Audacity effects: guidance?

[jjrubin]

I'm using Audacity to edit digital recordings from an Edirol R-07. For free software, it works great for the basics of clipping out just the song, and fade-in fade-out. But I find the compression effect, which I believe my recordings could benefit from, quite inscrutable. Does anyone have a set of reference settings they use for the 3 individual knobs in the compression window? Audacity could sure use a wizard or context-sensitive help, but I guess then it wouldn't be free.

While I've got you, any other good effects/settings to recommend?

Thanks much,

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by jjrubin

I'm using Audacity to edit digital recordings from an Edirol R-07. For free software, it works great for the basics of clipping out just the song, and fade-in fade-out. But I find the compression effect, which I believe my recordings could benefit from, quite inscrutable. Does anyone have a set of reference settings they use for the 3 individual knobs in the compression window? Audacity could sure use a wizard or context-sensitive help, but I guess then it wouldn't be free.

While I've got you, any other good effects/settings to recommend?

Thanks much,

Which Audacity version are you using? On what platform?

I'm using the 1.37 Beta on a Windows XP machine.

The first compressor I find in the effects list is the "Dynamic Range Compressor" by Dominic Mazzoni. Is this the same one you're using?

The controls shown in my version are the standard parameters for any compressor:

Threshold - the level where compression kicks in. Set this depending on the levels in your track and the degree of compression you want. Bigger number = lower level = more compression

Ratio - amount the compressor reduces levels as they go above the threshold. 2-1 means cut the levels above the threshold in half. Bigger first number = more compression

Attack time - delay before compression begins. Shorter attack allows less of the leading edge of the sound through. Adjust by ear.

Decay time - Time that the lowered gain is maintained. This setting smooths out the sound but interacts with the attack time and the nature of the track. Decay time too low can lead to distortion on bass notes.

Normalize to 0db after compressing - applies makeup gain to the track to restore the volume which the compressor decreased. This will result in a higher average level after the peaks have been compressed.

Compressor settings need to be matched to the material. Slow sustainy pieces need different settings from up tempo pieces. But I used Google to search for "compression settings acoustic guitar" and got some suggested settings:

http://www.postaudio.co.uk/education..._settings.html
http://rane.com/note1558.html
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/low-e...-settings.html

I don't agree with everything I read in those links, but taken together they provide some ideas.

Fran

[jjrubin]

Thanks Fran for all the info. I've been using 1.2.6 on XP so maybe I'll start by downloading the new version. This version has the Mazzoni dynamic compressor but only 3 sliders (threshold, ratio, attack) and the normalize to 0db checkbox.

In general does compressing a live recording with a lot of background crowd noise tend to make it better or worse?

[paulchevin]

Originally Posted by jjrubin

In general does compressing a live recording with a lot of background crowd noise tend to make it better or worse?

Jon,

Compressing any audio track has the effect of increasing the volume of the quieter sounds relative to the louder ones, so the background crowd noise will appear louder.

Paul

[JohnDWilliams]

If you are processing solo acoustic guitar you might get reasonable results with "normalize" and then using "amplify" on the result. Audacity is good and free and all but it's dynamic processing isn't the most transparent.