MaximalSound Updates Its Online Algorithm

US Online pre-mastering service now provides an accurate phase response on the complete bandwidth 14/05/10

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Here's the press release that we have received...
MaximalSound.com is an online, one hour delivery, pre-mastering service offering a free sample for approval before buying.
After a successful launch three months ago, MaximalSound improves its algorithm in order to provide the best possible optimization service. This reworked version provides an accurate phase response on the complete bandwidth. The maximal phase error never exceeds 5Â° in any situation now. The target sound pressure level is increased by 0.5 dB. The psycho-acoustic model is fine-tuned to enhance both low and high ends.
Here's the technical description of the applied treatment:

Harmonic enhancer:
The harmonic enhancer, this old invention of the Aphex company, has the advantage on an equalizer to not apply a fixed amplification on the top of the audio spectrum. This technique allows to naturally clarify the sound without fatiguing constant high frequencies boost. In the MaximalSound algorithm the even and odd harmonics are generated separately using dynamic content signal depending on whether the attack or the body of the note are processed.
32 bands processing:
A 32 bands crossover filter splits the signal to be processed by 32 de-expanders before being rebuilt in broadband by summing all the bands individually processed. This produces a dynamic equalizer where each part of the audio spectrum is magnified in the low levels according to a psycho-acoustic model standard.
De-expander:
A de-expander can also be called reverse-expander. A de-expander amplifies the signal below a threshold in contrast to an expander which attenuates the signal below this threshold. This choice is fundamentally different than techniques related to compression. The signal is amplified when it is weak and not planed when it becomes too high (above threshold). The difference may seem subtle, but it is significant when the attack time of treatment is taken into account . A compressor will act always too late (attack time) on the peak values, forcing the limiter to affect the transients which are so valuable to the perception of stereo space. The de-expander just amplifies the signal after the attack time, avoiding any unnecessary limiting.
Limiter:
Unlike the analog domain, digital doesn't support any overload, even briefly. The limiter is there to handle situations where the summation of all processed bands produces a signal exceeding the allowed maximum value (0dB FS) in the digital domain. The limiter is an essential part of treatment since at this stage the signal is full-band and any flaw may lead to tonal unbalance by favoring or attenuating certain parts of the audio spectrum. In limiters the attack time is null or negative (look ahead) to prevent any violation of the limit value. The art is to find an optimum release time, in order to preserve the frequency content and the perception of the dynamics of the original signal regardless of the complexity of this signal.

Summary: