PE9 Normalizing

[JayBee]

I could never get normizing to work in PE8 and read somewhere that it was broken. Does it work in PE9?

[Dave McElderry]

Hi JayBee. Welcome to Muvipix! This is the first that I've heard of normalize not working in PRE 8. Are you saying that when you try to use the normalize function it just doesn't do anything, or do you receive an error message?

[Steve Grisetti]

Well, yes. And no. At least not quite to my personal satisfaction. (And, yes, it was indeed broken in version 8.)

When you click Normalize (on the Audio Gain window) in Premiere Elements 9, the Audio Gain window will close and the gain level will be increased somewhat. But never quite as much as I'd like.

To adjust the gain further, you have to re-open the Audio Gain window. (When you do, you'll see that Normalizing has indeed raised the gain level a couple of dbs.) I asked Adobe about it, and they told me that this is by design.

So I rarely use Normalize in version 9. Or I use it and then go back in and raise the Audio Gain more manually. Normalizing never quite gets to the level I want automatically -- and it's a bit annoying that, at the same time, the Audio Gain window closes and you have to re-open it to see what affect it's had on your audio level, in my not so humble opinion.

Though, technically, Normalizing does work.

[Dave McElderry]

That's a shame Steve. It's a function I use fairly often in V7. It's not an end-all, but it is useful.

[Steve Grisetti]

I definitely agree, Dave. I miss the way it used to function.

[JayBee]

Thank you Steve. It is a useful function and I wonder what the thinking was at Adobe for it to be designed to raise it only a couple of db. Surely the professional way is to allow the user to decide on the increase for the particular project. Closing the audio gain does not improve the workflow either.

[Dave McElderry]

I have further questions regarding this topic Steve. If the Normalize function doesn't raise the level as much as it really should, if you perform a Normalize a second and third time on a clip does it raise the level again and again? Once a clip is normalized further tries shouldn't have any effect. If it does change the levels after the first time then that's further proof that it's not working correctly.

[Steve Grisetti]

I agree, Dave. But it does seem to keep the same settings, even if you run it again.

[Dave McElderry]

I agree, Dave. But it does seem to keep the same settings, even if you run it again.

I know this isn't something that was likely a top priority, but by any chance have you ever tried normalizing the same clip in V7 and V8 to see exactly what kind of difference there is between the versions?

[Steve Grisetti]

In version 8, Normalizing doesn't work at all, unfortunately.

Did you mean version 9?

[Dave McElderry]

Oh, I didn't realize that it was broken in V8. So it was just V9 that you were talking about. Have you compared the amounts of adjustment that it makes in V7 and V9, by any chance?

[Dave McElderry]

I'll take that as a "no." When I said that I didn't realize that it was broken in V8 I meant "doesn't-work-at-all" broken. I did read your post Steve but thought that you meant that it just didn't work properly like it did in V7.