Sapphire
02-08-2010, 02:13 PM
This guy explains it better than I can, so let me share this article I found with you all:
-------------
[Read Article Here] (http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/audio/advice/audio-processing-dynamics-and-compression/)
Summary
How compression and other forms of dynamics processing work, and how they can be used to improve the impact, clarity and subjective quality of your recordings.
[Note: In the context of audio signal processing, ‘compression’ has a completely different connotation to ‘compression’ when used to describe file compression in the computer domain. Though they share the same term the two are entirely unrelated, and should not be confused!]
Definition
File size compression - ‘Compression’ is a term familiar to many people in the context of digital file management. It describes the process used to reduce the size of a file by reducing the complexity of its contents, or compressing the binary data used to encode it with mathematical algorithms, or sometimes both.
JPEGs, MP3s and Quicktime movies are all forms of compressed digital media files, and their popularity over the last few years - along with all the myriad other types of compressed digital data file - has cemented the term ‘compression’ to the computational process used to generate these files, in most people’s minds.
However, in the context of audio signal processing, ‘Compression’ has an entirely different and unrelated meaning, which is what we examine here. Thus:
Dynamic Range Compression - When used to refer to an audio process or effect, ‘compression’ (or more completely ‘dynamic range compression’) describes a process developed during the 1920s and 30s for automatically reducing the dynamic range (the difference between the loudest and softest volumes of sound) of an audio signal.
It was originally invented to enhance the performance of early radio technology by limiting the signal level to suit the medium’s then narrow dynamic range. Compression is still used heavily in radio and all broadcast media, but has also become a popular effect with audio engineers for artistic and corrective purposes.
The processor used to achieve dynamic range compression is called simply a compressor, and the earliest ones predate the advent of computing and digital audio by many years. The Western Electric 110 limiting amplifier is often considered the first commercially produced compressor, and was first made in 1937.
Simply speaking, a compressor works by monitoring its own input or output volume, and altering its signal gain (amount of amplification it applies) depending on variance in this reference level. This has the effect of making the loud parts quieter, and therefore less likely to overload a sensitive circuit, and the signal’s dynamic range is literally ‘compressed’.
Compression can bring many other benefits to sound quality, and since its invention it has become one of the most widely used of audio processes. Ironically though, because it is also one of the least conspicuous, it is also one of the least well understood.
-------------
[Read Article Here] (http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/audio/advice/audio-processing-dynamics-and-compression/)
Summary
How compression and other forms of dynamics processing work, and how they can be used to improve the impact, clarity and subjective quality of your recordings.
[Note: In the context of audio signal processing, ‘compression’ has a completely different connotation to ‘compression’ when used to describe file compression in the computer domain. Though they share the same term the two are entirely unrelated, and should not be confused!]
Definition
File size compression - ‘Compression’ is a term familiar to many people in the context of digital file management. It describes the process used to reduce the size of a file by reducing the complexity of its contents, or compressing the binary data used to encode it with mathematical algorithms, or sometimes both.
JPEGs, MP3s and Quicktime movies are all forms of compressed digital media files, and their popularity over the last few years - along with all the myriad other types of compressed digital data file - has cemented the term ‘compression’ to the computational process used to generate these files, in most people’s minds.
However, in the context of audio signal processing, ‘Compression’ has an entirely different and unrelated meaning, which is what we examine here. Thus:
Dynamic Range Compression - When used to refer to an audio process or effect, ‘compression’ (or more completely ‘dynamic range compression’) describes a process developed during the 1920s and 30s for automatically reducing the dynamic range (the difference between the loudest and softest volumes of sound) of an audio signal.
It was originally invented to enhance the performance of early radio technology by limiting the signal level to suit the medium’s then narrow dynamic range. Compression is still used heavily in radio and all broadcast media, but has also become a popular effect with audio engineers for artistic and corrective purposes.
The processor used to achieve dynamic range compression is called simply a compressor, and the earliest ones predate the advent of computing and digital audio by many years. The Western Electric 110 limiting amplifier is often considered the first commercially produced compressor, and was first made in 1937.
Simply speaking, a compressor works by monitoring its own input or output volume, and altering its signal gain (amount of amplification it applies) depending on variance in this reference level. This has the effect of making the loud parts quieter, and therefore less likely to overload a sensitive circuit, and the signal’s dynamic range is literally ‘compressed’.
Compression can bring many other benefits to sound quality, and since its invention it has become one of the most widely used of audio processes. Ironically though, because it is also one of the least conspicuous, it is also one of the least well understood.