compressing with wavelab/sonic foundry

[Equality 7-2521]

which plugin/tool should i use to compress with?

i tried "time compress/expand" but it didnt do anything except change the pitch of the track with a time stretch style effect.

i have wavelab 3.0 and sonic foundry plugins in wavelab.

let me know if thats not enough information.

cheers

 

[mbiafb]

Hard to give a general answer to which one you should compress with. Compressors give different results and are often specialized for different purposes. i have not used wavelab in awhile but I am sure it does not have just one compressor. Sonic Foundry's products contain several as well. Some, like Wavhammer are designed to do final compressing and volume maximizing to overall mix. where as the track compressor found in Acid is just that, a small compressor designed to do light compression on individual tracks. Your best bet is to check out the manual for each program to see what each compressor is geared towards. even going into "help" might give you answers. Even then, you will find yourself having to do a lot of trial and error with wavelab, soundforge as well as many other 3rd party compressors before deciding which sound you like best. remember

BTW, the "time compress/expand" is not a compressor. It is used for time stretching. As I said, i have not used wavlelab in forever, but most editors have the compressor plugins under the "dynamics" menu since that is essentially what a compressor controls.

 

[joeburnem]

Try the "Wave Hammer" in Sound Forge

 

[nas2000xl]

if you are using a compressor on your final mix then use wavelab multiband compressor

 

[Medicine Man]

What you're doing Mr. Messenger is changing the length of your track. For compression you want to use DYNAMICS. Sonic Foundry has a few different types of dynamic plug-ins. Even though the time compression/expansion plug-in uses the word compression, it will just change your track by either making it longer or shorter, thus changing the pitch like you said. You need to use the dynamic's plug-in to compress the frequency range of your track. I have been using Sound Forge and Acid for like 8 years so feel free to ask me any more sonic foundry questions.

 

[Equality 7-2521]

ok so going by what nas2000xl and medicin man say i should use the "multiband dynamics".

how does that sound?

 

[eka]

Originally posted by nas2000xl
if you are using a compressor on your final mix then use wavelab multiband compressor

I use that one also much.
I just select a preset and start tweaking from there.
it gives good results.

 

[Medicine Man]

Mr. Messenger- Actually you don't want to use multiband dynamics.Multiband dynamics is used mostly for mastering a stereo track. It compresses a track at four seperate frequencys. I think you would want to use a stereo compressor. It really depends on why you want to compress a certain sound. But shit, I dont have the internet at my pad right now so I cant just open sound forge and check the exact name because I'm on my friends cpu. I'll find out the exact plug-in then hit you back man, but it sounds like your on the right track.

 

[eka]

http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.php?item=2&subItem=3

maybe this one helps.
it is just a basic compressor but it sounds great and it is free.
I use it on all my drums.

 

[Equality 7-2521]

thanks for all the help guys

Medicin Man: i want to compress so i can get my track to have the smooth feeling to it. ive done Eqing and now im supposed to compress. basically im trying to learn the whole process of mastering/engeneering a beat. hit me back.