My first response was exactly on topic. I said if you don't know the threshold, attack, release and compression ratio of what ever compression has been applied, intentionally by the mixer, or in devices, you can not fix it properly with an expander. And if the original has gone thru more than one compression device you'll never get a exact expansion
This is not something you would calculate, you would make an educated guess based from listening and some simple reasoning.
Treat it like a component, evaluate it, discard it if it didn't add value.
The good news is you can try infinitely, and without spending any money.
We don't calculate the brightness of a speaker cable, or an amp, we just try it and decide yes or no.
Sometimes it improves the balance, sometimes it doesn't.
But when you review equipment, and start to describe details, dynamics, focus, imaging, and then you start playing with a DEQ, you have this "aha" moment. Where you hear similar changes as you did when you swapped components all these years.
Thats when you start thinking about what is actually going on. And that is when you come to this discussion about dynamics instead of simply thinking about distortion and frequency response.
Treat it like a component, evaluate it, discard it if it didn't add value.
The good news is you can try infinitely, and without spending any money.
We don't calculate the brightness of a speaker cable, or an amp, we just try it and decide yes or no.
Sometimes it improves the balance, sometimes it doesn't.
But when you review equipment, and start to describe details, dynamics, focus, imaging, and then you start playing with a DEQ, you have this "aha" moment. Where you hear similar changes as you did when you swapped components all these years.
Thats when you start thinking about what is actually going on. And that is when you come to this discussion about dynamics instead of simply thinking about distortion and frequency response.
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and by dynamics i will clarify because that term gets thrown around synonymous with loudness, punch, and power.
By dynamics I mean the relative levels of simultaneously played loud and quiet sounds. If you adjust the dynamics and you hear more brightness, and you have not changed the frequency response, its kind of a realization, that oh yes, this relationship can affect tonal balance in a way that we never measure or think about.
Throw a compressor on, the transient gets relatively louder, it sounds "brighter" but the frequency response measures the same. This is whats going on when we swap components. We just don't realize it.
This is very significant to realize.
By dynamics I mean the relative levels of simultaneously played loud and quiet sounds. If you adjust the dynamics and you hear more brightness, and you have not changed the frequency response, its kind of a realization, that oh yes, this relationship can affect tonal balance in a way that we never measure or think about.
Throw a compressor on, the transient gets relatively louder, it sounds "brighter" but the frequency response measures the same. This is whats going on when we swap components. We just don't realize it.
This is very significant to realize.
oh wait a minute, here is a corroboration of all the concepts I have been trying to relay. I guess my nonsense musings are actually pretty ******* intuitive .
http://www.gattiweb.com/images/dynaudio/technicalinformation.pdf
http://www.gattiweb.com/images/dynaudio/technicalinformation.pdf
If you read about speaker wire, and think about why it sounds so different, you can come to the conclusion that you can manipulate many of the same factors digitally.
When you go and buy transparent, or audio quest, and listen to them, and decide on one and not the other did you calculate the compression in a way to correct your amp?
No you just listened to it, and tried another variation on the compression by switching wires, and subjectively picked one.
Why bother? Get a DEQ and just manually and continuously vary these aspects in a controlled way and stop when it is optimized.
SoundStage! Positive Feedback Reprint
When you go and buy transparent, or audio quest, and listen to them, and decide on one and not the other did you calculate the compression in a way to correct your amp?
No you just listened to it, and tried another variation on the compression by switching wires, and subjectively picked one.
Why bother? Get a DEQ and just manually and continuously vary these aspects in a controlled way and stop when it is optimized.
SoundStage! Positive Feedback Reprint
Dynamics is the ratio of loud to soft sounds, it doesn't matter if they are simultaneous or separate in time. But the tonal balance of an instrument is affected by the ratio of its loud and soft sounds that are very close together in time. The initial pluck of the string, and the resonance .
If you can't hear differences in speaker wire I feel a whole lot relieved from the criticisms you have given.
If you can't hear differences in speaker wire I feel a whole lot relieved from the criticisms you have given.
A digital expander does work on simultaneous sounds loud and soft. If it didn't it wouldn't be an expander. It would just be ducking volume and gaining volume in time. It functions continuously.
I have thought about this stuff for a long time, studied it in school. Went to the same school as Floyd tool.
I don't expect everyone to follow the discussion. It is always upsetting when people lash out though. But its ok. I forgive you. I wish you happiness on your audio journey.
I don't expect everyone to follow the discussion. It is always upsetting when people lash out though. But its ok. I forgive you. I wish you happiness on your audio journey.
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