Process too soft/loud audio with sox

Process too soft/loud audio with sox

[Francesco Ariis]

Hello sox-users,
    I have an audio file which is at times too soft and at times too
loud. I would like to make the soft parts a little bit louder and the
loud parts a little bit softer.

Can sox do this?
-F


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Re: Process too soft/loud audio with sox

[Måns Rullgård]

Francesco Ariis <fa-ml@ariis.it> writes:

> Hello sox-users,
>     I have an audio file which is at times too soft and at times too
> loud. I would like to make the soft parts a little bit louder and the
> loud parts a little bit softer.
>
> Can sox do this?

The 'compand' effect might do what you want.

-- 
Måns Rullgård


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Re: Process too soft/loud audio with sox

[Jeff Learman]

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Yes, it can.  What you're looking for is called dynamic range compression.
That's done using the "compand" effect (which does either compression or
its inverse, expansion.)

First, though, I suggest you not make the loud parts quieter (unless your
source material is 32-bit float and the levels go over 0dBFS.  If you have
no idea what that means, then it's unlikely you have 32-bit float
material.)  So, configure the compand effect to make the material sound
good when you have your speaker volume set so the loudest parts are how you
like them, and make the softer parts louder.  Once that is done, if it's
still too loud for the rest of your music library, you can just reduce the
volume throughout that file.  So, two steps: 1) compress, 2) level-set to
match your playlist.

I haven't used the SoX compand processor and don't know the best settings
for your purpose.  However, this is from the Sox manual:
> The following example might be used to make a piece of music with both
quiet and loud passages suitable for listening to in a noisy environment
such as a moving vehicle:

   sox asz.wav asz-car.wav compand 0.3,1 6:−70,−60,−20 −5 −90 0.2


So that should be worth a try to start with!  See
http://sox.sourceforge.net/sox.html ad search for "compand" for more info.



On Fri, 22 May 2020 at 08:00, Francesco Ariis <fa-ml@ariis.it> wrote:

> Hello sox-users,
>     I have an audio file which is at times too soft and at times too
> loud. I would like to make the soft parts a little bit louder and the
> loud parts a little bit softer.
>
> Can sox do this?
> -F
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Sox-users mailing list
> Sox-users@lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sox-users
>

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Re: Process too soft/loud audio with sox

[Francesco Ariis]

Hello Jeff.
Il 22 maggio 2020 alle 09:16 Jeff Learman ha scritto:
> Yes, it can.  What you're looking for is called dynamic range compression.
> That's done using the "compand" effect (which does either compression or
> its inverse, expansion.)
> 
> […]

I am grateful for your message. It was clear and «actionable» and
made me finally understand what compression is.
I messed around with the parameter from the suggested invocation and
found a sweet, usable spot.
Thanks again
-F



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Re: Process too soft/loud audio with sox

[Eric Wong]

Francesco Ariis <fa-ml@ariis.it> wrote:
> Hello sox-users,
>     I have an audio file which is at times too soft and at times too
> loud. I would like to make the soft parts a little bit louder and the
> loud parts a little bit softer.
> 
> Can sox do this?

compand and mcompand can do it in sox natively.  They're a bit
tricky to learn but fmiser wrote some great posts:

https://sourceforge.net/p/sox/mailman/message/23427259/
https://public-inbox.org/sox-users/20090829011522.cf27e6ee.fmiser@gmail.com/

For simple cases or a final pass after compand/mcompand; I like
tap_limiter from the TAP-plugins LADSPA package:

	sox $IN $OUT ladspa -lr tap_limiter -4 3.5
	(limit to -4dB, add 3.5dB gain)

	http://tap-plugins.sourceforge.net/

I usually use compand or mcompand for recordings which need a
lot of correction.  tap_limiter is good for recordings which
only need a little correction, or after everything else (EQ,
compand/mcompand, etc...)


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Re: Process too soft/loud audio with sox

[Eric Wong]

Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> wrote:
> I usually use compand or mcompand for recordings which need a
> lot of correction.  tap_limiter is good for recordings which
> only need a little correction, or after everything else (EQ,
> compand/mcompand, etc...)

I also meant to add that compand/mcompand is better for
sustained peaks of too-high volume.  tap_limiter is better for
short-duration peaks (mic drops, claps, short-circuits, etc.)


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