Hi!
I have been fiddling with settings to fix/recreate dynamic range on songs that have much compression. With compression I mean that the music studio that makes the final mix, makes the quiet parts in a song louder so the whole song is loud. Which is BAD it destroys the sound. CDs where much better in 80s and most part of the 90s. But in these days the CDs are louder and louder and...
What I have done is very simple (in goldwave):
1. Use Equalizer with default setting and choose master (dB) as 50 % (75 % is also OK, give the same result)
2. Use Max Match funktion
3. save as wave (or mp3, wma or aac if you want compressed file)
Thats it!
It works the song is now more listable than before, not loud and has overall better dynamic range! Only clipping cannot be restored.
But what have I done? Can someone explain? It sounds like a miracle cure for todays music, but what is it that goldwave has acomplished?
Hope someone knows...
Restoring dynamic range on compressed music (loudness war)
I hate to tell you this, but the Equalizer does not affect compression/expansion/dynamic range. And, if you are not making any frequency adjustments with the EQ (default setting), you're only changing the volume. There better/easier ways to adjust the volume, and any volume adjustments are wiped-out with Max/Match! 
There are really two issues:
1. Compresson kills the "dynamic expression" in the music and makes it boring. (Often, the first impression is that it sounds better and more exciting, which is why they do it!) Compression/limiting is difficult (or impossible) to un-do, and it can be over-done to the point of clipping.
2. Compression increases the overall (average) volume, making it louder than your older CDs (loudness wars!). This "side effect" is easy to fix with a volume adjustment.
Clipping -
Loudness & volume -
Do you know about Replay Gain? It doesn't "fix" compression, but it tries to make all of your songs sound equally loud. It takes human perception of loudness into account, so it's better than GoldWaves Volume Match, which simply uses a mathematical average. With Replay Gain, the audio data in the file isn't altered. The file is "tagged" and the volume is adjusted at playback time by a Replay Gain enabled player.
Max/Match does two things at the same time. It "balances" the file, setting the left & right volumes for equal average levels. And it maximizes/normalizes the file. This gives you the loudest possible "balanced" file. This shouldn't be necessary for CDs or other digital recordings. The mixing engineer sets the left-right balance by ear, and the mathematical averages are typically different. Max/Match is really for analog recordings that might be unbalanced left-to-right.
Maximize will adjust your file so that the peaks are exactly 0dB (digital maximum), without affecting the left-right balance. As you probably know, even if you maximize all of your files to have equal peaks, they won't sound equally loud. Most CDs & MP3 downloads are already maximized... Again, it's more for people making analog recordings, or as a "final adjustment" after EQ or other editing that might change the peak level. (Most audio editing programs call this process "normalization".)
GoldWave's Volume Match allows you to match the average volumes of two or more files. This is a better approximation of "equal sounding" volume than matching the peaks. But it's not perfect. and, it's difficult to do with a large number of files, because some (or most) files can't be increased without clipping... So, you generally have to maximize all of the files first, then find the quietest sounding file, and finally adjust-down all of the other files to match. (Replay Gain is similar... It reduces the volume of most files.)
Compression -
The opposite of dynamic compression is.... dynamic expansion! GoldWave does have a Compressor/Expander. You may be able to un-do the compression to some extent. There are presets for "Boost Loud Parts" and "Reduce Quiet Parts". These are a good place to start.
Note that when you choose the "Boost Loud Parts" preset, the "compressor" button will be selected. That's OK... you are actually expanding the dynamic range... It's just the way GoldWave defines compression & expansion.
Also, if you boost the peaks, you need to Maximize before you save. If not, you may introduce clipping.... GoldWave can temorarly go over 0dB, but when you save a file that "tries" to go over 0dB it will be clipped. When you maximize a file that goes over 0dB, the volume will actually be reduced to 0dB. (This volume reduction is the opposite of the "make-up gain" that's used during compression.)
GoldWave also has a Dynamics tool that allows you to "draw" an expansion/compression curve.
These methods may, or may not, work. There are a couple of reasons that you can't accurately reverse compression. First, you don't know what compression curves were used, and different compression was used on each individual track before mixing. Even worse, it's usually non-linear.... All of the peaks are compressed/limited to 0db, and just like de-clipping, there is no way to know which peaks were +6dB, and which peaks were +12dB (etc.) before compression.
Good Luck!
There are really two issues:
1. Compresson kills the "dynamic expression" in the music and makes it boring. (Often, the first impression is that it sounds better and more exciting, which is why they do it!) Compression/limiting is difficult (or impossible) to un-do, and it can be over-done to the point of clipping.
2. Compression increases the overall (average) volume, making it louder than your older CDs (loudness wars!). This "side effect" is easy to fix with a volume adjustment.
Clipping -
There are de-clipping programs. These cannot accurately restore the unknown missing/clipped peaks, but they can make an approximation. (GoldWave does not have a de-clipping tool.)Only clipping cannot be restored.
Loudness & volume -
Do you know about Replay Gain? It doesn't "fix" compression, but it tries to make all of your songs sound equally loud. It takes human perception of loudness into account, so it's better than GoldWaves Volume Match, which simply uses a mathematical average. With Replay Gain, the audio data in the file isn't altered. The file is "tagged" and the volume is adjusted at playback time by a Replay Gain enabled player.
Max/Match does two things at the same time. It "balances" the file, setting the left & right volumes for equal average levels. And it maximizes/normalizes the file. This gives you the loudest possible "balanced" file. This shouldn't be necessary for CDs or other digital recordings. The mixing engineer sets the left-right balance by ear, and the mathematical averages are typically different. Max/Match is really for analog recordings that might be unbalanced left-to-right.
Maximize will adjust your file so that the peaks are exactly 0dB (digital maximum), without affecting the left-right balance. As you probably know, even if you maximize all of your files to have equal peaks, they won't sound equally loud. Most CDs & MP3 downloads are already maximized... Again, it's more for people making analog recordings, or as a "final adjustment" after EQ or other editing that might change the peak level. (Most audio editing programs call this process "normalization".)
GoldWave's Volume Match allows you to match the average volumes of two or more files. This is a better approximation of "equal sounding" volume than matching the peaks. But it's not perfect. and, it's difficult to do with a large number of files, because some (or most) files can't be increased without clipping... So, you generally have to maximize all of the files first, then find the quietest sounding file, and finally adjust-down all of the other files to match. (Replay Gain is similar... It reduces the volume of most files.)
Compression -
The opposite of dynamic compression is.... dynamic expansion! GoldWave does have a Compressor/Expander. You may be able to un-do the compression to some extent. There are presets for "Boost Loud Parts" and "Reduce Quiet Parts". These are a good place to start.
Note that when you choose the "Boost Loud Parts" preset, the "compressor" button will be selected. That's OK... you are actually expanding the dynamic range... It's just the way GoldWave defines compression & expansion.
Also, if you boost the peaks, you need to Maximize before you save. If not, you may introduce clipping.... GoldWave can temorarly go over 0dB, but when you save a file that "tries" to go over 0dB it will be clipped. When you maximize a file that goes over 0dB, the volume will actually be reduced to 0dB. (This volume reduction is the opposite of the "make-up gain" that's used during compression.)
GoldWave also has a Dynamics tool that allows you to "draw" an expansion/compression curve.
These methods may, or may not, work. There are a couple of reasons that you can't accurately reverse compression. First, you don't know what compression curves were used, and different compression was used on each individual track before mixing. Even worse, it's usually non-linear.... All of the peaks are compressed/limited to 0db, and just like de-clipping, there is no way to know which peaks were +6dB, and which peaks were +12dB (etc.) before compression.
Good Luck!
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DewDude420
- Posts: 1171
- Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 11:15 pm
- Location: Washington DC Metro Area
- Contact:
Loudness wars.....I'm actually in the process of writing an article/paper on the subject..citing examples and such.
The biggest problem I've found with the loudness wars is they've started using multi-band compressors which give even tighter control over the dynamics and even harder to undo. It is possible to un-do dynamic compress *IF* you know what curve was used to compress to begin with. This process is used in Dolby noise reduction on consumer-grade audio casssettes and even better implmentations in professional tape equipment...the phone companies have been dynamically compressing and expanding audio for years...HDCD's whole enhancement was the ability to signal what curve was used and when allowing accurate expansion...but again, those systems knew the exact settings that were used to begin with. About the best you'll be able to do is play around till you've got something you like.
Going even crazier, I've often wondered if the loudness wars were a clever conspiracy to promote the higher-resolution formats, since they generally don't pull the loudness war stuff with DVD-A or SACD releases...then again most of those are audiophile grade which generally sees decent audio-CD pressings too. I know my DVD-A of Hotel California sounded MUCH crisper than even the DCC Gold version.
The biggest problem I've found with the loudness wars is they've started using multi-band compressors which give even tighter control over the dynamics and even harder to undo. It is possible to un-do dynamic compress *IF* you know what curve was used to compress to begin with. This process is used in Dolby noise reduction on consumer-grade audio casssettes and even better implmentations in professional tape equipment...the phone companies have been dynamically compressing and expanding audio for years...HDCD's whole enhancement was the ability to signal what curve was used and when allowing accurate expansion...but again, those systems knew the exact settings that were used to begin with. About the best you'll be able to do is play around till you've got something you like.
Going even crazier, I've often wondered if the loudness wars were a clever conspiracy to promote the higher-resolution formats, since they generally don't pull the loudness war stuff with DVD-A or SACD releases...then again most of those are audiophile grade which generally sees decent audio-CD pressings too. I know my DVD-A of Hotel California sounded MUCH crisper than even the DCC Gold version.
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wingman1659
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 10:20 pm
Re: Restoring dynamic range on compressed music (loudness wa
Ok sorry but I believe the reply was wrong. Look at this.
Original clipped audio
EQ setting
"fixed" audio
Now if poster number 2 were correct this image should be exactly the same as the one above.
turns out its not. Sooo what really is happening here? I would love for this to be the end all to fixing my louder/louder/loudest CD's. Bravo to the first poster on discovering this (whatever it does)
Original clipped audio
EQ setting
"fixed" audio
Now if poster number 2 were correct this image should be exactly the same as the one above.
turns out its not. Sooo what really is happening here? I would love for this to be the end all to fixing my louder/louder/loudest CD's. Bravo to the first poster on discovering this (whatever it does)
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wingman1659
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 10:20 pm
Re: Restoring dynamic range on compressed music (loudness wa
Ok listen up. I got a test devised for you all.
I've done what the original poster is talking about to a few songs.
Now your job is to head to the website, listen to the examples all the %#%^ you want, come back here and tell me which song sounds better to you. I want your personal opinion on the song so whatever one sounds the best to you.
After a few posts of peoples answers, say 10, I'll revel what song the effect was applied to and what one is the original copy.
Have a listen http://www.myspace.com/canaudiosoundbetter
EDIT: Please PM choices to keep results untainted. This is intended to show us if this technique works or not, but still wont tell us why.
I've done what the original poster is talking about to a few songs.
Now your job is to head to the website, listen to the examples all the %#%^ you want, come back here and tell me which song sounds better to you. I want your personal opinion on the song so whatever one sounds the best to you.
After a few posts of peoples answers, say 10, I'll revel what song the effect was applied to and what one is the original copy.
Have a listen http://www.myspace.com/canaudiosoundbetter
EDIT: Please PM choices to keep results untainted. This is intended to show us if this technique works or not, but still wont tell us why.
Re: Restoring dynamic range on compressed music (loudness wa
the dynamics aren't restored... all that is, is the clipped audio phase shifted elevating some peaks and lowering some, but the clipping can't really be restored, information has been thrown away and the eq doesn't guess at restoring that (that's what peak clipping restoration plugs are for). This is because the 7-band EQ in GoldWave actually phase shifts at each frequency band even with everything set to 0 (I won't ever even use that eq because of that, it sounds nasty to me, almost like a squishy sound to my ears, the parametric eq doesn't suffer from this though, meaning if you boost by 0db the audio is an exact copy, or at least practically exact).wingman1659 wrote:Sooo what really is happening here? I would love for this to be the end all to fixing my louder/louder/loudest CD's. Bravo to the first poster on discovering this (whatever it does)
For example try doing that EQ trick the OP instructed 10 times over, eventually the sound is totally colored and phase shifted to death, but try the same thing with the parametric eq, it should be pretty much the same as the original.