Hi Neil,

I used to always normalise all tracks to 0.00 dB. For BIAB users who read this and don't know what 'normalise' means, the term refers to scaling a waveform (i.e. sound) so that its highest peak reaches 0.00 dB. Most peaks in the wave will be noticeably less than 0.00 dB. Normalising does not change sound integrity if it stays under 0.00 dB; in most cases, it simply raises the volume of the sound.

Then I read somewhere that it's always best to leave a little bit of audio headroom so that if a track has effects added to it, the effect processor has audio 'space' to work in so that it can maintain the integrity of the sound while adding, and after adding, the effect. In a number of articles, I came across the minimum recommended normalising value of -0.3dB and so I started using that.

These days, I normalise to -3.0 dB. I chose this value randomly after watching a friend mixing a song he had composed -- he is an audio engineer at a nationwide radio station and I noticed that he never normalised to 0.00 dB and always had substantial headroom above (and below) the highest peaks in the audio waveform. Since he is a professional in this field, I took his lesson on-board.

Audio that comes from BIAB mostly needs to be normalised. Wave volumes (that is, 'peak heights') are set by PG Music in a style such that the mixer will always show '90'. This means that some audio, when transferred to a DAW, will be noticeably quieter than other audio. To make it easier to work with these varying-volume audio stems, I always like to increase the height of the wave as it makes both editing and mixing that wave much easier. I'm happy working with -3.0 dB normalisation these days. It gives me a good clarity of sound.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Regards,
Noel

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2025