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Figure 47 : Normalization is applied to the highlighted section of the wave file. The loudest note in the sound file is as loud as possible.
Normalization is probably the most important application used in digital audio recording. The quieter the music is, the louder the volume has to be to hear it. The louder the volume is, the more you turn down the volume, the more you turn down the volume, the less background noise is heard. It minimizes the background noise by making the volume of the sound file as loud as possible, without distortion or clipping. (figure 47).
Figure 48 : Cool Edit 2000- Control settings for normalization. Normalizing to 100% triggers sensors in some pluggins to read as distortion. So it has become common practice to normalize to less than 100%.
Volume inconsistencies in vocal or instrument tracks result in a lack of clarity. For example : the guitar, bass, and drums, all have roughly the same volume throughout the entire song, and a vocal track has inconsistent volume (louder, then quieter, then louder, etc…). The vocal volume has to be set so the loudest part doesn’t distort or over power the rest of the music. This makes the quieter vocal parts hard to hear. Compression is the best tool we have to bring the louder and quieter sounds closer to the same volume.