Ad Limiter's...Good or Bad?

[xparameterx]

[Depone]

Quite generic question there. Got any limiters in mind???, they all sound slightly different in the way they treat audio.

[back2onett]

kind of general yeah but I suppose if you have to limit in the first place somethings gone wrong with your mix (unless you're limiting as a creative effect) then again most people will have to use some form of limiting so I guess it's not really good bad

EDIT: oh wait is this a specfifc kind of limiter? or do you mean ad limiter's as in 'add limiters'?

[tripaddict]

dont use them they are bad ... compression is bad too ... you risk loosing clarity and the original feel of the sound if you over compress or limit stuff

you should process it and make it work without limiters/compressors imo

i used to fall foul of this ... the last track i uploaded to sc had 1 compressor on the master

set to like

Threshold -5db Ratio 3:1 Gain 5.5db ... just to chop the peaks a little

over compression sounds horrible

[chewie]

He means adaptive limiters
limiter and compressors are tools, don't understand some comments here at all
I tried alot of limiters and voxengo elephant kills them all even the uad Precision limiter, just remember to turn off temporal masking in it.

[Recessive Trait]

limiters come in handy with errant peaks, just don't use them on the master!

[Sharmaji]

fuck that. learn how this stuff works instead of running in fear (or condemnation) of dynamic control.

slap a limiter on your master. make it take off 6db. what does it do to your sound quality?

group your drums into a channel. compress. play w/ attack & decay, autogain, ratio-- what does it do? how does it make things sound and feel? how does it change the relationship of the instruments?

absolutely nothing wrong with overcompression or limiting a source to death if that's what sounds good and makes the sound emote.

If, however, it makes things sound tiny and lifeless then yes, it sucks.

but FFS-- know what you're doing, and learn by trial and error.

[xparameterx]

Quite generic question there. Got any limiters in mind???, they all sound slightly different in the way they treat audio.

Been using the built in Logic Adaptive Limiter.

fuck that. learn how this stuff works instead of running in fear (or condemnation) of dynamic control.

slap a limiter on your master. make it take off 6db. what does it do to your sound quality?

group your drums into a channel. compress. play w/ attack & decay, autogain, ratio-- what does it do? how does it make things sound and feel? how does it change the relationship of the instruments?

absolutely nothing wrong with overcompression or limiting a source to death if that's what sounds good and makes the sound emote.

If, however, it makes things sound tiny and lifeless then yes, it sucks.

but FFS-- know what you're doing, and learn by trial and error.

I mainly use it on kicks, snares, and drum busses because it really seems to give them that extra smack that I'm looking for, and also sort of evens out the signal so my levels aren't weak and jumping all over the place. I've just heard a lot of people say that you should steer clear of Ad Limiter's for whatever reason, but I really like the sound that it adds to my tracks so I guess if it sounds good to me I'll keep on using it. Just curious of other people's experience with them and how they use it?

[Depone]

Quite generic question there. Got any limiters in mind???, they all sound slightly different in the way they treat audio.

Been using the built in Logic Adaptive Limiter.

fuck that. learn how this stuff works instead of running in fear (or condemnation) of dynamic control.

slap a limiter on your master. make it take off 6db. what does it do to your sound quality?

group your drums into a channel. compress. play w/ attack & decay, autogain, ratio-- what does it do? how does it make things sound and feel? how does it change the relationship of the instruments?

absolutely nothing wrong with overcompression or limiting a source to death if that's what sounds good and makes the sound emote.

If, however, it makes things sound tiny and lifeless then yes, it sucks.

but FFS-- know what you're doing, and learn by trial and error.

I mainly use it on kicks, snares, and drum busses because it really seems to give them that extra smack that I'm looking for, and also sort of evens out the signal so my levels aren't weak and jumping all over the place. I've just heard a lot of people say that you should steer clear of Ad Limiter's for whatever reason, but I really like the sound that it adds to my tracks so I guess if it sounds good to me I'll keep on using it. Just curious of other people's experience with them and how they use it?

All in moderation. Before picking up that limiter, try adding the distortion plugin. i find it beefs the hits up enough without drastically limiting your shit. I would keep away from using it to pump your drums up. Maybe on a drum buss as you say to just snag the peaks, but i wouldn't use it on each individual element etc...

[staticcast]

fuck that. learn how this stuff works instead of running in fear (or condemnation) of dynamic control.

slap a limiter on your master. make it take off 6db. what does it do to your sound quality?

group your drums into a channel. compress. play w/ attack & decay, autogain, ratio-- what does it do? how does it make things sound and feel? how does it change the relationship of the instruments?

absolutely nothing wrong with overcompression or limiting a source to death if that's what sounds good and makes the sound emote.

If, however, it makes things sound tiny and lifeless then yes, it sucks.

but FFS-- know what you're doing, and learn by trial and error.

i love you sharmaji


Would add:

1) Use your ears

2) There's absolutely nothing wrong with using a limiter on the master. It depends what you do with it, and how it sounds. Using a limiter to tame some peaks without simply clipping off the top and bottom is perfectly legit IMHO.

3) If your limiter gain reduction meter is consistently on, as opposed to spiking occasionally, then you'd probably better leave it to the pros

4) Use your ears