Tools: You Get What You Pay For

All kinds of audio processing tools are available to assist you in your quest for sonic clarity in spite of low bit rate encoding. You can use software on your authoring computer as a discrete package, as a plug-in, or even as part of a larger audio software bundle. You can use a standalone piece of hardware. You can get stuff for free or for almost nothing, or you can pay enormous amounts of money. As the title of this section states, like automobile tires, you get what you pay for. A little research into what kind of gear is best to fold into your particular audio chain will be worth the effort.

Different tools perform in different ways. For example, most waveform editors (such as Peak and SoundForge) operate on existing digital files. However, most standalone hardware (Orban, Telos, and so on) requires a live input source. Other software tools (OtsJuke, Waves, and so on) allow you to optimize live streams from your computer.

Most software and hardware audio tools come with built-in presets that are good starting points. Audio optimization tools marketed for streaming media typically name presets as authoring scenarios (such as "56K dial-up modem," and so on). If you're just getting into audio optimization, start with these presets and experiment.

Various forms of hardware are available to compress and equalize your source audio prior to encoding. This is usually done by placing the hardware in the audio chain before the authoring computer. After your audio is on your computer, it is rarely sent through standalone hardware unless that hardware is extremely high-quality professional gear. Nonetheless, if you have no other option, you can get away with using inexpensive hardware when receiving a live input prior to encoding. This stage finds a hardware equalizer, compressor, or limiter to be useful. When encoding at low bit rates, even an inexpensive compressor is usually better then none at all.

By now, you should be comfortable finding your way around a software waveform editor. All the features described in the following sections behave similarly, regardless of the individual application or operating system. The options are usually named in an obvious way such as, "Equalization," "Normalize," "Fade In/Out," and so on. If you're in doubt about where to find a specific feature, look in the help system or documentation of your waveform editor. Waveform editor software typically comes with basic equalization, DC offset, and normalize features. Some of these products include a compression (or "dynamics filter") feature, whereas other waveform editors need third party plug-ins. For example, SoundForge (Windows) has all of the previously mentioned features, but Peak (Macintosh) requires a third party plug-in to handle compression. The audio software company Waves makes a suite of plug-ins that are commonly used by a wide variety of software tools. These and other plug-in products match seamlessly with waveform editors and multitrack editing software to expand the waveform editor's functionality (see the Appendix).

For more information about common compressors, equalizers, and so forth, see the Appendix.