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Digital Dynamic Range Compressor Design—A Tutorial and Analysis

Unlike common digital signal processing algorithms, dynamic range compressors are nonlinear systems with memory. Furthermore, there is no single established design approach. Thus, they allow for a large number of implementations, each with very different behavior. Following an analysis of the various design choices, the authors recommend feed-forward algorithms because they are stable and predictable. The detector is placed in the log domain after the gain computer since this generates a smooth envelope, no attack lag, and a variable knee width. Objective measures of compressor performance are also used and discussed, and source code and audio examples are available on line.

Authors: Giannoulis, Dimitrios; Massberg, Michael; Reiss, Joshua D.
Affiliation: Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
JAES Volume 60 Issue 6 pp. 399-408; June 2012 Import into BibTeX

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