The audio streams in some Bluray movies have an insane amount of dynamic range, the quieter parts virtually inaudible and the loud parts wall-shaking. My surround sound system does not have a “night mode” feature. I’ve had some success demuxing such movie and compressing the audio, but I’m wondering if there is a plugin for Audacity that boosts signals only in the weaker range. If such a plugin is not available, I’d be interested in what compression settings others might use to contend with the problem. Below is what I have been using:
Threshold: -4 dB
Noise Floor: -70 dB
Ratio: 6:1
Attack Time: 0.2 sec
Decay Time: 1.0 sec
Make-up gain…: Yes
Compress based on Peaks: Yes
That’s Dolby Dial Norm or a version of it. Properly applied it will accurately reproduce thunderstorms and jets landing. Jury’s out on what happens to a jet landing during a thunderstorm. It can be a problem if you aren’t searching for the theater experience.
His goal when he designed it was to be able to listen to opera in a noisy car. Normally, when he adjusted for orchestra and chorus tutti, the fiddles in the south forty are a complete lost cause. It’s an intelligent compressor. It tries to understand the music and adjust passage volumes so they make sense.
After reading about Chris’s compressor, I see that it does not have the ability to boost the weak signals exclusively, leaving the spikes intact. So I guess I’ll have to stick with the built in compressor. Thanks anyway.