reducing loud audience applause between (and sometimes during) music

[daze]

This may be an interesting read for you, daze. 

https://taperssection.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=887c56f86bcdd5c9341ab7e8ebbfae7a&topic=137594.0

Thanks.  I somehow missed this during my search!  It will take a few careful reads for this to sink in, but it looks like another valuable tool for the arsenal. 

[tim in jersey]

Thread is 12 years old and I have it bookmarked and still constantly refer to it.

[daze]

Thread is 12 years old and I have it bookmarked and still constantly refer to it.

I'm still not sure I understand it, I'll fiddle around and see what I can figure out.  Thanks again.

[nulldogmas]

Thread is 12 years old and I have it bookmarked and still constantly refer to it.

I'm still not sure I understand it, I'll fiddle around and see what I can figure out.  Thanks again.

Parallel compression isn't all that complicated when it comes down to it — it's mostly a way to create a compression curve (more compressed for loud bits, less so for quiet bits, making the quiet bits louder without making the whole thing sound unnatural) without mucking around too much with numbers.

If the crowd noise is louder than whatever else is going on, dynamic compression is a great way to lower its relative volume; as kindms suggested above, just eyeball what dB level the actual music reaches, and compress the hell out of anything that exceeds that in the sections with crowd noise. If you have loud music plus loud crowd it's trickier, and starts requiring things like Izotope filters.

[daze]

Thanks for the explanation and additional information. What is the difference between parallel compression and dynamic compression?  (Is it, that in parallel compression, your ultimately overlying the compressed track on the original track?).

Izotope filters are also something I'm trying to learn.  Steep learning curve but I trying to immerse myself.

[nulldogmas]

Thanks for the explanation and additional information. What is the difference between parallel compression and dynamic compression?  (Is it, that in parallel compression, your ultimately overlying the compressed track on the original track?).

Dynamic compression just means compressing the loudness of the sound, so the peaks are lower. To distinguish it from data compression, like turning a WAV into an MP3.

Parallel compression is splitting your file in two and dynamically compressing them differently, then remixing them.

[daze]

Thanks for the explanation and additional information. What is the difference between parallel compression and dynamic compression?  (Is it, that in parallel compression, your ultimately overlying the compressed track on the original track?).

Dynamic compression just means compressing the loudness of the sound, so the peaks are lower. To distinguish it from data compression, like turning a WAV into an MP3.

Parallel compression is splitting your file in two and dynamically compressing them differently, then remixing them.

Thanks for articulating that so clearly.  It seems like parallel compression may not be the best route for the problem I'm trying to solve right now (someone pointed that out in the thread tim in jersey referenced), and I'll play around with dynamic compression, and limiting, and compare and see what sounds best.  But I have a ton of other recordings that I think can benefit from parallel compression.

[dyneq]

In Audacity I use the limiter

I select the loud clapping or whatever, set the limiter to a soft limit and reduce the crowd that way. Obviously easier to do between tunes but can be implemented for tracks

I do this and then once i have cleaned it up bring the entire file up to 0 before fades etc

Followup scenario/question to the Audacity Limiter usage.

I am attempting to use it on a recording where I've determined that the peak of the music (I selected a loud passage and used the Analyze > Measure RMS tool) is Left: 16.9, Right: 18.4, Stereo: 17.6. When I go into the Limiter dialog and attempt to enter -18.5 for the 'Limit to:' parameter, it throws a message: 'Value not in range -10 to 0'.

[rocksuitcase]

In Audacity I use the limiter

I select the loud clapping or whatever, set the limiter to a soft limit and reduce the crowd that way. Obviously easier to do between tunes but can be implemented for tracks

I do this and then once i have cleaned it up bring the entire file up to 0 before fades etc

Followup scenario/question to the Audacity Limiter usage.

I am attempting to use it on a recording where I've determined that the peak of the music (I selected a loud passage and used the Analyze > Measure RMS tool) is Left: 16.9, Right: 18.4, Stereo: 17.6. When I go into the Limiter dialog and attempt to enter -18.5 for the 'Limit to:' parameter, it throws a message: 'Value not in range -10 to 0'.

it is only able to limit in +/- 9.9 dB increments. if you do it at -9.9 then do another -9.6, you'll get it to -18.5. (although if the signal is clipping that much, it may not reduce pre-amp distortion noise)

[dyneq]

Such a simple solution, thanks!

[morst]

Such a simple solution, thanks!

A simpler solution might be to use a different plugin that can do it all at once.


Two passes = twice the low level noise added during processing

[dyneq]

Thanks, I will try the Apogee plug-in: https://apogeedigital.com/products/plugins/soft-limit

Can anyone recommend one? I have a Mac available and saw that there's a limiter audio unit built in.

[aaronji]

if you do it at -9.9 then do another -9.6, you'll get it to -18.5. (although if the signal is clipping that much, it may not reduce pre-amp distortion noise)

Is this that "new math"? 

[morst]

if you do it at -9.9 then do another -9.6, you'll get it to -18.5. (although if the signal is clipping that much, it may not reduce pre-amp distortion noise)

Is this that "new math"? 

Obligatory Tom Lehrer reference link:
https://youtu.be/UIKGV2cTgqA


"The New Math"