Re: How can I compress audio?

Thanks for all your help, but my new desktop computer is a Dell Inspiron 3880.  Are there any free (completely free rather than a free trial or anything else) software programs or plug-ins that I can download and install to use with my Windows Media Player 12.0 that I have on Windows 10?  Thanks again for any further help!  I've also found "Quiet Mode" & "Loudness Equalization" being discussed on the Internet in reference to dynamic range compression with Windows Media Player and/or Windows 10, but I can't seem to be able to find them easily anywhere on my PC!

On Wednesday, August 4, 2021 at 1:46:11 PM UTC-4, Paul wrote:
> 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