Audio compression for dummies

[Job Ter burg]

You can get a long way with the compressor. You could also try the L2007 mastering limiter by Massey Plugins (only 89 USD), which has very simple controls.

When you decide to use the compresor in AudioSuite, think about the following:

– threshold: at what level should the compressor kick in. For VO, that can be pretty early (depending on your source material, say -35dB)

– ratio: determines the heavyness of the compressor. 2.5:1 is pretty mild, 20:1 is more of a limiter

– attack: how soon should the compressor respond to peaks. For your purpose: fast

– release: how long should the compressor keep the level down after a peak. For your purpose: medium, say 50ms

– knee: how steep or bent should the shape of the response curve be. The softer the knee, the less punchy the result. A too steep curve will sound to harsh, like overmodulation.

When you preview, you can hear the effect, but you can also see the amount of gain reduction that is being applied.

I skipped Gain, because that is the one you determine after setting the rest. You lower the peaks when using Compressor, and after lowering all the peaks, you gain the entire thing up.

[Grinner Hester]

It sounds like normalizer is what ya want int his case. Throw it ont here and render it’s default setting then play with settings as needed.

[Job Ter burg]

I disagree. A normaliser takes the loudest peak in a segment, then lifts the entire segment so thet the loudest peak has value X. This does NOT change the dynamics of the segment, nor does it “fatten” up voice overs. Even more so, if your VO recording has ample dynamics, it might do as little as make everything 1 dB louder. That ain’t much.

[Tim Young]

Many thanks,

The 8:1 pre-set under the fast menu has done the trick (then boosting the level). My director will hopefully thank me for making him sound a bit more manly!

Tim

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Tim Young