Is normalizing in Cubase basically the same as clip gain?

[denalihighway]

Hey dudes / dudettes,

Quick question - I'm using Cubase. Before mixing there are some tracks that inevitably need a gain boost etc.

In a web tutorial I saw a guy using 'Clip-gain', gain adjustment in Pro Tools.

Is this basically the same as 'normalizing' in Cubase and setting your appropriate desired gain ceiling?

Muchos muchos,
Gar

[Len911]

I don't think so Gar. It's probably more like the "event envelope" in Cubase. Basically it's an audio volume envelope. Whatever it might be called, clip, event, is basically it's own audio file. Then there is volume automation which affects the whole track, however many events or clips are contained in the track.
Let's say you have a 1 minute audio file on track 1. That is one clip or event. if you make a cut every 15 seconds you will have 4 events or clips. Now you may select the event(s) you wish to apply processing, such as gain etc. The track fader will obviously control the gain for the whole track or all events or clips.

The advantage of cutting up one clip or event into many, is that you may apply processing to clips, events or sections individually rather than one whole track. For example, de-essing, why apply and dull the whole track with a de-esser when you can separate by cutting the wave and applying it to only the clips, events, it is needed. The downside is that you must be careful with extreme volume differences with adjacent clips or events, or you will have clicks, that crossfading may or may not offer an acceptable solution.

Normalization is generally moving the whole audio volume envelope up to within the selected distance in db of the peak from the 0db reference.

Clip, event, snippet all are synonymous terms as far as I can tell. hth

[andygabrys]

I dig that Len911. That makes sense.

To add to the discussion - Clip gain in protools is a Pre-insert volume control, and it can be very detailed, with volume changing within the clip, whereas some other DAW's like Logic make you have only one volume per clip.

In ProTools, you can use Clip gain to modify the track volumes before they hit an insert like a compressor - so that all parts of a vocal have approximately the same gain reduction.

[denalihighway]

Thanks very much lads - makes sense.

Yeah I just wondered I suppose. I use a lot of the audio processing functions within the audio editor in Cubase for manual gain increases and reduction. Great for breathing and sibilance etc. But wasn't sure if I was translating his Pro Tools chat correctly.

Computer going strong Len - I was loading up a project with a million tracks in it the other day thanking my lucky stars and not missing my old 8 gigs o RAM

Cheers
Gar