Using Har-Bal to analyze dynamic properties
Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 5:36 pm
In a quest to find out more about how some of my favourite albums were compressed, I got the idea that the difference btwn the average power plot and the peak power plot could tell something about the compression - not really sure what exactly - so I loaded a track both as reference and source.
First approach: I moved the whole average plot (green curve) roughly so it overlayed the reference peak plot (yellow), then I finematched the overlay by hand. The result was not positive in regards to the overall sound of the song, but somehow it all became more even distributed. It sounded like all the hard compressed areas were reduced in volume.
Second approach: Instead of overlaying the average onto the peak power plot, I did the opposite (somewhat problematic due to the default cursorsnapping to the green curve, but not impossible), so the yellow curve was matched to the green. The result of this transformation again was not positive, and resulted in a more boomy sound, like all the hard compressed areas got higher in volume.
The interesting part comes when you shift view to the frequency response after overlaying one curve upon the other. Now you see the difference between the power and the peak plot. The closer the curve is zero, the less difference you have between the power and peak plot. What does this tell us? That these areas "close to zero" in the frequency response are more compressed or what?
I'm interested comments about comparison of the curves and their difference. If anything at all what exactly does this tell us in regards to compression? Is it useful for anything at all (not only in regards to compression)?
First approach: I moved the whole average plot (green curve) roughly so it overlayed the reference peak plot (yellow), then I finematched the overlay by hand. The result was not positive in regards to the overall sound of the song, but somehow it all became more even distributed. It sounded like all the hard compressed areas were reduced in volume.
Second approach: Instead of overlaying the average onto the peak power plot, I did the opposite (somewhat problematic due to the default cursorsnapping to the green curve, but not impossible), so the yellow curve was matched to the green. The result of this transformation again was not positive, and resulted in a more boomy sound, like all the hard compressed areas got higher in volume.
The interesting part comes when you shift view to the frequency response after overlaying one curve upon the other. Now you see the difference between the power and the peak plot. The closer the curve is zero, the less difference you have between the power and peak plot. What does this tell us? That these areas "close to zero" in the frequency response are more compressed or what?
I'm interested comments about comparison of the curves and their difference. If anything at all what exactly does this tell us in regards to compression? Is it useful for anything at all (not only in regards to compression)?