The Over-Compression Problem

By KOSMAS LAPATAS

THE PROBLEM

Imagine mastering your mixes without causing the lifeless, squashed, and

over compressed sound that has become so common in modern music. We

have all been at the mercy of the “loudness wars” for over ten years now.

Masters have become louder and louder, at the expense of the music

becoming harsh and lacking punch and dynamics.

One of the main causes of this epidemic is the use of the Peak Limiter to

achieve increased levels in the mastering stage. Peak limiters attenuate

transients and often reduce punch, stereo imaging, can greatly alter mix

balances, and cause a fatiguing result to the ears.

Some of the top mastering engineers have found ways to combat this sonic

degradation by using techniques other than Peak Limiting. One of the more

popular techniques is the use of saturation in both the analog and digital

domain. Another popular method is clipping the front end of expensive

A/D converters.

However, both of these methods, while usually more unobtrusive than peak

limiting, have their downfalls. Static saturation curves are not universal in

their ability to sound good on all transients. Clipping greatly reduces low

end punch and is very poor at retaining sub bass. Both static saturation

and clipping have a small window of gain maximizing before audible

distortion.

THE SOLUTION

‘’Intelligent Transient Preservation’’ (ITP)

The ITP process uses a complex look ahead detection algorithm to analyze

oncoming transients and groups of transients. It then optimizes a specialized

set of saturation curves for that specific transient. For example, if the ITP

algorithm's look ahead identifies a kick drum transient, it will optimize the

algorithm so that it preserves low frequency energy. For a snare drum

transient, it will optimize the algorithm to preserve upper mid-range punch.

The result is the most transparent means of level maximization the industry

has ever heard, with extreme transparency, and no degrading artifacts

common to peak limiters.

In the rare case that a mix has poor frequency balance or small bursts of

low frequency energy (such as a quick floor tom hit), a safety slider

prevents unwanted distortions or crackles, that until now have been

extremely hard to prevent or tame. The dynamic multiband safety algorithm

reacts quickly and backs off quickly, allowing the overall level to remain

transparent and create worry free masters without artifacts.

Some mastering compressor plug-ins try to emulate vintage analog units and

add color, harmonics, and different filters that change the way your mix

sounds. ITP is a true mastering quality compressor meant to control the

dynamics of your mix in the most transparent way possible, not to color

it with digitally modeled harmonics or distortions. This advanced dynamics

algorithm is so transparent, you'll wonder if it’s on.