Sound Compression

October 29, 2009 4:31 AM

Is there an audio plugin that will emulate the mono sound compression used by AM radio stations?
posted by Yakuman to technology (8 comments total)

Do you mean one that will turn mono into stereo? No.
posted by gjc at 7:44 AM on October 29

I remember looking for this once but the best thing I came up with was a compression plugin with a fast attack, slow release and a high ratio (at least 10:1). Also an eq with a lot of the highs rolled off, maybe all the way down to 3k.

Also I added noise to the signal before it went to the compressor. There is a free Bombfactory plugin for ProTools called Funk Logic Mastererizer. I thought it was the most useless plugin until I needed it for this. It just makes noise. It can do a background static pretty well.

If you can find something similar for the software you use, give it a try. Try changing the signal flow around (eq-->comp or comp-->eq) and see what you get.
posted by chillmost at 7:54 AM on October 29

Hmm, did I misunderstand your question? Do you want to make something sound like it has that old dirty AM radio sound? More info please.
posted by chillmost at 8:08 AM on October 29

I am not sure if you are referring to a specific, stereo-to-mono compressor-used-by-broadcasters, or just in general want your stereo tracks to sound like they are being pumped through a mono radio.. in any case, you can probably not go wrong with Speakerphone.

You can (but do not HAVE to) run the signal through various radios, there is a compressor, and there is a AM/FM/etc signal degradation modulator. All process can be swapped between mono/stereo operation and modulated.
posted by gmm at 8:23 AM on October 29

He wants something that sucks all the life out of the sound until it sounds like it is coming from a cheap 1970's clock radio. It's a fabulous effect when used properly. (see Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here").
posted by Goofyy at 8:48 AM on October 29

No, it's not the cheap speaker sound he wants, or at least I don't think so. It's the dynamic range compression that levels out the loud and soft sounds to make them audible at the same volume setting. I have it on my radio/CD player and it really makes old blues CDs sound a lot better.
posted by Pistol at 9:19 AM on October 29

Mix to mono in Audacity and use the compressor. If you want to get artistic about hiss, clicks and pops this thread may help.
posted by jet_silver at 11:36 AM on October 29

I'm thinking of the sort of compression that big-city AM radio stations use to create a "hot" mono sound.


Here's the sort of compression I want (skip the intro). This is from 1979:

I've been trying to duplicate that sound for years. In the old days they used a lot of expensive broadcast engineering equipment.
posted by Yakuman at 5:45 PM on October 29