Alternative normalisation methods

If your mix mainly consists of dialog, a less precise but much faster method is to normalise the main voice channel and mix the other channels in balance around this. For ATSC compliance this is actually the preferred way of working. In that case, follow the instructions above, but select the voice track, and make sure LevelNorm is set to ‘mono’ format if your track is mono. This method also works in rushed environments like news editing where often no time is left to normalize the stereo end mix. It also helps to rapidly match the loudness of various tracks like interviews from different origins. Do this by selecting all voice files on the same track and apply LevelNorm to them. They will be analysed and rendered independently. Mark that Avid editor software demands that a new render of AudioSuite plugins is performed every time the audio clips have been editted. To avoid repeated rendering, an alternative working method is to use only the “Find LU” function of LevelNorm and apply the necessary gain change to reach 0 LU manually with the Avid clip gain function. This gain change will not be affected by editing. Mind to keep the fader of the dialog channel to 0 dB.

Normally your target level will be 0 LU. When using LevelNorm in the course of a mix process however, it can be convenient to normalize for instance background music to your favorite level below 0 LU. This may speed up your production time considerably. To use this function, just select the preferred target level with the slider before clicking ‘find LU’ or ‘Render’.