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Topic: Easy Dynamic Range Compression? (Read 5363 times) previous topic - next topic
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Easy Dynamic Range Compression?

We have a large collection of MP3's which we listen to on our iPods, iRiver, car stereos, etc.

One of the great things about digital audio, compared to the old analog sources is that the music can have a dynamic range approximating the original source.  A full symphony orchestra can exceed 80 dB but LP's and cassette tapes can't handle that so they were heavily compressed.   

But there's still one situation where compression is good -  driving in a car.    Cars have a high noise floor, especially at highway speeds.  If you want to hear quiet passages you have to turn the volume WAY up, but then the loud passages are way too loud.

FM radio gets around this thanks to the FCC -  in order to avoid exceeding the +/-75KHz frequency deviation limit (=100% modulation) for commercial broadcasters, FM stations have to compress the dynamic range of their audio, which makes FM a lot more tolerable in a car than a CD or other digital source.

We want to make a special playlist of music for driving that's compressed by about 10 or 20dB.  What's the best way to do this?

Thanks in advance.

Easy Dynamic Range Compression?

Reply #1 –
I'd suggest the Waves L2 plugin.  Fire it up in your favorite DirectX compatible audio editor.
"You can fight without ever winning, but never win without a fight."  Neil Peart  'Resist'

Easy Dynamic Range Compression?

Reply #2 –
I'd rather suggest a leveller (a slow compressor) than a brickwall limiter like the L2.
Ther's a free foobar2000 plugin called Vlevel which should do the job.

In my opinion parallel compression woul be even better for this purpose, perhaps someone wants to implement a parallel compression plugin for fb2k 

Easy Dynamic Range Compression?

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Polouess on
I'd rather suggest a leveller (a slow compressor) than a brickwall limiter like the L2.
Ther's a free foobar2000 plugin called Vlevel which should do the job.

In my opinion parallel compression woul be even better for this purpose, perhaps someone wants to implement a parallel compression plugin for fb2k 


I'm sorry - I'm a newb -  please update m on the jargon - what do these plugins plug into?  (FWIW I'm running Windows XP Pro) .

Thanks.

Easy Dynamic Range Compression?

Reply #4 –
Foobar2000 is a music player and converter.

Vlevel is a plug-in for Foobar2000.
 

Easy Dynamic Range Compression?

Reply #6 –
A quality-oriented audio player for Windows called Foobar2000 can be downloaded via foobar2000.org. Once installed, you can download the vlevel DSP plugin and save it in C:\Program Files\foobar2000\components (or your equivalent location where you installed foobar2000)

Then close and re-open foobar2000 and go to File/Preferences (or press Ctrl+P) then select Playback/DSP Manager. Double-click the Vlevel panel to move it to the Active DSPs. If you have Advanced Limiter active, simply move Vlevel above it in the list. You can "Configure selected" if you wish to modify any of its options, and you can audition the changes if you currently have music playing (though your playback buffer - usually about 1 second) will need to clear before you hear your new settings. Close the Preferences window when you're done.

You can use foobar's Convert feature (right-click on song/Convert to...) to save the processed audio in any format (e.g. mp3 using the LAME encoder, which you can download into the C:\Program Files\foobar2000 folder, obtaining the recommended version (see the HydrogenAudio LAME Wiki) from Rarewares.org. You can choose the built in LAME Encoding Preset and simply choose the appropriate quality. For a noisy car, you'll probably find ~130 kbps (*=estimated) V5 is about right, or maybe even ~115 kbps (*=est.) V6. Keep "Fast mode" turned on.

You can enable DSP processing and select a different active DSP list to the one you use for playback, so again move vlevel into the active list. If you aren't ready to actually convert, hit Cancel.

When you wish to convert a whole bunch of files, open them in foobar2000 then select them (e.g. Select All is Ctrl+A for example) and right-click them, choose Convert... and select the preset of choice and check the DSP is turned on with Vlevel in the active list, then hit OK.
Dynamic – the artist formerly known as DickD