6-10dB below
maximum!!!!!)