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How does this audio processing sound?
- Thread starter nd2023
- Start date
Gotta love Dale's combative attitude... I bet the author didn't know he was going into the Spanish Inquisition; I'm suspecting he just wanted some (friendly!) advice.
#1 is so thick as to be murky; I think it's too much, and I think the mids are pushed too hard... given enough songs, I'd think that would get irritating.
#2 is more open at least at the first, but still seems to be pushing the upper mids pretty hard by the end... hard on my ears, at least.
#3 Sounds like mostly single-band compression... it has a nice pull-up at the opening, but then begins pumping and jumping around. Sounds less strident, but more pumpy / breathy. This, to my ears, doesn't sound professional (although I'm sure plenty of stations over the years have had similar processing).
#4 Yeah... uncompressed won't work in an office enviornment. Yes, it's the cleanest, but your listeners won't want to turn the knobs up and down.
Ho-boy... if I had to pick from the bunch, I think I MIGHT go for the second... tough call. Is there any way to go with the 2nd setup, but not hit the mid and upper mid bands so hard?
One thing to keep in mind about compressed bitrate audio streaming is that, to some degree, the fewer bits & bytes the encoder has to worry about, the better. Ideally your processing should "fill up" the encoder without being so busy that it doesn't know what to throw away.
Based on that, I'd look at doing gentle gain-riding to improve low-level listening experiences without actually trying to get it as dense as a broadcast station. I'd also push the compression hard and only lightly limit and clip, or not at all... truly use the limiters and clippers as protection clippers... you'll sacrifice a little loudness, but your stream will sound much cleaner over time.
Also keep in mind that the lower the bitrate, the less you can push the levels, too... if you're doing 192kbps, you may be able to push it pretty loud without turning to fuzz... if you're streaming down around 64 kbps or lower, you'll likely want to back it off a whole db, maybe close to two. (I used to stream at 24 kbps mp3 mono and had to run the signal at -1.75 db to avoid digital clipping distortion that no meter was showing but was VERY clear to my ears.
Unless you're already in love with your audio processing, there are a couple of software options I'd look at. For free, you can't beat Sound Solution: http://www.tmsweb.dnsalias.com/SoundSol.htm (PM if you'd like any suggestions on settings.)
At ANY price, you can't beat Breakaway: http://claessonedwards.com/index.php Even their "Home Audio" option may give you more power than you need for an audio stream; I like the "Zenith" preset with the Range & Speed both at 100% and the Power between 30% and 63% depending on your format.
For internet soft AC, I'd do something between 20% and 40%... and I like the bass boost up between +10 & +25, with a bass shape of -17. The higher the Power setting, the closer to +25 you can get without overwhelming everything with bass.
Also consider turning on the Noise Reduction; not only does it keep your signal cleaner, but it gives you a little more dynamic range with its downward expansion for the illusion of a more open signal.
Also, your source song seems to have a couple of "hiccups" or "glitches." I'd get a better copy before streaming this song.
I HOPE THIS HELPS!!!
#1 is so thick as to be murky; I think it's too much, and I think the mids are pushed too hard... given enough songs, I'd think that would get irritating.
#2 is more open at least at the first, but still seems to be pushing the upper mids pretty hard by the end... hard on my ears, at least.
#3 Sounds like mostly single-band compression... it has a nice pull-up at the opening, but then begins pumping and jumping around. Sounds less strident, but more pumpy / breathy. This, to my ears, doesn't sound professional (although I'm sure plenty of stations over the years have had similar processing).
#4 Yeah... uncompressed won't work in an office enviornment. Yes, it's the cleanest, but your listeners won't want to turn the knobs up and down.
Ho-boy... if I had to pick from the bunch, I think I MIGHT go for the second... tough call. Is there any way to go with the 2nd setup, but not hit the mid and upper mid bands so hard?
One thing to keep in mind about compressed bitrate audio streaming is that, to some degree, the fewer bits & bytes the encoder has to worry about, the better. Ideally your processing should "fill up" the encoder without being so busy that it doesn't know what to throw away.
Based on that, I'd look at doing gentle gain-riding to improve low-level listening experiences without actually trying to get it as dense as a broadcast station. I'd also push the compression hard and only lightly limit and clip, or not at all... truly use the limiters and clippers as protection clippers... you'll sacrifice a little loudness, but your stream will sound much cleaner over time.
Also keep in mind that the lower the bitrate, the less you can push the levels, too... if you're doing 192kbps, you may be able to push it pretty loud without turning to fuzz... if you're streaming down around 64 kbps or lower, you'll likely want to back it off a whole db, maybe close to two. (I used to stream at 24 kbps mp3 mono and had to run the signal at -1.75 db to avoid digital clipping distortion that no meter was showing but was VERY clear to my ears.
Unless you're already in love with your audio processing, there are a couple of software options I'd look at. For free, you can't beat Sound Solution: http://www.tmsweb.dnsalias.com/SoundSol.htm (PM if you'd like any suggestions on settings.)
At ANY price, you can't beat Breakaway: http://claessonedwards.com/index.php Even their "Home Audio" option may give you more power than you need for an audio stream; I like the "Zenith" preset with the Range & Speed both at 100% and the Power between 30% and 63% depending on your format.
For internet soft AC, I'd do something between 20% and 40%... and I like the bass boost up between +10 & +25, with a bass shape of -17. The higher the Power setting, the closer to +25 you can get without overwhelming everything with bass.
Also consider turning on the Noise Reduction; not only does it keep your signal cleaner, but it gives you a little more dynamic range with its downward expansion for the illusion of a more open signal.
Also, your source song seems to have a couple of "hiccups" or "glitches." I'd get a better copy before streaming this song.
I HOPE THIS HELPS!!!
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