Soundcloud - waveform

[nowaysj]

According to what you said does the waveform depend exclusively on compression or does it depend also on the eq'ing process?

Audio is a trip, it is all the same thing frequency and dynamics, and when it is not, when you've forced discreteness upon it, each is the other.

But simply, a waveform where most of the peaks are heading up to the maximum has less dynamic range. That can be achieved in a number of ways, which again are all the same thing, but you take different paths there. Compression, you know is one, limiting, and outright distortion/saturation. These all can work to reduce peaks, therefor allowing an overall louder mix.

But eq plays a large part of loudness. When individual sounds are clear, and have sufficient room in the mix, they can be quieter, allowing you to spend more energy elsewhere. Also certain frequencies (mid and upper midrange) are going to make a mix sound louder. Loudness is not just about dynamic range.

So, to get a louder fuller sound, yeah you should be carefully removing energy from where it doesn't need to be with eq, as well as reducing the dynamic range into your desired zone. Basically you should be mixing well.

Read that moneyshot thread, it is extremely helpful.

[skimpi]

http://www.studyphysics.ca/newnotes/20/ ... sson44.htm

Read that.

Left and right isnt frequency, obviously if you are really zoomed in on a waveform then you can tell if its high or low frequency from the size of the waves cycle, but in soundcloud waveforms, there is no way of telling if it is high or low frequency as the waveform is too small, and how squashed the waveform is width ways depends on the length of the track as a 2 min track and 7 min track will be the same width waveform on soundcloud.

Also the height is relative to everything else in the track, the top of the waveform may not be 0db, it is just the loudest part of the waveform. If you have a constant tone at -30db then it will look like a big fat block, filling up the whole space as -30db is the loudest point of the waveform.