Crest Factor to measure Compression

Tutorial | Apr 09, 2025

In this video, I demonstrated how to use a transfer curve to expand the dynamics of certain sounds, ensuring they match the rest of your track using tools like DP Meter 5. I explained how to measure and compare crest values to gauge compression levels and achieve consistent sonic quality across tracks. Additionally, I shared a simple preset in Bitwig Studio for dynamically matching tracks, making mixing and mastering more efficient.

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Summary #

Maybe you don't watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

In the last video, I showed you how to use a simple transfer curve to expand the dynamics of certain sounds, aligning them with the rest of your song. In this video, I’m focusing on a drum loop that’s quite compressed compared to the rest of the track. By applying this transfer curve, I aim to enhance its dynamics so it better matches the rest of the instruments.

To measure dynamics, I use a free tool called DP Meter 5. It provides a loudness range value that increases as you turn up compression, displayed in loudness units. In RMS mode, there's a term called “crest,” which is the ratio of the RMS value to the peak value. This gives an indication of how dynamic a sound is—the distance between the RMS and the max peak.

In the RMS world, the higher the crest value, the more dynamic it is, unlike other modes where a higher value can mean more compression. With DP Meter 5, you can easily measure dynamic range, which I often do on certain buses. This is useful if you’re working on an album and want to apply consistent compression to every drum bus across tracks, maintaining a uniform sonic quality.

To visualize compression quickly, I’ve built a crest preset in Bitwig Studio. It doesn’t alter the sound; it merely measures it. By using audio input into two envelope followers—one for RMS and one for peak—I divide these values, average them, and output to a modulator. This setup acts as a quick indicator of compression levels.

Additionally, I introduced another follower pair to analyze a second signal, like my kick and snare bus. This allows me to match their dynamics with the drum loop by comparing their crest values. The difference meter helps ensure consistent compression.

I’ve made this preset available in the description for those using Bitwig. If you’re not using Bitwig, you can still utilize DP Meter 5 to measure loudness range and compare tracks, aiding in smoother mixing and mastering. Thanks for watching! Leave a comment, subscribe, and let me know your thoughts. See you in the next video!

Transcription #

This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.

[00:00:00] So in the last video, I showed you how to use a simple transfer curve like this one here to expand the dynamics on certain sounds to match it to the rest of your song, to the rest of your instruments pretty easily.
[00:00:11] So here we have this drum loop, right?
[00:00:13] And it's pretty much compressed compared to the rest of the track.
[00:00:19] So we take this transfer curve.
[00:00:29] Next band dynamics.
[00:00:30] So it matches better with the dynamics of the rest of the instruments.
[00:00:35] So this was the idea, but you can also measure this, of course.
[00:00:38] So here I have this completely free measuring tool called DP meter five.
[00:00:44] I think a lot of people use this already.
[00:00:46] And it gives you here this kind of loudness range value.
[00:00:55] And when I turn the compression up, you can see this is here getting higher or the values increasing.
[00:01:04] So this is measured in the loudness units.
[00:01:07] Then in the RMS mode here, we can also see this.
[00:01:11] And this is probably a term you already heard somewhere else crest.
[00:01:16] And the crest is the peak or the RMS value divided by the peak value.
[00:01:24] And it gives you an indicator how dynamic a sound is or an audio signal is, right?
[00:01:31] It's the distance between the RMS and the maximum peak.
[00:01:36] So, yeah.
[00:01:37] I think in the RMS world, it works differently than in the Ibu, Ibu mode.
[00:01:46] Ibu or in loves basically the higher the value, the more compressed the signal is.
[00:01:51] And here it's exactly the opposite.
[00:01:54] Um, you see basically, uh, the dynamic range here.
[00:01:57] So the higher the value here is the more dynamics you have, right?
[00:02:09] So the number goes down.
[00:02:10] So this is how you do it with the DB meter five here.
[00:02:14] And sometimes I do this on certain buses.
[00:02:17] So let's say you want to make an album with a lot of tracks.
[00:02:22] And some of these tracks don't match, or you want to use the same compression
[00:02:28] on every drum bus in every song or in every track, right?
[00:02:32] So you have the same kind of, uh, sonic quality, um, throughout your album, right?
[00:02:39] So you can measure this and can say, oh, I want to have my drums always this
[00:02:44] kind of crest value, or I want to have with all my, um, master, master outputs,
[00:02:51] all the same crest value.
[00:02:53] So we can measure it the dynamic range with this pretty easily.
[00:02:56] But you don't need to use, um, very absolute DB number.
[00:03:00] Um, sometimes it's enough if you just can see quickly, if something is
[00:03:05] compressed or not, or too much compressed.
[00:03:09] So I built this kind of crest preset here in Bitvec studio.
[00:03:13] It doesn't alter the sound.
[00:03:14] It doesn't change the sound at all.
[00:03:16] It's just for measuring things.
[00:03:19] And I'm using here the audio input, and then I go into two envelope followers.
[00:03:23] Uh, one is measuring RMS value with a window of 600 milliseconds.
[00:03:30] And this one is measuring the peak, the maximum peak, the very quick, uh, fall
[00:03:36] time here.
[00:03:37] And then it goes into division, right?
[00:03:40] I divide these two values and then I go into an average thing here.
[00:03:44] And then I go out with a, uh, modulator and adjust modulate here, this knob.
[00:03:50] So you can see, um, with this kind of modulation here, that this one is maybe
[00:03:57] too much compressed or how much something is compressed.
[00:04:00] It's kind of an arbitrary value.
[00:04:02] It's, it just, it's an indicator, a quick indicator, basically.
[00:04:06] So when we go down here with them, or when we increase the expansion, you
[00:04:10] can see this goes down.
[00:04:13] So the lower this, this value is, right?
[00:04:16] The more dynamic song is or a track or an audio signal.
[00:04:19] We go up, you can see this value also goes up.
[00:04:24] Okay, that's kind of it, but then I thought maybe let's introduce here
[00:04:35] another, um, follower pair to actually, uh, analyze a second signal.
[00:04:43] And here I am analyzing my kick and snare bus, right?
[00:04:47] So I want to mix basically kick and snare with my drum loop.
[00:04:52] So I measure the crest value also there.
[00:04:55] And then I, um, have here the side chain output down here.
[00:05:01] So you can see the crest value of my drum or kick and snare bus here
[00:05:06] down here, right?
[00:05:07] So I can compare it.
[00:05:08] Then I made some kind of diff or difference between the two.
[00:05:12] And you can see then here immediately, if something matches in terms of compression.
[00:05:17] Right.
[00:05:20] My drum loop is now over compressed here compared to my kick and snare bus.
[00:05:25] This would be under compressed.
[00:05:41] You can also increase the average value, of course.
[00:05:44] So I think this would be the right value for this transfer curve because, you
[00:05:51] know, the diff meter here doesn't move that much.
[00:05:54] So with this, you can match the dynamics of certain tracks, pretty easily inside
[00:05:59] of Bitwig, just with this preset.
[00:06:01] And it's very simple.
[00:06:02] Um, I put this in the description below if you want to use it.
[00:06:05] Um, and you can try it out for yourself and you don't need to use deeply meter,
[00:06:11] uh, which you also can use if you don't use Bitwig, of course, and then measure
[00:06:15] the loudness range and compare it to your other tracks.
[00:06:18] And then it makes it, I guess, a bit more easier to mix and master tunes, uh,
[00:06:24] without having certain tracks sticking out because they are overly too much
[00:06:29] compressed to the rest of the, uh, instruments.
[00:06:32] That's it.
[00:06:32] Thanks for watching, guys.
[00:06:33] Leave a comment, leave a subscription.
[00:06:35] Um, let me know what you think and I'll see you in the next video.
[00:06:38] Bye.