Dynamic Range

Introduction

Welcome to my week 4 assignment for the Music Production course. Today I am going to look at Dynamic Range and some methods a producer can use to manipulate it.

Dynamic Range

This is simply the difference between the loudest and the quietest sounds in a recording.

The musicians give a natural dynamic range by following their score and playing louder or softer during their performance. The post-production work adjusts the dynamic range to give more feel to the music.

There are a number of areas where dynamic range can be adjusted:

• Macro Scale>
• Transients
• Compression
• Expansion
• Dynamic Processors

The Macro Scale

The producer will look at the overall performance, and will see the relative levels between sections of the recording. They will ride the fader and automate the volume levels to strengthen the difference between verses and the chorus.

Transients

A transient is where the amplitude changes a lot during a short timescale. Examples of transient sounds include snare hits.

Compression

Compression reduces the dynamic range and brings volume levels to all the parts of the music into a similar level.

Expansion

Expansion increases the dynamic range, and gives more emphasis to sections of the music, either by bringing the perceived volume level up or down.

Dynamic Processors

A producer will use a dynamic processor to adjust the level of the audio following rules. Expanders, gates, compressors and limiters are types of dynamic processors.

Threshold

The point that a dynamic processor starts taking effect is known as the threshold. This is measured in dB, and a lower threshold (eg -30dB) means a large portion of the signal will be affected compared to a higher threshold of -5dB.

Ratio

The ratio is how much the processor changes the level once the threshold has been passed. The higher the ratio, the more the signal will change.

A ration of 6:1 means that if the input level is 6dB over the threshold, the output signal will be 1dB over threshold. The gain in this case has been reduced by 5dB.

Attack and Release

Attack and release provide a measure of control over how quickly a compressor acts.

The attack phase is the time when the compressor is decreasing gain to match the level that is set by the ratio. The release phase is when the compressor is increasing gain once the level has fallen below the threshold.

A compressor's attack and release are measured in mS, the time that it takes the gain to change a set amound of dB.

Soft and Hard Knees

The knee is how quickly the effect takes place. A soft knee slowly increases the compression ratio as the level increases and eventually reaches the compression ratio set by the user. The softer knee's reduces the audible change from uncompressed to compressed, especially for higher ratios.

Compression

A downward compressor reduces loud sounds over a certain threshold while quiet sounds remain unaffected.

An upward compressor will increase the loudness of sounds below the threshold while leaving louder sections unchanged.

Both downward and upward compression reduce the dynamic range of an audio signal.

Expanders

An expander increases the dynamic range of an audio signal, and typically are used to make quiet sounds even quieter by reducing the level of the signals that fall below a set threshold level.

A noise gate is a type of expander.

Reflection

I have given a brief introduction to Dynamic Range and the ways that a producer can change the level of a song.
The one thing the producer must consider about above all else is that the essential character of the music is not changed.

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my discussion on Dynamic Range. There is so much to learn about the topic, and it will take a lifetime to fully understand the practical aspects.