StudioWavePro — Online Audio Editor with 48+ Studio Tools

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StudioWavePro’s Compressor is the tool that makes uneven recordings listenable: it turns down the loud moments so the quiet ones can come up, tightening the dynamic range the way every record, podcast and broadcast you hear has been processed. You get the four classic controls — Threshold (−60 to 0 dB) sets where compression starts, Ratio (1:1 to 20:1) sets how hard it squeezes, and Attack (1–300 ms) and Release (10–1000 ms) shape how fast it reacts.

Four presets map to the usual jobs: Gentle (2:1) for transparent smoothing, Vocal (4:1, fast attack) for speech and singing, Heavy (8:1) for an upfront, dense sound, and Limiter (20:1 at −3 dB, 1 ms attack) as a safety ceiling against peaks. Everything previews live — press play and drag any slider to hear the squeeze change in real time.

When to use

Tame a podcast or interview where one voice is loud and the other quiet.
Stop a vocalist’s loud phrases from jumping out while quiet words get lost.
Glue a music mix together and make it sound denser and more produced.
Limit peaks before raising overall loudness (compress, then Normalize).
Make field recordings or meeting audio intelligible at one volume setting.
Control a bass or guitar recording with uneven note levels.

How to use

Click "Open Compressor" below to launch the editor.
Drop in any audio file — MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A and FLAC are all supported.
Pick the preset closest to your job: Gentle, Vocal, Heavy, or Limiter.
Press "Play preview" and fine-tune Threshold and Ratio while listening — lower threshold and higher ratio both mean more compression.
Adjust Attack and Release if transients sound dulled (raise attack) or pumping is audible (raise release).
Click Apply, then download as WAV or MP3. Compression often lowers overall level — run Normalize after to bring the track back up.

Tips

The classic recipe: set Ratio around 3–4:1, then lower Threshold until the loud parts just start to duck. Most material needs less compression than you think.
Fast attack (1–5 ms) clamps peaks but can dull drums and consonants; slower attack (10–30 ms) lets transients punch through before the squeeze.
If you hear "pumping" (volume audibly breathing up and down), lengthen Release.
Compression reduces peaks, so the track usually ends up quieter overall — apply Normalize afterwards to recover loudness. This compress-then-normalize combo is how tracks get loud without clipping.
For speech, the Vocal preset followed by Normalize to −16 LUFS (check with the Loudness Meter) is a complete podcast loudness chain.

Frequently asked questions

What does an audio compressor actually do?: It automatically turns the volume down whenever the signal exceeds a threshold, by an amount set by the ratio. The result is a smaller gap between the loudest and quietest moments — which is what makes voices consistently audible and music sound dense and polished.
What do threshold, ratio, attack and release mean?: Threshold (−60 to 0 dB) is the level where compression starts. Ratio (1–20:1) is how strongly audio above the threshold is reduced — at 4:1, a sound 8 dB over comes out only 2 dB over. Attack (1–300 ms) is how fast the compressor clamps down; Release (10–1000 ms) is how fast it lets go.
What are good compressor settings for voice and podcasts?: Start with the Vocal preset: −20 dB threshold, 4:1 ratio, 5 ms attack, 150 ms release. If the voice still jumps around, lower the threshold a few dB. Follow with Normalize and you have broadcast-style consistency.
Why is my audio quieter after compressing?: Compression only turns loud parts down — it doesn’t add gain back (no makeup gain stage), so the peak level drops. That is normal: run Normalize after compressing and the whole track comes up to a safe maximum, now with the quiet parts proportionally louder than before.
What is the difference between a compressor and a limiter?: A limiter is just a compressor with an extreme ratio and instant attack — a ceiling almost nothing gets past. The Limiter preset here (20:1, −3 dB threshold, 1 ms attack) does exactly that; use it to catch stray peaks rather than to shape overall dynamics.
Can I hear the compression before applying it?: Yes — press Play preview and all four parameters respond live while the track plays. A practical trick: toggle between extreme and moderate settings while listening to learn what the compression is doing, then settle on the moderate one.

StudioWavePro is a complete audio editor with 48+ studio-grade tools in one workspace. Trim, master, EQ, time-stretch, denoise, remove vocals, detect BPM and musical key, generate metronomes, and more. Editing tools

Audio Trimmer — crop a track to a selected region

Mute Section — silence a selected region

Reverse Audio — play the track backwards

Fade In/Out — ramp volume at start or end

Silence Trimmer — strip leading and trailing silence

Silence Gap Inserter — insert silence at a chosen position

Audio Looper — repeat a section N times

Audio Splitter — cut a track into multiple parts

Audio Merger — join multiple files end-to-end

Silence Splitter — auto-split at silent gaps

Crossfade Joiner — join clips with overlapping fades

Time and pitch

Speed Changer — speed up or slow down (with optional pitch preservation)

Pitch Shift — change pitch without changing tempo

Tempo Detector — estimate the BPM of a music track

Key Detector — estimate the musical key

Metronome Generator — create a click track at any BPM

Effects

Volume — make a track louder or quieter

Bass Boost — lift the low end

Treble Boost — lift the high end

Low Pass Filter — cut off high frequencies

High Pass Filter — cut off low frequencies (remove rumble)

Equalizer (3-band) — low / mid / high tonal shaping

Equalizer (10-band) — fine-grained tonal control

Echo — add repeating echoes / delay

Distortion — overdrive, fuzz, and lo-fi grit

Stereo Balance — shift the L/R center of a stereo mix

Stereo Widener — make stereo narrower or wider

Vocal Remover — karaoke (center-channel removal)

Hum Remover — strip 50/60 Hz mains hum

Mastering and analysis

Normalize — maximize volume without clipping

Compressor — even out loud and quiet parts

Loudness Meter — measure peak, RMS, and LUFS

Mono Converter — collapse stereo to mono

Channel Extractor — pull L, R, Mid, or Side

Sample Rate Converter — resample to 44.1, 48, or 96 kHz

Polarity Inverter — flip waveform for phase alignment

DC Offset Remover — center waveform around zero

Audio Visualizer — render an animated video from audio

StudioWavePro supports MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A, and FLAC files. Exports include WAV and MP3. This app requires JavaScript to run. Please enable JavaScript in your browser.