Digital Media

2 articles

Tech 12 Sep 2026 8 min read

What Dynamic Range Compression Changes in Everyday Audio

A film can have dialogue that feels too quiet, then jump to an action scene that sends you reaching for the volume control. Music, podcasts, games, televisions, and audio apps can produce similar changes. One feature that can reduce those jumps is dynamic range compression. Dynamic range compression changes the relationship between quieter and louder parts of an audio signal. It can make loud moments less far removed from the rest of the programme, which is useful when listening at low volume or in a noisy room. It is not the same as simply turning the volume down, and it is not the same as loudness normalization.

Audio Dynamic Range

Tech 06 Sep 2026 8 min read

How Loudness Normalization Keeps Audio Volume More Consistent

You may play two songs at the same volume setting and find that one sounds much louder than the other. The same thing can happen when moving between videos, podcasts, or other audio. Reaching for the volume control each time is inconvenient, so many playback systems offer some form of loudness normalization. Loudness normalization tries to make different pieces of audio start from a more consistent perceived loudness. It does not flatten every quiet and loud moment into one level, and it does not guarantee that every recording will sound identical in volume.

Audio Loudness