Hard Limiting vs. Normalizing in Audio Editor (like Cool Edit Pro)

[cyberia]

I am working on converting my cassette tapes to CD. I normalize WAV files to ~98% before burning them to CDs.

Recently, I learned about Hard Limiting which boosts sound volume without clipping. I like the sound it produces, but I do see one drawback: When playing back hard-limited WAVs in WinAmp, the sound is distorted when WinAmp's Preamp is on.

Can anybody explain pros and cons of hard limiting?

Thanks.

 

[thomsbrain]

it sounds like in this case, hard limiting is just cranking the volume and then normalizing to bring the peaks back within acceptable levels. which is basically the same thing as compression with an infinite compression ratio. pros: sounds "louder." cons: you will not hear the music as it was intended to be heard, ear fatigue will increase, drums and loud parts of songs will lose their impact. basically, it's the difference between hearing the CD and listening to that song on the radio (radio stations do the same thing to the music). if you prefer radio to the real CD, then do it.

 

[cyberia]

Thanks thomsbrain. I also noticed that noise (hiss) level increases even though I did noise reduction before hard limiting. You are absolutely right: louder sounds have smaller impact relatively to previously quiter sounds. I guess I'll stick to plain normalizing.