Techniques for distortion reducing multi-band compressor with timbre preservation

An apparatus, comprising:

• a multi-band filterbank configured for splitting an audio signal into a plurality of frequency bands;
• a timbre preservation element configured for determining a time-varying threshold for a first frequency band of the plurality of frequency bands, the time-varying threshold determined from a level of the audio signal and a fixed signal level threshold corresponding to each of a plurality of neighboring frequency bands;
• and
• a compression function element configured for receiving the time-varying threshold from the timbre preservation element and for applying an amount of compression for the first frequency band based, at least in part, on the time-varying threshold.

A non-transitory storage medium having instructions stored thereon for controlling one or more devices to perform a method for audio presentation, the method comprising:

• splitting an audio signal into a plurality of frequency bands;
• determining a time-varying threshold for a first frequency band of the plurality of frequency bands, the time-varying threshold determined from a level of the audio signal and a fixed signal level threshold corresponding to each of a plurality of neighboring frequency bands;
• providing the time-varying threshold to a compression function element dedicated to the first frequency band;
• and
• audibly presenting an audio signal outputted from the compression function element.