What is Compression? (Audio Processing)

When producing audio it’s almost always necessary to use some type of audio compression.

The process of Compression reduces the dynamic range of audio. Dynamic range is the difference in loudness between the quietest parts of the audio signal and the loudest parts of the audio signal. Meaning, it’s the difference in loudness between a podcast participant mumbling quietly under their breath and then screaming or laughing really loud.

Raw recordings with no compression applied are usually much too dynamic and deliver a horrible listening experience; listeners are forced to “ride the volume knob” which means to manually turn down loud parts and manually turn up quiet parts. NOTE: Listeners will do this for about 30 seconds before turning off that podcast and never listening again.

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