That’s very helpful Robert, thank you. Gosh I wish I’d known about this 50
years ago, although Audacity wasn’t around then.
On 4 Feb 2021, at 11:38 am, Robert Hänggi <aarjay.robert@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Some tips on the order:
Equalization normally comes first. Especially the low end should be cleaned up.
It's enough to apply a high pass filter there, e.g. 12 dB/Octave at
100 Hz for a male voice.
It is also good to de-ess the vocal (at 4 to 8 kHz) since all those
sounds are usually louder after compression. If the high frequencies
are generally to bright, you could use bass and treble to reduce them
a bit.
Considering also a noise gate to push background noise further down
before applying compression. The noise reduction tool is in the same
category, the difference is that it is multi-band instead of a single
band ordinary noise gate.
You can of course also apply equalization a second time after
compression to balance the spectrum further, e.g. to bring back low
end or lift it all by adding presence (high shelf at 8 to 15 kHz).
As usual, I recommend the free TDR SlickEQ because it can adjust the
output level automatically. It's thus a great learning tool since you
can adjust a specific frequency and hear how the rest of the spectrum
will change.
Robert
On 04/02/2021, Brian Williams <werewolvesdad@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Andrew, a very interesting article you linked to. At first reading sounds
quite complicated but, where I am, it’s only 7 o’clock in the morning. Will
listen later in the day and experiment. Thank you for your help, very useful
your help and advice is much appreciated. Best wishes
Brian.
On 4 Feb 2021, at 3:32 am, Andrew Downie <access_tech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi Brian
I delayed a response, hoping that someone with more expertise would reply.
So, from someone with rudimentary knowledge, here is a start.
Compression
I found a good summary of the various parameters on this page. There are
some visual references, but the text describes things pretty well.
I suggest you read it, perhaps after reading my brief discussion.
If you check out the Compressor under the Effects Menu in Audacity, some of
the parameters they describe, notably knee, are not offered. However, most
are.
One thing I noticed when using Audacity’s compressor with NVDA, Narrator and
JAWS is that when tabbing through the parameters percentage values rather
than actual values are given. The relevant setting, such as minus 12dB, is
not announced without using Review. Happy to provide specifics for getting
those important values if required.
The really important parameters are threshold and ratio. If, for example,
you set a noise floor of minus 15dB nothing below that level will have its
gain adjusted. A higher ratio will result in increased compression. A
ratio of 1:1 will do nothing. A ratio of 2:1 will, for example, reduce a
signal 2dB above the threshold to 1dB above the threshold.
As the article mentioned above said, use your ears to judge the merit of the
compression. I have found that for spoken word, especially mine, I need to
use quite aggressive settings to even out fluctuations. That also increases
the risk of amplifying unwanted sounds.
Equalisation
The concept is simple, but making suitable adjustments can be tedious. As
with compression, you need to listen to the sound and decide what sounds you
want to highlight and which ones you want to push into the background.
Check out the graphic Eq in Audacity. For frequencies between 20dB and
20,000dB you can raise or lower the level. In this case, NVDA reads the dB
values, but JAWS does not.
There are more sophisticated equalisers. However, the graphic Eq in
Audacity will amply demonstrate what happens when you change values for
various frequencies.
Andrew
From: audacity4blind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<audacity4blind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Brian Williams
Sent: Monday, 1 February 2021 6:47 PM
To: audacity4blind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [audacity4blind] Compression and equalisation
Hi all has anyone recorded any tips on equalisation and compression? I’ve
looked on YouTube but nearly all the videos after do it visually by saying,
“we do it by the soundwave here,“ or “we just adjust it By clicking here
and by clicking here and here.“
Brian
