WaxOn — Pre‑Edit Audio Preprocessor

Purpose: WaxOn prepares raw recordings for editing by rendering a clean, DAW‑ready 24‑bit mono WAV from any input. It applies a DC block, resamples to 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz, and finishes with a true‑peak brickwall limiter (user‑selectable ceiling: −1 to −6 dBFS). No loudness normalization is performed in WaxOn.

For final loudness to program standards and delivery formats (WAV/MP3), use WaxOff.

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Features

• DC blocker (gentle high‑pass; default 20 Hz)
• Limiter‑only final stage with attack/release and true‑peak oversampling
• TP oversampling (×4 by default), optional triangular HP dither
• 24‑bit PCM mono (channel 0), 44.1 kHz (default) or 48 kHz
• Interactive prompts (or fully scriptable flags/environment)
• macOS file picker when launched without args
• Atomic writes (hidden temp then reveal)
• Minimal dependencies: bash, ffmpeg

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Install (one‑liner)

Installs to ~/WaxOn and symlinks waxon into ~/bin (or ~/.local/bin).

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sevmorris/WaxOn/main/install.sh)"

Make sure your shell can find ~/bin:

# zsh
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
# bash (macOS)
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile

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Usage

Interactive

waxon *.wav

You’ll be prompted for:

• Sample rate: 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz
• Limiter ceiling: −1..−6 dBFS
• Confirmation of selections

Non‑interactive

# flags
waxon --no-prompt -s 48000 --limit-db -2.0 *.mp3

# or via env
WAXON_PROMPT=0 SAMPLE_RATE=48000 LIMIT_DB=-2.0 waxon *.mp3

Common flags

• -s, --samplerate <Hz>: 44100 | 48000 (default: 44100)
• -l, --limit-db <dB>: limiter ceiling (default -1.0; range -1..-6)
• --truepeak <0|1>: enable true‑peak oversampling (default 1)
• --tp-oversample <N>: oversample factor (default 4)
• --dither <0|1>: triangular HP dither on final resample (default 1)
• --dc-block-hz <Hz>: DC blocker high‑pass corner (default 20)
• --no-prompt: skip interactive prompts
• -q, --quiet: less console output
• -n, --dry-run: show actions without writing

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Typical Workflow

1. WaxOn → create safe, unclipped mono WAV for editing
2. Edit in DAW (comp, cut, repair, mix)
3. WaxOff → set final program loudness (−18/−16 LUFS) and export deliverables

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License

MIT © Seven Morris