Apply Compressor settings in Audacity

Demo summary
The demonstrator configures the Audacity compressor by adjusting threshold, makeup gain, and ratio settings to flatten the vocal dynamics.
Step-by-step
- Go to Effect
- Select Volume and Compression
- Click Compressor
- Set Threshold to -20
- Set Makeup Gain to 3
- Set Knee Width to 5
- Adjust the Ratio based on your content type
- Click Apply
Options
- Set Ratio to 8 or 5 for harsh compression (Radio Imaging)
- Set Ratio to 2 or 3 for spoken word (Podcasting)
Tips
- Use a higher ratio like 8 to achieve a huge amount of compression that flattens the audio out
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3:500:09Second normalization pass in AudacityA second normalization step is demonstrated to bring the compressed audio back to the target -1 dB level.Mike Russell
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