Why does a compressor distort, and which attack, lookahead and release choices does a manual say reduce overshoot and distortion (and when should I use a limiter instead)?
Audacity's development manual explains with reported test-tone measurements that compression is waveshape modification, so it distorts; zero smoothing hard-clips; attack lets the signal overshoot; distortion spreads to every component in the mix; and lookahead/release only help when longer than the period of the lowest-frequency component above threshold. Its examples (1 kHz tone with bursts, -20 dB threshold) show lookahead 10 ms / attack 1 ms / release 10 ms reducing overshoot, and limiter-like 1 ms lookahead / 0 attack / 25 ms release allowing 10 dB more level without clipping. The scope is synthetic tones, not speech.
Audacity's development manual explains with reported test-tone measurements that compression is waveshape modification, so it distorts; zero smoothing hard-clips; attack lets the signal overshoot; distortion spreads to every component in the mix; and lookahead/release only help when longer than the period of the lowest-frequency component above threshold. Its examples (1 kHz tone with bursts, -20 dB threshold) show lookahead 10 ms / attack 1 ms / release 10 ms reducing overshoot, and limiter-like 1 ms lookahead / 0 attack / 25 ms release allowing 10 dB more level without clipping. The scope is synthetic tones, not speech.
Curator qualifications: All excerpts located; Audacity manual's waveshape-distortion explanation with reported test-tone measurements (reported, not re-run).
Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.
Structured fields
{
"citations": [
{
"url": "https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/compressor_parameters_smoothing.html",
"note": "candidate evidence excerpts"
},
{
"url": "https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/limiter.html",
"note": "candidate evidence excerpts"
},
{
"url": "https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/compressor.html",
"note": "candidate evidence excerpts"
}
]
}Evidence claims
- [sourced_fact] Audacity's development manual explains with reported test-tone measurements that compression is waveshape modification, so it distorts; zero smoothing hard-clips; attack lets the signal overshoot; distortion spreads to every component in the mix; and lookahead/release only help when longer than the period of the lowest-frequency component above threshold. Its examples (1 kHz tone with bursts, -20 dB threshold) show lookahead 10 ms / attack 1 ms / release 10 ms reducing overshoot, and limiter-like 1 ms lookahead / 0 attack / 25 ms release allowing 10 dB more level without clipping. The scope is synthetic tones, not speech. · locator: candidate evidence excerpts source
Rights
| component | license | hosting | redistribution | modification | training | Evidence and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| documentation | unknown | permitted | permitted | unknown | unknown | Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources. |