Audio - lowering only loud parts?

[Dave Partington]

I really don't like the way it crushes the applause after the announcement on the second one, it sounds *really* unnatural.

You aren't normally looking to totally level everything because audio naturally has variations so keeping everything level just sounds unnatural and fake.

A regular compressor or limiter would generally do as good if not better job of this by allowing you to boost the quiet moments and limit the peeks without crushing things so dramatically.

[Matt Thomas]

Originally Posted by Dave Partington

I really don't like the way it crushes the applause after the announcement on the second one, it sounds *really* unnatural.

You aren't normally looking to totally level everything because audio naturally has variations so keeping everything level just sounds unnatural and fake.

A regular compressor or limiter would generally do as good if not better job of this by allowing you to boost the quiet moments and limit the peeks without crushing things so dramatically.

Yeah, that became my issue with it when using it to level the commentary track for live wrestling events I do.

As any one got or know of any tutorials or information on using compressor or limiter to level audio?

I really want to learn more about level/mastering audio levels, but hopefully I have the tools within my edit software as I'm not a fan of doing things in multiple programs.

[Clive McLaughlin]

Originally Posted by Dave Partington

I really don't like the way it crushes the applause after the announcement on the second one, it sounds *really* unnatural.

You aren't normally looking to totally level everything because audio naturally has variations so keeping everything level just sounds unnatural and fake.

A regular compressor or limiter would generally do as good if not better job of this by allowing you to boost the quiet moments and limit the peeks without crushing things so dramatically.

Perhaps a solution would be to have the original audio on another track but pulled down a little?

[Dave Partington]

Try this (it's FCPX but the concepts are the same)

MacBreak Studio: Episode 175 - Using an Audio Compressor in FCPX - YouTube