Re: How can I compress audio?

David K wrote:
> Sorry about being an idiot at this type of stuff, but I've noticed on my new computer (Windows 10) that the loudest parts of music CD's that I play on it are way too loud, but the softest parts are way too faint or quiet.  It surely wasn't like this on my old (previous) computer.
> 
> So are there any options on my new computer that will compress the dynamic range (again, sorry about being an idiot, but I'm not sure what I'm talking about when it comes to computers, audio,  and music) so that the loudest parts are reduced in volume but the softest parts are made louder?
> 
> Please help...thank you very much!

Audacity has filters of various sorts.

It can reprocess a file for you.

But it's also possible the computer settings
are wrong at the driver level.

Please give some details, such as make and model and sub-model information.
Dell Inspiron 1234-2236. Some computers, the "major" model number gives
the era, while the "minor" model number might specify the kitting of
parts inside.

You can also do:

Start : Run : devmgmt.msc (Device Manager)

and look at the Properties:Details of the analog sound device. Then
look for an item in Details called Hardware Ids.

    HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_11D4&DEV_198B&SUBSYS_1043829C

Part of the information at the beginning, is the bus the
device was detected on. The HDAudio high-speed serial bus
has room for several HDAudio devices, but most of the
time there is only the one device. (The second device
could be part of a dialup modem.)

The VEN and DEV are the Vendor of the HDAudio chip (RealTek
maybe), the DEV tells you what chip it is. The SUBSYS traces
the HDAudio device to a specific motherboard model, but usually
there is no master list of what one is which. For example,
1043 is Asus, but we don't know what motherboard 829C is.

*******

There are two drivers available, both traceable to RealTek.

The bare-bones register level driver, is what Windows 10 downloads
from the Microsoft server. That, and some fairly plain looking
controls, provides ~1Vrms amplitude analog audio. There would
be no entry in Programs and Features control panel for this.
(Start : Run : control.exe to get to control panels, Pin to Taskbar)

But RealTek also makes a driver package which would include
their idea of a control panel. In there, you would look
for "special effects" and turn them off, if you thought
loudness compensation was being applied.

Summary: I would prefer to believe that none of your previous
          files need to be edited in the way you suggest, and
          instead, some "mutilation" at the driver level is involved.
          Perhaps even, some cruftware that ships with the PC
          that pretends to be "Gods gift to multimedia" :-)
          An example of real-time processing on a PC, is the
          graphic equalizer, which changes the gain as a function
          of frequency.

https://i.postimg.cc/9z5GH1BN/realtek-audio-driver.gif   [Picture]

    Paul