An audio tip.

farss wrote on 12/24/2009, 3:37 AM

Picked this one up a while ago and just today tried it with Vegas and it seems to work a treat.

If you need to tame fast transients without killing them put a limiter before the compressor. I simply used the Track Compressor's 'Limit At -6dB' preset for the limiter before WaveHammer tweaked to my liking. If you don't have WaveHammer (comes with Sound Forge) then another instance of the Track Compressor should do.

Reason I do this is I do videos of Indian musical events and the tabla is one fierce drum to tame. The feed from the desk I get to record is before the outboard compressor and Eq, I've typically got the gain set on my recorder with the drums hitting -6dB and everything else muddling around -30dB. Something needs to be done or the vocals are way too quiet but I don't want to loose the magic attack from the drums.
The limiter knocks the transient hit of the drum back enough so I can then set the compressors attack time to still let it though while still adding punch to the rest of the sound. This also adds a bit more oomph to bass drum.
I prefer to add this after the track volume envelope and gain control by adding a buss and routing the track to the buss. Then I can 'push' the sound into the compressor. The loudness goes up but the volts stays the same.

Bob.

Comments

Soniclight wrote on 12/25/2009, 4:59 AM

Nothing to add to your tip, Bob, sounds quite sound to me.

(Truth is, I once again just felt sorry for this thread with "0" replies and so decided to keep it company on Christmas Day while you hang out with family and/or friends :o)

TLF wrote on 12/26/2009, 12:16 AM

I have Wave Hammer, but only have Sound Forge Studio.

farss wrote on 12/26/2009, 12:58 AM

Thanks, didn't realise it shipped with the Studio version.
I'm certain the audio gods will tell us there's better compressors out there but it remains my goto tool to simply get the job done.

Bob.

musicvid10 wrote on 12/26/2009, 8:40 AM

Bob, I did nearly the same thing in WH to put the lid on high peaks before further processing, which often includes some compression.

Last 2-3 years, however, I'm using the RMS normalization in Sound Forge to do very nearly the same thing, but in one step.

Simpler and faster, but not quite as much overall control. I would definitely use WH if there was a noise issue.

farss wrote on 12/26/2009, 1:36 PM

"Simpler and faster, but not quite as much overall control."

I'm a control freak :)

It's a good trick for doing quick and dirty mastering. The problem as you've alluded to is you have no control. The RMS Normalise function computes the RMS value of the whole track, adds enough gain to meet the target RMS value and hammers down anything too loud to fit. If you've got a concert recording with a large variation in levels by design then something has to suffer.

Bob.

musicvid10 wrote on 12/26/2009, 3:56 PM

Yeah, I agree. The reason it works for me is my analog recording experience. "I'd like this orchestral section at -16dB RMS, I can use some limiting on this particular belter and will add 2.5:1 compression later, I want this rock section at -12dB average, etc." is how my thought process works. I understand most people don't think that way, and once I've got some basic (conservative) ceilings set, I'll tweak the rest in WH. Not everybody's best workflow you understand.

If I was working with shorter programs instead of my usual 3 hr. productions, I would take your approach, but needing to put the lid on big segments quickly often rules my decisions. And I always keep the original takes, in case I change my mind contextually.

richard-amirault wrote on 12/26/2009, 7:03 PM

Thanks, didn't realise it shipped with the Studio version.

FYI .. I have Sound Forge Audio Studio version # 8 and do *not* have it (help says it's only in the pro version)

TLF wrote on 12/27/2009, 12:30 AM

I have version 9.

At some point I had the trial of Pro 10 installed, but I can't believe that it would leave Wave Hammer left behind after uninstalling.

By the way, I find it under FX Favorites/Sony.

farss wrote on 12/27/2009, 3:36 AM

Be careful, it used to need some form of activation I think. If it wasn't activated it insert beeps into your audio.

Bob.

TLF wrote on 12/27/2009, 8:06 AM

Hmm... looks like it's a remnant from SFP10, after all. I checked the comparison sheet for the SF family, and Wave hammer is not included with the studio version.