Help Explanation Compressor

Hello, I wonder what the settings are better for the Sound Mastering Songs,I know this effect gives more life to the tracks but at the bottom are 2 Options that use better to Boost the volume because some files are Shrink, then I realized when I let the Make Up gain cero it Shrinks even More but if I let the Checked the compressor Based on Peak it Boost more the volume, in this effect Im Looking to Boost almost all the sounds …

And Can Anyone tell me Please Which settings are Better for a Transparent and Original Mastering , I have noticed that I Got some distortion … like to know which is Noise Floor Reduction how to set this , threshold etc. what is highest and what Is Lowest to Set

Whatever sounds best.
The compressor effect and its settings are described here: Compressor - Audacity Manual

Yeah. Its fine I wont remaster much files just a few however Im always confused, when new songs from artist come remastered with the Peaks at same Level and the Bars Blue so wide the sound is all Clear and Loud , but those old file its a different Story, anyway those options at the Bottom confuses me I did many test now, and Im always expect different results but now is the middle from those 2. If I just amplify an old file song instead of remaster I would say that lacks that Punch from new songs etc. but Im closer to this Im newbie at this too

Boost the volume because some files are Shrink, then I realized when I let the Make Up gain cero it Shrinks even More but if I let the Checked the compressor Based on Peak it Boost more the volume, in this effect Im Looking to Boost almost all the sounds …

Usually compression “pushes down” the loud parts, but depending on the attack time some peaks might not be affected much. And usually, make-up gain is used to bring-up the overall volume. If make-up gain isn’t working for you, you can Amplify or Normalize after compression to bring-up the overall level.

The limiter (set to hard limit) might work better for you. The limiter works “instantly” so you don’t have to worry about attack time (I think the limiter actually “looks ahead”, so that would be a negative attack time.) Again, use make-up gain or Amplify/Normalize to bring-up the volume after limiting.

when new songs from artist come remastered with the Peaks at same Level and the Bars Blue so wide the sound is all Clear and Loud

Mastering (and re-mastering) is an art and a skill and you are unlikely to get the same sound as a pro mastering engineer with years of experience and expensive tools. And… Some people prefer to keep the dynamics… That modern constantly-loud sound can get boring…

I have made the Process … I dont know if Audacity needs a better improvement but in the Results after mastering some files , after using compressor… with Soft Limit the sounds is all crispy like if it gets high trebble Booster but sometimes is annoying even the voices , sounds different … when I set to Hard Limit after compression everything is Rough Flat with the lack lifeness trebble … so I need to equalizate to give result in the middle and even avoiding Sibilances. But Im getting closer thanks

Have Someone Noticed that when using compressor some sounds low their volume… ? But like volume up and Down the volume :s In some tracks trying to make the effect more clear that I have the 2 options Below activated and I realized after that some tunes got lowering the sound tunes volume but when I just get activated the option Based on Peaks the waveform Spectrum get wider… but the results after applying tools everything is flat…

I Have Realized that Default options from Audacity in Compressor and Limiter for Mastering Crashes the tracks… so I guess that I will lower the settings and Im still concerned with the Options below, the tune is a bit different If I check or Uncheck those Boxes :s

Have Someone Noticed that when using compressor some sounds low their volume… ?

Of course. That’s why you have the make-up gain option. Depending on the nature of the sound and your attack settings make-up gain may not bring-back all of the original volume. With limiting (instant attack) you won’t have that issue and you can go as loud as possible.

Compression is a tool, and like a hammer it’s a lot easier to break something than to build or improve something.

I’ve never used compression for “remastering”… I LIKE dynamics and I don’t like music with the life compressed-out of it. If feel something needs remastering I use EQ, and if it’s a digitized LP I’ll use a couple of different kinds of noise reduction.

I’ll only use compression/limiting if I have a “problem” I’m trying to fix. (And I don’t do much original production… I’m mostly working with stuff that’s already compressed.)

I can relate to your issue remastering songs for fullest and loudest sound, but I can tell you using a compressor is not the way to go especially using a free audio editing app and its compressor.

Take advantage of Audacity’s 32 bit floating point processing and sound shape your songs with an EQ to get them to sound the way you want AFTER first applying Amplify to max out to 0db peak. If the song is not loud enough while applying EQ increase hardware volume through your system.

I set my OSX Mac Mini volume slider in the middle. If the song is already at max peak, I just push volume slider up on my system menu (not Audacity) and work the EQ to get the best sound. Make sure those high frequencies are not too crispy because most audio systems with only earbuds or headphones will be very uncomfortable to listen on where an EQ can be used to adjust on regular speaker home/car systems.

Now that you’ve sound sculpted your songs with the EQ with proper analog set listening volume, apply Amplify to either raise or lower max peak to 0db and don’t mind the clipping. 32 bit floating point prevents damaging waveforms working this way.

Then apply a Limiter to raise file volume by 6db or so. I use George Yohng’s W1 Limiter http://www.yohng.com/software/w1limit.html

…but Steve’s Audacity plugin “Limiter…” is just as good but on some songs I’ve gotten some odd artifacts so I just stick with George’s.

Compressors are way to hard to predict or control how it affects the nuance of detail when trying to make the song louder. I’ve found it just takes too much work to get it to sound right.

So how can I use the EQ. Im just trying to Boost a bit some Quality on old music to be alike those new tracks, because there are some files that the waveform is so shrink and have above much Peaks so almost new music come Remastered with no Peaks and the waveform is wide and high beside there is no distortion no matter how much to increase the volume, but old files are different Story :s

Thanks and anyone knows which could be the best Settings for the Plugins Chris Dynamic Compressor and George Limiter those are different than Audacity´s effects

By the Way Can Anyone Explain me about the Compressors about Noise Gate, Floor and Noise Floor the Settings on Audacity are -40DB while on CHris COmpressor Noise Gate 0 and Floor -32 ?

At the beginning of mastering some tracks I just Used the Amplify and then Limiter but the sound I got was the sibilances so loud that hurt my ears … so I guess Im figuring out how to Use compressor even with the default settings -12 db Threshold the sound is so much clear and loud that hurts my ears at special tones and sibilances

Yeah it is in the Compressor and I like it. The Sound is All Original without Adding EQ so I get High Treble when I use Compressor with the options below Checked, so I Guess my Issue is on the Compressor Because I got unwanted sounds like on some frames of waveform track the volume Ups and Down Automatically like the music on the Background goes down and up a Bit but not constant level volume as before Original, and if I set the levels too high I get crispy sound so high Even Sibilances. So the tone Im looking for is High Treble as if it was new Song that I can Hear every sound and voices so clear I dont like so much about the volume because too high can do Damages to my ears or the system. On some songs Using the compressor and Limiter sounds great but on anothers dont sound like as I Expected, Some songs doesnt sound the music background so clear or another the voices or another the chorus background as I expected, On the limiter on the Realease time if it set in Low level can be hear all Clear even the Silences to 1mt so I set it to 7Mts. And Anyone can tell me please if there is a better Compressor, I have Used Compressor Dynamics and the Default, those are Different Settings. My objective on some old tracks is that can be almost like newest wide waveform blue that can hear all like newest without Sibilances or getting the sounds low that before were High. But the Compressor Before Limiter gives me High Fidelity on almost all the track if it wasnt by that errors, would be fine. If I set Limiter too high it can brings Distortion.

I Like the Lmiter is Better than the Default although I dont have to figure Out about Soft or Hard. It´s Fine.

Now I more or less, figure out the Settings from the Compressor from Audacity can Anyone tell me please if there is a best compressor on High Quality as Plugins I understand Better the default compressor and I like it but depending on settings I have found out if I set the Threshold above -12 DB like -20 DB etc the result is louder or High Clearance and thats what hurts my ears on the sound of the backgrounds and brings Distortion too. There are many programs to remaster but those are not for free. I wonder how they use the EQ and Stereo width at the remastering process.

There are multi-band compressors which operate in different frequency bands, e.g. G-Multi (free, Windows only)

G-Multi compressing bass only

Greetings here Practicing on the compressor can anyone tell me Please which setting could be the Best on the compressor to not sound so crispy but original, some songs sounds excellent but others so crispy at -12DB Threshold that is the Default.