Drum smashes from the 1980's . . . Can we tone them down..?

[sfnch]

Hi:

I have a few tracks I've like for the past twenty five or so years and now I have them in mp3 form I was wondering if it is possible to use Audacity to tone down the mechanical, overbearing and somewhat tedious drum machine sound that was very popular in those days but has always seemed, to me, to be a bit too much . . .

I've started with a Bass Boost on one track and that seems to have got it off to a good start . . . Heavier bass has begun to tone down the top end of the drum . . .

Any ideas of what to do next..?

[DVDdoug]

These are complete songs, not just drum tracks, right? You can't "un-mix" a song and isolate one instrument...

So, about all you can do is experiment with equalization (such as bass-boost/cut, etc.). You can also try some (dynamic) compression. Compression reduces the dynamic range by making quiet parts louder, or loud parts quieter. I really don't know if that will make things better or worse, but it's something else you can experiment with.

I've started with a Bass Boost on one track...

Note - After doing something like that (or almost any kind of editing) it's a good idea to Normalize (or use the Amplify effect) to make sure your peaks don't exceed 0dB. (Or, just look for the red. ) Audacity can go over 0dB internally because it uses 32-bit floating point, but if you save a file that goes over 0dB, your file can be clipped (distorted).

I have them in mp3 form...

FYI - As you may know, MP3 is lossy compression. When you open a file in Audacity (or any "regular" audio editor), it has to be decompressed 1st. Then when you re-save as MP3, it goes through a 2nd lossy compression step. You may not notice any quality loss, but it's something to be aware of. You can use a higher-quailty (higher bitratre) setting to minimize the additional quality loss, or use a non-lossy format if that's convenient(i.e. FLAC).

[sfnch]

Many thanks Doug, just what I was looking for . . . Yes, complete tracks.

I'll spend a bit of time with the dynamic compression . . . I've never noticed it before, thanks for the explanation

[sfnch]

Well, I had a go with the Dynamic Range Compressor and whatever I do with the Threshold, Noise Floor, Ratio, Attack Time or Decay Time, etc, it doesn't seem to make any difference whatsoever to the actual sound in Preview . . .

Oh well, never mind . . . thanks all the same