Compression victory! I've fixed up my new compression algorithm and it's instantly improved things. I rarely use any E.Q. or compression; for me, these are attempts to repair composition problems (what I mean is, I design instruments to fill those gaps rather than use the wrong instrument and then try to adjust it).
But sometimes these things can be vital, particularly for bass and vocals. Bass because changes in the note itself can audibly change the volume, anything filtered will make the higher notes literally quieter, and electronic bass sounds in particular often use low pass filters, and all mics have variable frequency peaks.
What I wanted to try was a tool to compress a specific frequency range, like a band-pass filter and compressor, remixed into the original signal, so I've programmed that today and it's produced good results already. It also creates some interesting soft and fuzzy distortion effects if desired. This weird analogue sounding compression doesn't seem to be like other compressors; changes in the tracking parameters (attack, release) transform the output level dramatically because its directly related, rather than merely using this tracker as a gate sensor. This is a good thing, it can produce interesting sound effects, and all parameters can be controlled to pull anything back (or push it forward) as needed anyway.
In the end I've used two volume tracers; one plain one which gradually (you can adjust the sluggishness) follows the sound wave. A second one will dip to zero when below the threshold value and climb to one when above it. That is used to feed through the compressed signal, and (inversely) feed through the dry data when below the threshold. The original signal is simply divided by the inverse of the first volume tracer. Everything can be phase inverted if desired, although that's probably not useful. The strength of the total effect faded away too, if you wanted just a touch of it.
The new effect which I call Band Wire Compression is a compressor, noise gate (you can switch off compression and just have the gate if you wanted staccato effects), distortion pedal, and a band-pass or peaking filter (as desired).
This work made me think that some music practices are outdated now. Compression can be used to even out a drum kit, or even out the loud/soft bits of a performance but for electronic instruments, digital music is often too even and needs roughening up, if anything. The Marius Fate album was my first to benefit from deliberate variations in intensity so that no note was the same twice, making it sound more human. The compress such things would be a backwards step.
Now, to move on. Already a busy day. Nick Mee came to visit, and tonight it's poetry night in Nantwich, although I'm unsure if I can make it there. I might find or write a poem on the subject anyway.
