Weird issue at splits/crossfades after normalizing (track ruined?!)

[Amanda Rose Riley]

Okay, I want to preface this by saying I'm neither an audio, nor Cakewalk, nor tech expert - just a singer-songwriter still learning to produce my own songs - so I'd appreciate simple step by step answers.

I had a track (2 tracks - acoustic guitar + vocals) that was almost perfect, except it was a little bit too quiet, so I used the normalize feature because the mix was good. After that, the track got completely ruined: there are dozens of crossfades throughout the vocal track, which sounded perfect before. But now on every crossfade, it mutes the vocal till the end of the clip, and the guitar is also garbled (like a skipped CD) at that spot. The guitar is fine on solo; but even with the vocals on solo, it still plays the garbled guitar instead of the vocal at the crossfades. Also, I guess it's the clip split/merge causing the issue, not the fades, because I tried removing the crossfade on one clip, and it still got messed up after the split line.

It's not a general issue with Cakewalk because I tried some other tracks where I didn't use normalize, and they still sound fine even at the crossfades. The performance (disk/CPU) bars are the same on all tracks, so I don't think that's the problem either. Other than that I'm not sure what to check.

Can you just not normalize tracks that have crossfades (like you have to export first), or is it something else? If there are any troubleshooting steps I can do, let me know. I have a backup of the track that is missing some recent changes, so I would rather not revert to that unless it's my only option... I need to know how to avoid the problem again in the future anyway. Also, I suppose there is no way to revert to a previous version once you've exited the app? (Unfortunately I exited before listening to the whole exported track, which was stupid I guess.)

If it matters I'm using the software on Windows 10. Thank you!

[RBH]

The normalize function - ( I believe ) is processing on a clip by clip basis. I find that if I  < bounce to clips > and go ahead and render the clips to single track - then most track based processes work with no surprises.  If you're looking to have further edit opportunities with your cross fades - it's worth duplicating the tracks to try out the different scenarios first.

 

Also - If you select the whole track and apply < audio process gain > , that's another way to raise the track level. Normalizing typically just looks at the highest peak value and then applies the gain function to the remaining signal. Because this calculating on each clip separately - I think this is why you may be getting a lot of different volume levels - the automated part of normalizing might not be working to your favor.

Edited May 28, 2021 by RBH

[Amanda Rose Riley]

6 minutes ago, RBH said:

The normalize function - ( I believe ) is processing on a clip by clip basis. I find that if I  < bounce to clips > and go ahead and render the clips to single track - then most track based processes work with no surprises.  If you're looking to have further edit opportunities with your cross fades - it's worth duplicating the tracks to try out the different scenarios first.

Thanks. I guess this is what happens when you learn as you go... those are the kinds of obvious steps I probably should have learned before I started. I tried duplicating and bouncing the track now just in case it helped, and that didn't fix anything for this project, but at least I know for next time.

[Starship Krupa]

Your best bet at this point is probably to revert to the earlier version.

For future reference, normalization is best applied at the beginning of the mixing and editing process. I never use it myself, I prefer just cranking up the Gain knob on any tracks that were recorded at a low level.

Also of course, in addition to duping tracks to try things out, Save As is your friend, as well as possibly enabling versioning in Preferences. I try to remember to Save As before making any big moves, especially on a mix that's nearing completion (completion, HA).

[Colin Nicholls]

3 hours ago, Amanda Rose Riley said:

I used the normalize feature because the mix was good.

This was a mistake. That said, I don't understand how that would lead to this:

3 hours ago, Amanda Rose Riley said:

now on every crossfade, it mutes the vocal till the end of the clip, and the guitar is also garbled

Definitely save your project under a new name in order to diagnose the problem. Usually Cakewalk is non-destructive: all the audio you recorded should be intact and you will be able to recreate your good mix, with effort.

Even normalizing - which does "destructively" change the underlying audio files - shouldn't introduce distortion. Worst case, you should be able to re-assemble your project using the files in the audio folder.

[John Vere]

Here's a video I made shows you 4 ways to deal with quiet tracks. 

@Colin Nicholls actually I'm pretty sure that any rendering like normalization does alter the original audio file. That is why we call it destructive. There's no going back without an original back up copy.  Every one should have a backup anyhow before they proceed with any audio editing. Sounds like the OP has this covered. 

 And Normalization can possibly add artifacts as well. It's why most people have learned to avoid it. I only use it on tracks I don't care about like live recordings. But I never push it very far. Around -8 is my max. To me it's the quick lazy way to deal with some quiet tracks in a live recording. In my video I show 3 other ways to deal with quiet tracks that are non destructive. 

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by John Vere

[Starship Krupa]

John's video is pretty comprehensive. I have another method to add. That is to put a gain knob plug-in in the FX rack. My favorite is BL Gain, which is free and comes in different flavors depending on how much gain you want to be able to add. I stick with the 12dB version. Kilohearts also have a simple one that comes with their package of free FX.

The utilities he mentions, SPAN and Youlean Loudness Meter, have counterparts in the Meldaproduction FreeFX Bundle (which comes with 35 other useful FX and utilities). I'm also fond of TBProAudio dpMeter. We're blessed with so many free loudness meters it's good to try different ones to find which one gives you the easiest to interpret results.

[John Vere]

If I'm correct I think the You lean is the only one with the drag and drop feature . But for sure the wonderful world of free effects is spectacular. I have my old laptop 100% loaded with free software. I have the free version of you lean on that which the only feature missing is the drag and drop instant analyzer