compression

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What is compression and why do i need it (or don't)???

And why do people always talk about using reverb to thicken up or create a sense of space?
Why can't you just record with space instead of in a little room?
 
Compression is when you take away the ("volume") peaks when recording (or mixing for that matter) to get a more even level on the signal. Without it you either have to be good at keeping an even level when performing or play it safe and record at a low level so that the peaks don't go over what your system can handle and distorts the signal. Recording at a low level will make any (and there's always some) background noise more noticable as the signal isn't as dominant (lower signal to noise (S/N) ratio). There are a bunch of articles that describes various effects. Search the famous net and you will find answers, that will lead to more questions, which will lead to more searching...

The reason for using reverb effects is simply because people don't have large enough rooms to get a good reverb or their rooms don't sound good. Also, with reverb effects, you can control the "size" and characteristics of the room to get the sound that is best suited for the particular recording. Recoring in a really dead room and adding reverb gives you total control of how much reverb there should be etc. Taking away reverb from a recording made in a live room is impossible.

However, using effects takes away the "real" sound and gives a "studio" sound to the recording. If you're into recording acoustic instruments and want them to sound like acoustic instruments (like me), stay away from effects and keep the signals as untouched as possible. The best recordings by far, imho, are the ones made with a stereo pair of mics in a room that sounds nice and with nothing added or taken away. It sounds like it did when the music was performed (almost) and that's my goal.

It all depends on what sound your after. I mean, Dark side of the moon couldn't have been done without a boatload of effects and I love it. It's just not what I want to record/produce (well, maybe for the royalties :))

/Ola
 
So you have to add compression so you can fit it on a cd (like ATRAC minidisc)????

Or is it like the control on good cd players where if you want the volume to go no higher than a certain level?

or neither?
 
Neither, if I understand what you are asking. You don't HAVE to use compression (the good kind) on anything you record to get it burned to a CD. When you mention about keeping something below a certain level, I believe that would be a limiter. Compression can give you more perceived volume without cranking levels into the red so much that it distorts the signal and starts clipping. Which is very bad with digital. It 'compresses' the dynamics to squeeze out more consistent overall volume... or at least I think that's what happens.

There is also a bad (for lack of a better term) kind of compression, which is used by some digital recorder manufactures (Roland) that allows more audio to be recorded on a set amount of disk space. This compression can really leave a lot of unwanted artifacts in the tracks, which can add noise to what you recorded. Most products give the option of turning this off, but at the cost of dramatically reduced recording time.
 
Jon is right, there are two different animals here.

1) Compression used to shrink the overall size of the audio. This comes in 2 flavors: lossy and lossless. Lossy compression (minidisc, MP3, RealAudio) "throws away" some information during the compression process. You cannot restore the original file from the compressed file. Lossless compression (Zip, WaveZip, Monkey's Audio) does not lose any of the file's original information. A file can be compressed and then uncompressed (decompressed?) to it's original state any number of times without losing any of the original signal information. Lossy compression will usually produce a much smalller file than lossless compression, at the expense of lower audio quality. It's all a trade-off: quality vs. size.

2) Dynamic compression. This is what Ola was describing.

If you hear folks talking about a "compressor", you're most likely dealing with #2. If they're talking about an "encoder", you're probably dealing with #1.
 
Compression deals with volume/level/not clipping. Reverb deals with the sense of space in your sound. Boy, I don't understand it, but you got quality input to your question. These guys gave great responses to your query.
 
pglewis,
Do you consider a Yamaha MD8 as one that uses lossy or lossless compression. If lossy, what is something in about that price range the uses good compression?
dave

[This message has been edited by dave m (edited 05-26-2000).]
 
Dave, from the spec sheet, it looks as if the MD-8 uses ATRAC which is lossy compression. ATRAC uses psycoacoustic encoding principles... which means its makes some assumptions about what it thinks your ear won't detect and drops that information (for more details, check the overview of MP3 techniques at www.mp3-tech.org). It may be unnoticable in some material and it might be obvious in other material. I don't have a lot of experience with minidisc in particular.

What's the ballpark price of the MD-8? What are your ultimate goals?
 
MD8-$999.00.
This is just a hobby for me. I like to arrange songs that my wife and friends write. I play in a praise and worship band at my church. I record now with CE Pro and Cakewalk. I would like to get somthing a little more mobile. At least to the next room. Any suggestions in that price range?
dave
 
I'm just a hobbyist too. My direct experience is limited to the few pieces of gear I've actually used. Several people around here are recording good stuff on dedicated digital 8-track units and can probably advise ya. I'd imagine there are a few units in that price range. I'd avoid the minidisc unit at that price, myself.

Since you are already past some of the computer recording learning curve, are you sure the mobility of a dedicated unit is going to be the best use of the money? Are you sure you'll never ever ever want more functionality than the unit provides? That may be the case for you, but a thousand bucks could go a long way toward improving what you already have. Since the 8-track would be a lateral move, I'd want to know I really needed it. Mobility is about the only good excuse I can think of given the current technology climate.

I'm just bitter, mind you. I'd really love to have the $2,200 back I spent on my DMT-8 and DAT combined. Oh, to turn back the clock three years...
 
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