The Over-Compression Problem

By KOSMAS LAPATAS
THE PROBLEM
Imagine mastering your mixes without causing the lifeless, squashed, and
over compressed sound that has become so common in modern music. We
have all been at the mercy of the loudness wars for over ten years now.
Masters have become louder and louder, at the expense of the music
becoming harsh and lacking punch and dynamics.
One of the main causes of this epidemic is the use of the Peak Limiter to
achieve increased levels in the mastering stage. Peak limiters attenuate
transients and often reduce punch, stereo imaging, can greatly alter mix
balances, and cause a fatiguing result to the ears.
Some of the top mastering engineers have found ways to combat this sonic
degradation by using techniques other than Peak Limiting. One of the more
popular techniques is the use of saturation in both the analog and digital
domain. Another popular method is clipping the front end of expensive
A/D converters.
However, both of these methods, while usually more unobtrusive than peak
limiting, have their downfalls. Static saturation curves are not universal in
their ability to sound good on all transients. Clipping greatly reduces low
end punch and is very poor at retaining sub bass. Both static saturation
and clipping have a small window of gain maximizing before audible
distortion.

THE SOLUTION
Intelligent Transient Preservation (ITP)
The ITP process uses a complex look ahead detection algorithm to analyze
oncoming transients and groups of transients. It then optimizes a specialized
set of saturation curves for that specific transient. For example, if the ITP
algorithm's look ahead identifies a kick drum transient, it will optimize the
algorithm so that it preserves low frequency energy. For a snare drum
transient, it will optimize the algorithm to preserve upper mid-range punch.
The result is the most transparent means of level maximization the industry
has ever heard, with extreme transparency, and no degrading artifacts
common to peak limiters.
In the rare case that a mix has poor frequency balance or small bursts of
low frequency energy (such as a quick floor tom hit), a safety slider
prevents unwanted distortions or crackles, that until now have been
extremely hard to prevent or tame. The dynamic multiband safety algorithm
reacts quickly and backs off quickly, allowing the overall level to remain
transparent and create worry free masters without artifacts.
Some mastering compressor plug-ins try to emulate vintage analog units and
add color, harmonics, and different filters that change the way your mix
sounds. ITP is a true mastering quality compressor meant to control the
dynamics of your mix in the most transparent way possible, not to color
it with digitally modeled harmonics or distortions. This advanced dynamics
algorithm is so transparent, you'll wonder if its on.