Acoustica Premium 7.0.41 - suggestion about Volume modules

[Paulo-Brazil]

Mr. Stian,

I refer to Acoustica Premium 7.0.41, running on Windows 10 Professional 64-bit.

A question and suggestion about the Volume Curve and the Volume modules of Acoustica.

The task of both modules is to either reduce or increase the volume of the audio, in one region (Volume module) or in several regions (Volume Curve module - in that case, the regions are defined by the volume curve). But, as far as I can understand, things are dealt with differently in the two modules when it comes to vocabulary and mathematical scales.

We have two different scales, with different names and units, when dealing with volume: (1) in the Volume module, the scale is called "Volume level", and it is in decibels (db), but (2) in the Volume Curve module, the scale is called "Gain", in percentage (%).

In the Volume Curve module, a gain of 100% corresponds to no modification in the audio volume, which is the point at 0 db in the Volume module scale. A gain of 200% seems to correspond to an increase in the audio volume of 6 db in the Volume module scale.

In the Volume module, a "volume level" of, say, 3 db in fact amounts to a gain, and increase, of 3 db - not an absolute volume level of 3 db.

I am a newcomer to audio software, as you well know, but I think all that somewhat confusing. Both modules perform essentially the same task, so it seems to me that scales and terminology should be consistent between them.

In iZotope RX6 Advanced, the module that corresponds to the Volume module of Acoustica is called "Gain", but with the scale also in decibels. From the RX6 documentation:

The gain module is useful for bringing the level of your audio up or down. (...) GAIN: Boosts or cuts the level of the signal by the designated decibel amount.

So, there seems also to be a lack of consistency in terminology among audio editors - something not unexpected.

In my mind, a gain of 100% should correspond to a doubling of the signal magnitude. No modification in the audio should be expressed by a gain of 0%. Gain should also be allowed to be negative, a reduction in the signal magnitude in that case.

So, my question: is there any special technical reason for our having different vocabularies and scales between the two modules of Acoustica?

And a suggestion: if the answer to the question above is negative, I would like to suggest that the vocabulary and scales of the two modules ("Volume" and "Volume Curve") be changed for consistency. Possibly, the two modules would have scales called "Volume gain", always in decibels (which seems to be the common currency in audio), and the scales of course would allow both positive and negative corrections - no modification in the audio would be expressed by 0 db. Possibly, the names of the modules themselves could be changed to "Volume Gain" and "Volume Gain Curve", to show more clearly the purpose of the modules.

Again, there is close to no information in the Acoustica Help files about what the two modules actually do, in particular about that real meaning of the scales.

Regards,

Paulo

[stian]

Hi Paulo,

A question and suggestion about the Volume Curve and the Volume modules of Acoustica.

The task of both modules is to either reduce or increase the volume of the audio, in one region (Volume module) or in several regions (Volume Curve module - in that case, the regions are defined by the volume curve). But, as far as I can understand, things are dealt with differently in the two modules when it comes to vocabulary and mathematical scales.

We have two different scales, with different names and units, when dealing with volume: (1) in the Volume module, the scale is called "Volume level", and it is in decibels (db), but (2) in the Volume Curve module, the scale is called "Gain", in percentage (%).

In the Volume Curve module, a gain of 100% corresponds to no modification in the audio volume, which is the point at 0 db in the Volume module scale. A gain of 200% seems to correspond to an increase in the audio volume of 6 db in the Volume module scale.

In the Volume module, a "volume level" of, say, 3 db in fact amounts to a gain, and increase, of 3 db - not an absolute volume level of 3 db.

I am a newcomer to audio software, as you well know, but I think all that somewhat confusing. Both modules perform essentially the same task, so it seems to me that scales and terminology should be consistent between them.

In iZotope RX6 Advanced, the module that corresponds to the Volume module of Acoustica is called "Gain", but with the scale also in decibels. From the RX6 documentation:

The gain module is useful for bringing the level of your audio up or down. (...) GAIN: Boosts or cuts the level of the signal by the designated decibel amount.

So, there seems also to be a lack of consistency in terminology among audio editors - something not unexpected.

In my mind, a gain of 100% should correspond to a doubling of the signal magnitude. No modification in the audio should be expressed by a gain of 0%. Gain should also be allowed to be negative, a reduction in the signal magnitude in that case.

So, my question: is there any special technical reason for our having different vocabularies and scales between the two modules of Acoustica?

And a suggestion: if the answer to the question above is negative, I would like to suggest that the vocabulary and scales of the two modules ("Volume" and "Volume Curve") be changed for consistency. Possibly, the two modules would have scales called "Volume gain", always in decibels (which seems to be the common currency in audio), and the scales of course would allow both positive and negative corrections - no modification in the audio would be expressed by 0 db. Possibly, the names of the modules themselves could be changed to "Volume Gain" and "Volume Gain Curve", to show more clearly the purpose of the modules.

The reason for the different scales is to enable the volume curve to be able to set the signal level to 0 which would be minus infinity in dB (which would be impractical). The percentage is relative to the original so that 100% represents no change. 200% would double the signal level corresponding to a 6 dB boost.

Best,
Stian

[Paulo-Brazil]

Mr. Stian,

Thank you. I'm sorry, but I don't understand your argument. You have said:

"The reason for the different scales is to enable the volume curve to be able to set the signal level to 0 which would be minus infinity in dB" (which would be impractical)."

In the Volume module, the scale is calibrated in dB, and when the scale cursor goes all the way to the left, the scale's value doesn't go to minus infinity (as maybe it should?), but only up to -96 dB, which mutes the audio. So possibly the same limit, -96 dB, could be used in the Volume Curve module, if its scale were also calibrated in dB - this would again mute the audio.

Possibly, the horizontal scale of the Volume module could be used exactly as it is as the vertical scale of the Volume Curve module. Why not, if the modules perform esentially the same function? The Volume Curve module with just one curve point acts exactly as the Volume module operating on the whole file.

Again, I don't see why Acoustica should have different scales and volabularies for the two modules - something seems to be amiss here. And I have just observed that the Fade module also uses a scale with gain in percentage...

I don't understand your comment "which would be impractical", with regard to the minus infinity. Acoustica does not avoid minus infinity, which is used elsewhere at least in two points of the software: (1) the level meter, when in repose (audio playing stopped), shows an audio level of minus infinity dB; (2) the dB scale to the left of the waveform window shows minus infinity as the lowest level - a long vertical zoom shows that the last regular numerical value is -96 dB, followed then by minus infinity.

Regards,

Paulo