compress compress compress

[bigd]

If you compress a bit of audio, then compress it further, did you degrade the sound? Can you compress again and again with no real affect on the audio?

D.

[Chris Cavell]

every process has some affect on the audio

[bigd]

No doubt it would but, here's my thing. In PT I have 10 tracks, and I compress the first one, then compress the second one, third, fourth, but then I need to compress track 1 a bit more... I can't "undo" just that change. So the easiest thing to do is re-compress... so I'm basically asking if this is okay...

D.

[Chris Cavell]

Have you tried using RTAS instead of audio-suite...or duplicating your playlists prior to processing them with audio-suite plugins.

[bigd]

I guess I liked using audio-suite in order to see the changes. I'm a bit visual... I guess that would be all I'd need. Either that or take note of which region is used... and I need to clean-up my sessions to only see the used regions. I think a previous post discussed this.

thanks Chris,

I'll give it a try...

D.

[bigd]

Say Chris,

OT - You're from Louisiana right? Is it true that Acadians from Canada can have "special deals" to visit Cajuns in Louisiana?

[marcusb]

If you compress a bit of audio, then compress it further, did you degrade the sound? Can you compress again and again with no real affect on the audio?

Compression is multiplicative. For example: if you compress a track at 3:1 and print it, then compress that printed track again with 10:1 compression in effect you'll have applied 30:1 compression to the track. As has already been pointed out, you're best off using RTAS plugins so you can adjust them as you mix. You can't really compress a track in isolation and expect that to work into a mix. It's all give and take, compress your bass a little harder and you might wanna use less compression on your kick to leave some dynamic in it.

Cheers,
Marcus

[Chris Cavell]

Say Chris,

OT - You're from Louisiana right? Is it true that Acadians from Canada can have "special deals" to visit Cajuns in Louisiana?

Ummm...not sure about "special deals"... I do know several acadians from the nova scotia area who have been gratiously invited into the homes of local cajuns during their stay. The opposite is also true...cajuns visiting canada. If you do come, you're most enjoyable time would be had in Lafayette. Be sure to spend a few days there. Do you have a last name to reference...I may know some distant relatives in the area.

On to your original question...there's nothing wrong with your "visual" method of working. Try duplicating the playlist on the tracks in question prior to processing. This will allow you to revert back to the unprocessed file quickly.

As for the multiplicative compression...that's really only the case if all settings are identically the same except for ratio.

[meandeanmachine]

Yeah, you quickly get to a point of diminishing (no pun intended) returns. You start to hear a lot of noise with the compressed sound. I have noticed that with the free bomb factory compressor, I like it, but it too much and you are getting a lot of noise between notes. ergo..gating comes into play pre compressor and or after.
Dean

[bigd]

Hey Chris,

Ummm...not sure about "special deals"... I do know several acadians from the nova scotia area who have been gratiously invited into the homes of local cajuns during their stay. The opposite is also true...cajuns visiting canada. If you do come, you're most enjoyable time would be had in Lafayette. Be sure to spend a few days there. Do you have a last name to reference...I may know some distant relatives in the area.

This summer was the 400 year celebration of Acadians and that was pretty cool. So back to your question, my last name is Daigle. I'd love to see Zachary Richard in concert some day.

Thanks for the interest.

As for compression, I think you're right, I should duplicate the track before I compress that actually give me a comparison. Also, in another post, I'm asking if I need an outboard compressor at all, and that last bit I got was to look for an RNC compressor. Because sometimes, I could really use one going into the mbox. At least to protect it...

Thanks marcusb, that brings it home, don't re-comrpess. Never been good in math or forcasting.