{"id":30411,"date":"2015-05-09T15:28:51","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T15:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vskills.in\/certification\/blog\/?p=30411"},"modified":"2024-04-03T13:16:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T07:46:50","slug":"what-is-audio-compression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vskills.in\/certification\/blog\/what-is-audio-compression\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Audio Compression?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"What<\/a><\/p>\n

There are two kinds of audio compression, and they\u2019re not the same. But people get them confused all the time, and it\u2019s driving me nuts.<\/p>\n

Imagine you\u2019re holding a sponge.Now squash it in your fist.<\/p>\n

When you squash the sponge, it takes up less space. The more you squash it, the less like a sponge it looks. But when you release it it springs back again, unharmed.<\/p>\n

You can do the same thing to audio \u2013 that\u2019s audio compression. Good old-fashioned audio compression, as has been widely used in pop music since the 60s at least \u2013 The Beatles started using it on Paul\u2019s bass around the time of \u201cPaperback Writer\u201d and from then onwards, for example.<\/p>\n

Using a compressor on audio does the same thing as your fist does to the sponge \u2013 it squashes it into a smaller space, so it can be packed more densely. When you record a compressed audio signal it\u2019s like taking a photograph of the squashed sponge \u2013 the results become \u201clocked in\u201d. If you squash it so much that it doesn\u2019t \u201clook like a sponge\u201d any more and then record it, you\u2019ve dramatically changed the sound of the original audio.<\/p>\n

This is known as ‘dynamic range compression'[DRC], and it\u2019s used to control very lively sounds (like the human voice, or a bass guitar) to reduce contrast \u2013 originally to make the most of the limited \u201cheadroom\u201d on radio and vinyl, and often as a creative effect.<\/p>\n

In the past this was all done with analogue electronics \u2013 valves and transistors \u2013 but nowadays you can get digital audio compressors that do the same thing. Musicians and sound engineers argue about whether digital compressors sound as good as analogue compressors, but they do the same job.<\/p>\n

If you overdo compression, it often sounds bad \u2013 and modern digital compressors have enabled people to take that to a whole new level. But that\u2019s a whole other discussion\u2026<\/p>\n

Back to the sponges<\/p>\n

Now get your sponge, and cut it up with scissors.<\/p>\n

It no longer looks like sponge, right ?<\/p>\n

BUT (and this is where the sponge analogy breaks down a little, I admit) if you had some magic \u201csponge glue\u201d, you could re-assemble the sponge to it\u2019s original self again, if you were careful about how you labelled the pieces in the first place.<\/p>\n

Now of course there\u2019s no such thing as \u201cmagic sponge glue\u201d in the real world \u2013 that would just be silly (!) \u2013 but in the digital world of computers, there absolutely is.<\/p>\n

Once the sponge (or the music, are you still with me ?) is recorded as digital information, it can be chopped up, re-packed into half the original size, sent halfway round the world and re-assembled again \u2013 perfectly. No magic sponge glue is required \u2013 the reconstructed digital sponge is identical to the original digital sponge.<\/p>\n

This what happens when you make a zip file of something before you email it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s called lossless data compression – \u201ccompression\u201d because the original digital items data is re-packed into a smaller space, and \u201clossless\u201d because nothing gets damaged along the way \u2013 but it\u2019s an entirely digital process, and it\u2019s nothing like dynamic range compression (sponge squashing) at all \u2013 either the analogue or the digital variety.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where it gets really messy for the sponge<\/p>\n

NOW imagine that instead of cutting the sponge up with scissors, you gouge it\u2019s heart out.<\/p>\n

(Relax, sponge-fans, this is just a thought experiment ! No sponges were harmed during the writing of this post.)<\/p>\n

Seriously \u2013 cut a small hole in the sponge and pick all the insides out, until you\u2019re left with only a thin outer shell. If you\u2019re careful, you\u2019ll end up with something that still looks like the original sponge. It\u2019s had it\u2019s heart ripped out, true \u2013 but it still looks OK.<\/p>\n

The digital equivalent of this process is also known as data-compression \u2013 but it\u2019s different to the \u201cchop-up-and-reassemble\u201d variety, because at the end of the process, 90% of the original sponge is missing.<\/p>\n

This is what happens when you make a jpeg or mp3 file, and it\u2019s called lossy data compression. \u201cCompression\u201d because again, it\u2019s been squashed into a (much) smaller space, and \u201clossy\u201d because something has been lost \u2013 the 90%.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to notice that the process is permanent \u2013 once the heart of the sponge is thrown away, you can\u2019t put it back. So, you need to be careful which bits of the sponge you pick out, and not to take too much away. In the same way, it\u2019s vital to make a good job of using lossy compression on your audio when encoding an mp3 file.<\/p>\n

The chances are though, looking at the digital sponge after lossy compression, you won\u2019t spot the difference \u2013 in the same way that many people don\u2019t notice the quality lost in an mp3 encode.<\/p>\n

What does all this have to do with Neil Young, Bob from St Etienne and the PM show ?<\/p>\n

Both over-squashing a musical sponge, and gouging the heart out of it, damage the sponge.<\/p>\n

In the same way, both over-compressing music when recording it, and mp3 encoding it, can spoil the music.<\/p>\n

And both of these happen all the time, at the moment \u2013 music is hugely over-compressed in futile attempts to win the so-called Loudness War \u2013 and most people listen to music that has been through lossy compression almost exclusively.<\/p>\n

Digital TV uses lossy data-compression, digital radio uses it, mp3 files use it, the iTunes store uses it, Spotify uses it\u2026<\/p>\n

So, both the compression have made listening to music more easy and better upto a certain extent, but over-compression is taking the life out of the music, and the sponge.<\/p>\n

Click here for government certification in Media<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are two kinds of audio compression, and they\u2019re not the same. But people get them confused all the time, and it\u2019s driving me nuts. Imagine you\u2019re holding a sponge.Now squash it in your fist. When you squash the sponge, it takes up less space. The more you squash it, the less like a sponge…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1152,"featured_media":30504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1405],"tags":[3662,1876,1015],"class_list":["post-30411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-compression","tag-data","tag-music"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Audio Compression? - Vskills Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find out what DRC and DC mean with respect to audio compression. Apply for a Vskills certification in Media now. 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