compressing, hard limiting, normalizing: they are pretty much connected right/

[minofifa]

hey all

after reading some posts about processing, mixing and what not i've realized how important it is to have proper levels on each track before mixing. Currently i'm using cool edit pro and i want to "compress" some vocal tracks. I don't directly see this option within the program but that is the reason for my post. I know that compressing something is to make all the dynamic range in a track conisistant. I'm just a bit confused about the difference betweent his and normalizing. Is compressing just a bit more precise? and hard limiting fits in as well.

I don't expect a long drawn-out answer because i know thsi is a text book full of info. I'm just curious and i want to be sure i'm not going in circles with the three.

On another note, if cool edit doesn't in fact have a compressor, i would definately be interested in purchasing a compressor plug in for my setup. Any suggestoins?

Thanks guys

Dar

 

[Tadpui]

Cool Edit does have a compressor built in. Switch to the single waveform view and select Transform->amplitude->dynamics processing and the compression settings are in there.

As a high level overview, compression is when you "turn down" a sound by a certain amount any time it gets louder than a certain amplitude, which keeps the overall volume of a sound more constant.

Hard limiting is when you set a volume barrier that you don't want your sound to cross...you tell it not to get louder than a certain amplitude at all.

And normalization is when you take the loudest part of a waveform and set it to be 0 dB, and everything else maintains its amplitude relative to that.

Hopefully this will suffice as a short answer...I'm sure that lots of people here can chime in with better or more thorough answers.

Good luck, and have fun!

 

[minofifa]

well from the definition it seems much better to normalize than to compress... so what is the hpye with compression? why not just normalize and make the loudist dynamic level one that does not cause clipping?

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Normalization isn't as useful because it deals with PEAK levels.

A track could have a low average level of around -15dBFS with the odd transient that spikes to -1dBFS. If you normalize in this case, you only gain a 1dB increase in signal level.

Limiting, on the other hand, will level-out the transients enabling a much greater signal level increase.

 

[Chibi Nappa]

well from the definition it seems much better to normalize than to compress... so what is the hpye with compression? why not just normalize and make the loudist dynamic level one that does not cause clipping?

I almost never normalize....but I compress all the time. Normalization is pretty much the exact same thing as raising a fader as far as what you hear, so when I want something louder I move a fader instead of normalizing.

Compression actually changes the sound by reducing the volume difference between the loudest part of a sound and the quietest part.

 

[minofifa]

ahh i see. thanks gentlemen.
i guess my next question is: can somebody point in the right direction to look for material on using compression? i come across teh ocasional post about compression ratios and imput and output levels and whatnot but i really don't have clue on how to manipulate the perameters. any insight would be much appreciated.

Do any of you guys find hard limiting useful? it seem like it would be very noticable to have audio just cut out if it got over a certain volue.

Finally, i was browsing around musiciansfrined.com (as i usually do late a night) and i cam across an expander. it said it was basically the opposite of a compressor. Would there be a practial application for this?

 

[Drummer4Life05]

Try this link:
http://www.recordingproject.com/articles/article.php?article=4

:^)

 

[minofifa]

hahaha drummer4life:

strong bad is the shit! homestarrunner is a clown though. anywho thanks for the link... i'll check it out

 

[Chibi Nappa]

Finally, i was browsing around musiciansfrined.com (as i usually do late a night) and i cam across an expander. it said it was basically the opposite of a compressor. Would there be a practial application for this?

If you set an expander to its most extreme settings, it turns into a gate. In other words, you hear sound when the volume reaches a certain level and get total silence whenever it falls below that level. Expanders are quite useful for that....snare drums use gates pretty frequently for example.

 

[Scinx]

Think - if there was no practical application for it - would anyone buy it? And if no one would buy it, would anyone make it? The answer - yes it has practical application. If your question was "What is a reason for using an expander?" - Id say it depends if you are talking about an upward expander or a downward expander. Information never ends...downward as mentioned helps with noise reduction/gate.