[wplug] Audio: Compression Utility?

[Robert E. Coutch]

Russ Schneider wrote:

>
>
> Robert E. Coutch wrote:
>
>> Are you sure you want compression?
>>
>> Your original message stated you wanted to remove spikes, etc.
>> Normalization does this by bringing the levels to a common amount 
>> depending on the sources.  If you have a bunch of .wav's with good 
>> levels and one with some spikes, normalizing them will bring levels 
>> down in the spiked file.
>
>
> Normalization does not remove spikes, it simply brings the volume up 
> until the largest spike reaches the point just before clipping.  All 
> levels remain relative to each other.
>
I thought thats what you wanted. Sorry if I misunderstood.
This would adjust maximum levels and still maintain the dynamics 
(relative amplitudes) of the overall music.

>
>
>> This will sound like crap unless you decompress later.
>
>
> That's what I always thought, but in talking with other musicians, you 
> can play around with it to do nice things in terms of relative volume 
> within a song.  I've heard some nice results.  As I said, I've touched 
> upon it using Cakewalk, but I hate booting to windows just for that.
>   I want something for Linux I can experiment with.

If you compress an entire song (not each instument/voice individually), 
won't you remove the dynamics (relative levels)?
Is this what you want or do you mean compressing individual tracks for a 
later mix?



Someone asked about decompression.

I've never seen this used in music but it is used in communication 
(especially in A3J mode).
Compression is used to keep the dynamics (variation between low volume 
levels and high volume levels) at a near uniform level to keep the 
signal's power level more uniform (and normally at it's maximum).

The decompression is used to restore (as much as possible) the dynamics 
of the original signal in the receiver.

I would be interested to hear more about how you used it (compression) 
and the results (possibly send me some audio).
I didn't know Cakewalk did audio, I thought it just did MIDI.
Seems I'm learning all sorts of new stuff today.

Have you tried Rosegarden for Linux and does it have audio features too?


Thanks,

Bob