Dubstepforum.com

I've found a very interesting article on this subject.
Here it is: http://audio.rightmark.org/lukin/limiters/limiters.htm

Enjoy

All you need to know about limiters is to push it until the gain reduction meter reads your age plus shoe size divided by 2.

SunkLo wrote:All you need to know about limiters is to push it until the gain reduction meter reads your age plus shoe size divided by 2.

Is it supposed to be funny?

No it's supposed to be gravely serious.

SunkLo wrote:No it's supposed to be gravely serious.

@OP Nice find

laurend wrote:

SunkLo wrote:All you need to know about limiters is to push it until the gain reduction meter reads your age plus shoe size divided by 2.

Is it supposed to be funny?

I lol'd.

subfect wrote:

laurend wrote:

SunkLo wrote:All you need to know about limiters is to push it until the gain reduction meter reads your age plus shoe size divided by 2.

Is it supposed to be funny?

I lol'd.

+1

In my experience all limiters sound rather different to each other and as such I tend to mainly use 3 out of my 5 available limiters. Once in a while an outsider is just what is required. Which is optimal is very much material and goal dependent. It is like anything in the chain, it needs to work as part of the whole.

safeandsound wrote:In my experience all limiters sound rather different to each other and as such I tend to mainly use 3 out of my 5 available limiters. Once in a while an outsider is just what is required. Which is optimal is very much material and goal dependent. It is like anything in the chain, it needs to work as part of the whole.

I think the real important question here is, when following the formula I outlined earlier in the thread, do you count the months of the year towards your age too, or do you keep it as an integer? I like to include the fractional years myself since I'm a fan of precision but I've heard a lot of people say it isn't necessary and to concentrate more on an accurate measurement of your foot.

Thoughts?

SunkLo wrote:

safeandsound wrote:In my experience all limiters sound rather different to each other and as such I tend to mainly use 3 out of my 5 available limiters. Once in a while an outsider is just what is required. Which is optimal is very much material and goal dependent. It is like anything in the chain, it needs to work as part of the whole.

I think the real important question here is, when following the formula I outlined earlier in the thread, do you count the months of the year towards your age too, or do you keep it as an integer? I like to include the fractional years myself since I'm a fan of precision but I've heard a lot of people say it isn't necessary and to concentrate more on an accurate measurement of your foot.

Thoughts?

Personally I would focus more on the foot. Now no 2 feet are the same so it very much depends on that but I would say if you're focussing too much on your age without getting the proper measurements of the feet down then you're going to end up with really bad quality masters.

my 2 cents...

outbound wrote:

SunkLo wrote:

safeandsound wrote:In my experience all limiters sound rather different to each other and as such I tend to mainly use 3 out of my 5 available limiters. Once in a while an outsider is just what is required. Which is optimal is very much material and goal dependent. It is like anything in the chain, it needs to work as part of the whole.

I think the real important question here is, when following the formula I outlined earlier in the thread, do you count the months of the year towards your age too, or do you keep it as an integer? I like to include the fractional years myself since I'm a fan of precision but I've heard a lot of people say it isn't necessary and to concentrate more on an accurate measurement of your foot.

Thoughts?

Personally I would focus more on the foot. Now no 2 feet are the same so it very much depends on that but I would say if you're focussing too much on your age without getting the proper measurements of the feet down then you're going to end up with really bad quality masters.

my 2 cents...

True, I never considered the inter-pedal discrepancies... Maybe measuring both and taking an average value would be a better approach. I've also heard your forearm is the same length as your feet so maybe averaging both feet plus both forearms would result in maximum precision. Although the average listener probably wouldn't be able to tell unless they've got super high end monitors.

Also if you're limiting an individual track that's going to be panned in the mix, it's better to weight your calculation more towards that side. So for instance an instrument that will be panned left should take the left foot (and optionally left forearm) into account more than the right side. Or if you're doing mid/side limiting, use the foot measurement for the mid channel and the forearms for the side channel.

This shit should be in the moneyshot thread.

What's the advantages of limiters vs soft clipping?

Soft clipping's easier on your feet due to the arch support.

SunkLo wrote:Soft clipping's easier on your feet due to the arch support.

The first time, mildly amusing. The second time... meh. The third time, come on now you're not a toddler. This "joke" is dragging on a bit long now eh?



And for anyone who wants to talk production/engineering, I'm just interested in when you decide to use a soft clipper vs a limiter to chop off unwanted peaks. And what advantages/disadvantages each has.

Simulant wrote:come on now you're not a toddler.

How can you be so sure?

Clippers don't have attack and release so they don't bounce around. This can sometimes be more transparent. But a limiter can be more gentle or flexible if you're looking to tweak the ratio and A/R times.

Personally I would set a clipper higher up than a limiter. The two work pretty well in tandem, limiter first to reduce the majority of transients and sharpen/ dull the attack, and then the clipper to shave off the peaks that snuck through the limiter.

A clipper is just a time agnostic limiter in the same way that a limiter is just a more severe compressor. A hard clipper is like a limiter set to infinite ratio and the lowest attack and release settings. A soft clipper is the same but with an analogue knee. In terms of application, like most things, it's content dependent. Set up several configurations in different chains and A/B through them to find what sounds best on the particular subject matter.

Or take your shoes off and find a ruler, get mi?

SunkLo wrote:All you need to know about limiters is to push it until the gain reduction meter reads your age plus shoe size divided by 2.

LOL !

Simulant wrote:

SunkLo wrote:Soft clipping's easier on your feet due to the arch support.

The first time, mildly amusing. The second time... meh. The third time, come on now you're not a toddler. This "joke" is dragging on a bit long now eh?



And for anyone who wants to talk production/engineering, I'm just interested in when you decide to use a soft clipper vs a limiter to chop off unwanted peaks. And what advantages/disadvantages each has.

Generally I find clipping more appropriate to transient heavy material. I don't usually find that I use clipping instead of limiting more that it takes more of the workload when looking to push levels a lil hotter in these situations. This is how I see it from a "advantages/disadvantages" point of view:-

Limiting
+ A lot "safer" from audible distortions, yes you can get distortion from it if pushed hard but generally if you're working 1-2 db or so of GR with default Attack/Release settings then you're less likely to encounter these problems.
- Prone to pumping artifacts.

Clipping
+ Tracks can sound a lot more "open" from this. As essentially it is just slicing the very peaks of the transients with no Attack / Release it means you don't get pumping artifacts like you do with heavy compression / limiting.
- Even though you may be able to set these to add just a little boost without too much noticeable distortion, you need to be very careful that this is the case all the way through the song. Some parts sound a lot more obvious when clipped than others so be very vigilant.

Thanks for the replies! It always bugged me deciding which to use, I've heard limiters causing distortion when pushed hard, same with clippers. And when used to just chop off peaks, it's almost impossible for me to hear a difference. Anyhow, some good info in those posts, thanks!

laurend wrote:

Hey what plugin were you using in that multiband de-expander video? Looks like some kind of spectral dynamics or super multiband a la waves L3 16.
(lmao at "de-expander")