Audio quiet after loud sudden sound

[ejp]

i've experienced this problem a couple times.

the first encounter was with captured audio from a mic, converted to MP2 for VCD. the second encounter was with a dvdrip with ac3 audio, which is what i'm most concerned about.

what happens is, the audio plays fine. then a loud sound occurs, such as a slap or a short sudden scream, then the audio goes real low for a few seconds, and goes back to normal volume afterwards.

is there any way to fix this problem? also, is there any information on how something like this happens?

[flaninacupboard]

The problem with the mic recording happens when, as you say, there's a loud noise. a lot of recording kit will try and adjust the levels automatically, so if there's something loud, it drops the levels to avoid distortion. this is fairly normal.

The dipping sound with AC3 is usually attributed to the way your DVD player is downmixing the sound. I'm assuming on this one you're listening in stereo, or just through your TV. have a look in your DVD players audio setup menu, does it mention DRC (dynamic range control) or downmix type?

If you're listening in surround sound it may be your amp reducing it's output to avoid clipping (but this would only happen if you have it up LOUD) or it may actually be the source.

[ejp]

yes, i see an "Audio DRC". the options for it are "Large", "Medium", "Small", "Off". which one should i select?

i did a test conversion, and it seemed to be less noticeable when converting the AC3 to MP2 or MP3.

other settings are:
Dolby Digital Out
-Dolby Digital
-Dolby Digital > PCM

DTS Out
-Off
-DTS

96 kHz PCM Out
-96kHz > 46kHz
-96kHz

MPEG Out
-MPEG
-MPEG > PCM

Surround
-Off
-On

Audio Out
-2 Channel
-5.1 Channel