Can Someone Explain This To Me?

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Guys - I've been looking at a some tracks in Adobe Audition, trying to understand what the application is telling me. Specifically, I'm interested in the Amplitude Statistics on the right side of the screenshots below.

 

Can someone explain:

 

1. Possibly Clipped Samples

2. Dynamic Range (I know what dynamic rage is, but I don't understand the value used here)

3. Dynamic Range Used

 

 

 

Green Day's American Idiot. (16 bit / 44.1 kHz)

Highly compressed track, I assumed the number of clipped samples would be large, but it's zero.

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Street Dive's Call Off Your Dogs (24 bit / 96 kHz)

Fairly compressed track with dynamic range listed as 74.14 and 74.46

 

 

 

 

Kansas City Symphony's Passacaglia (24 bit / 176.4 kHz)

Almost zero dynamic range compression but the dynamic range is listed as 67 and 68.51, lower than the compressed track above.

 

 

 

 

Anyway, I'm sure I have some misconceptions and misunderstandings about what each of these stats is telling me. Any information you guys can provide will be helpful.

 

Thanks!

[iago]

Dynamic range in this case seems to be the difference between 'Minimum RMS Amplitude' and 'Maximum RMS Amplitude', which is closer to the normal use of this concept in engineering.

 

I believe 'Average RMS Amplitude' in your examples seems to be a better indicator of compression used during recording.

[livelistenlearn]

1) Short story:

 

>> Dynamic Range: Reflects the difference between the Maximum and Minimum RMS Amplitude.

 

>> Dynamic Range Used: Shows the dynamic range minus unusually long periods of low RMS amplitude, such as silent passages.

 

 

2) Long(er) stories that may be helpful:

 

https://helpx.adobe.com/audition/using/analyzing-phase-frequency-amplitude.html

 

https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,92215.0.html

 

 

3) Diana Krall, “In My Life”, Wallflower

 

TT Dynamic Range Meter (RMS) = L (-11.42) + R (-11.58)

Audition CC (Total RMS Amplitude) = L (-11.41) + R (-11.57)

 

TT’s ‘Peak’ and Audition’s ‘Peak Amplitude’ read the same.

 

TT’s ‘Dynamic Range’ (DR) = L (8.19) + R (8.41) = Top 20 of 10,000 samples minus Loudest Peak.

Audition’s Loudness (Legacy) = L (-7.89 dB) + R (-7.64 dB) = Average Amplitude.

[semente]

Track 1 is heavily compressed and limiting has probably been used to avoid clipping, hence the 0 Possibly Clipped Samples:

 

 

Track 3 loud passages probably not very loud, hence the lower dynamic range when compared with track two.

 

R

[james45974]

Chris, I don't have samples from your #2 & #3 pieces but here is an analysis of American Idiot using MusicScope, fyi

[tmtomh]

Hi Guys - I've been looking at a some tracks in Adobe Audition, trying to understand what the application is telling me. Specifically, I'm interested in the Amplitude Statistics on the right side of the screenshots below.

 

Can someone explain:

 

1. Possibly Clipped Samples

2. Dynamic Range (I know what dynamic rage is, but I don't understand the value used here)

3. Dynamic Range Used

 

 

 

Green Day's American Idiot. (16 bit / 44.1 kHz)

Highly compressed track, I assumed the number of clipped samples would be large, but it's zero.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]24423[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

[...]

 

Anyway, I'm sure I have some misconceptions and misunderstandings about what each of these stats is telling me. Any information you guys can provide will be helpful.

 

Thanks!

 

On the Green Day sample, the waveform is compressed, likely with a digital limiter (as semente writes above) that "soft clips" the peaks so they don't distort quite as abruptly or badly as regular clipping. The limiter likely is set for a maximum value just under 0.0 (maximum) - or the limiter is set to a max of 0.0 and then the entire waveform is attenuated slightly so the max value goes below 0.0.

 

There are lots of compressed, limited, "buzzcut" masterings out there where the peak level is below zero, and so an audio-editing program will not detect any clipping. Johnny Marr's album The Messenger comes to mind in this regard.