Dynamic Range Compressor

A dynamic range compressor limits the volume levels of a sound recording so that it stays within a certain loudness range.

An example of where it is used is in TV broadcasting, where it ensures that the volume levels of ads are perceived as being louder than the television program itself (without any change in the actual broadcast volume).

It also has a use for recording audio from one medium to another, where the two mediums are not capable of handling the same range of volume levels (e.g. A CD can handle a much greater range than a cassette tape).

The Dynamic Range Compressor dialog has two tabs: "Simple" and "Graphic". Changing settings on the Simple tab will also change the graph on the Graphic tab, but not vice versa as the graph allows more control. There is also an "Advanced Compressor Settings" dialog for adjusting more advanced features.

The Simple Tab

The "Simple" tab of the Dynamic Range Compressor dialog contains settings called "Limiter", "Compressor", and "Noise Gate". While these sound like three different things, they are more accurately viewed as three different ways of using the dynamic range compressor.

The "Limiter" defines the maximum decibel level that the sound recording will be allowed to rise up to. So if, for example, the Limiter Threshold was set to -2dB, then you would never hear the volume level of the recording get louder than -2dB. Any signal over the limiter threshold would be clipped, which would probably cause distortion. Note that setting the Limiter Threshold to 0dB effectively turns the limiter off, because 0dB represents the loudest signal possible in a digital recording.

The "Compressor" reduces the volume of any sound which exceeds its "Threshold" setting. When a signal exceeds the threshold, the compressor gradually attenuates the sound to bring it down below the dB level, and does it in such a way that the listener will not be aware the attenuation is occurring. The compressor differs from the limiter in that the compressor does allow sounds to go above its threshold (for a short time), whereas the limiter does not.

The "Ratio" setting defines the ratio of the reduction in volume of sounds which exceed the compressor threshold. For example, if the ratio is 4:1 and the volume exceeds the threshold by 4dB, then the volume will be reduced to only exceed the threshold by 1dB. Note that a ratio of 1:1 means that there will be no change in volume; it effectively turns the compressor off.

The "Noise Gate" works similarly to the Compressor, except that is reduces the volume of sound below its Threshold. This can be useful for reducing or removing softer background noise from a recording.

You will find that the maximum Compressor Threshold you can set is the same as the current Limiter Threshold value. This basically means that, in any situation, the sound will start to attenuate at the Compressor Threshold, but will never be heard louder than the Limiter Threshold. Similarly, the maximum Noise Gate Threshold you can set is the same as the current Compressor Threshold.

The Graphic Tab

The "Graphic" tab of the Dynamic Range Compressor dialog shows a graph which represents the relationship between input and output volumes. The horizontal axis shows input volumes in dB from -60dB to 0dB. The vertical axis shows output volumes on the same scale. The graph will be changed by changes to settings on the Simple tab, but changes to the graph will not be reflected on the Simple tab, because it is possible to represent a wider variety of settings on the graph than is possible in the controls on the Simple tab. When the dynamic range compressor is applied it will use the settings from the Graphic tab.

To change the graph, click and drag the black vertex markers, or click anywhere else to create a new vertex. To remove a vertex, right-click on it.

Advanced Compressor Settings

Clicking on the "Advanced" button in the Dynamic Range Compressor dialog will open the Advanced Compressor Settings dialog. In it are controls for the following properties of the compressor:

Input Level Sensing - Peak or RMS:

This controls how the compressor determines the audio level. "Peak" sensing looks at the highest point in the window of audio which it examines. It will almost always give a higher reading than "RMS" sensing, which uses an average, or Root Mean Square of the window to determine the audio level. RMS sensing more closely corresponds to the audio level which a human listener would perceive.

Compressor Response:

Attack:

The time (between 0 and 1000 milliseconds) that it will take to apply the gain adjustment. The total gain adjustment required will be gradually introduced over this period.

Release:

The time (between 0 and 5000 milliseconds) that it will take to remove the gain adjustment once gain adjustment is no longer needed. This is the opposite of attack.

WindowLength:

The length (between 10 and 50 milliseconds) of the window to use when calculating the current audio level. A shorter window responds to level changes more rapidly, but anything less than 50ms will start to respond inconsistently to bass, since 50ms (20Hz) is the wavelength of the lowest human-audible sound.

LookAhead:

How far ahead (between 0 and 100 milliseconds) to look at the input level when determining the output gain adjustment. This can cause the compressor to start responding to a change in volume before it happens. If this value is the same as the attack time, then the full gain adjustment could be made by the time the louder signal is reached.

Side-Chain Equalizer:

This determines how strongly the compressor should weight different audio frequencies when determining the input level. For example, to compress only when there is a loud bass sound, turn the Bass level up and/or reduce the MidRange and High levels.

Auto Makeup Gain:

When this option is selected compressor automatically makes up the gain lost in the compression process. Select this option if you want to amplify the compressor output to the original audio level.

Dynamic Range Compressor Presets

Default:

Pressing the "Default" button will cause the compressor to have no effect. It sets the output levels to be exactly the same as the input levels, and also resets the advanced settings to their defaults.

Fast Compressor:

This compression preset will cause any spikes over -20dB to be rapidly reduced, but will not cause distortion. It uses peak input level sensing and a fast attack, which will reduce the volume of transient sounds (such as a snare drum hit), but may also change their characteristic sound. Compare this with the Smooth Compressor preset below.

Smooth Compressor:

This preset reduces the volume more gradually when the signal climbs above -20dB. The slow attack time will mean that transients (such as snare drum hits) will not be changed, or if they are then they will be uniformly reduced, thus their characteristic sound will not be significantly altered.

Heavy Compressor:

This preset uses a lot of compression whenever the average volume climbs over -30dB, resulting in a very uniform dynamic range. This can be useful for making the quieter parts of music with a large dynamic range (such as classical music) easier to hear in noisier environments, such as in a car or a restaurant.

Hard Limit:

This preset does not allow any sounds to exceed -12dB. This may cause distortion due to clipping in some tracks.

Soft Limit:

This limit allows short spikes over -6dB, but will prevent longer durations of audio over this threshold.

Noise Gate:

This will remove soft sounds from a track. This can be useful for removing the crackle of a record player during silences, or background noises in a dictation.