When should you use the limiter?

[clintoncole]

I used it on everything that was EQ'd which was everything, I was told it balances out the frequenices so they're not louder and softer at different points, but I also left it at the default because I don't understand the different knobs although they don't seem to complex, but if I could get a brief review.

 

Here's what I'm working on, it does sound a bit too compressed and it's from the limiter http://soundcloud.com/clintoncole/gonna-be-okay

[David Nahmani]

Get rid of all those limiters! Limiters don't "balance out frequencies", they simply prevent the volume to go above a certain ceiling. That creates distortion - and you can hear it in your mix.

 

A typical use of a limiter would be as the last plug-in on a mastering chain.

[clintoncole]

ty David :]

[FrankieDOS]

Olav's tutorial can help you!

 

http://www.macprovideo.com/tutorial/prodElectro

 

Little tip:

When after EQing your channel is clipping, try to put down the EQ's gain not insert a limiter on that channel.

 

Nice electro project!

[clintoncole]

updated : http://soundcloud.com/clintoncole/gonna-be-okay-1

[DEMusic]

There's also another answer/approach to this question that is often used in electro house. David is correct that limiters do not balance frequencies, however I have to say many many electro producers use limiters on subgroups and not just on a master channel, and there are some major advantages to doing so;

 

The way this is typically done in electro house is to send everything in the mix to a "stem" bus once it's been done with all of its processing. In other words, instead of routing your vocal tracks to stereo 1-2 out, you route all vocals to a Vocal bus, all drums to a drum bus, all synths to a synth bus, and so on. This gives you a lot of mix advantages just as far as simplicity is concerned, because you can control all your vox with one slider, etc, but really, it's about clipping and limiting. What you can do, if you want extra loudness in your track without awful overcompression, is put a limiter on the end of every single "stem" bus you have. The limiter should not do much- it should have a fast attack and release, pumping in time with the track, and just be reducing a couple of dbs of gain at the most. What this does is remove peaking transients across your stems, which should have an obvious effect on the end result of your mix. By limiting each stem going into the master compressor, the compressor won't have as many peaking transients to respond to, and you can get smoother, louder final mixes. One of the reasons so many amateur mixes sound awfully overcompressed is because people don't know to do this- so they send this wildly peaking mix into a master compressor, and then reduce way too much gain to get it as loud as the stuff they hear on the radio. One of the keys to a great, loud, but not overcomped mix is to control levels carefully on the way into the master channel.

 

As with anything involving comp/limiting, it's easy to overdo this. Really, make sure the limiters are only reducing a very small amount of gain on your stem busses. But there's definitely use for a limiter on an individual channel or on a bus to control transients and enhance detail.

[Eriksimon]

Get rid of all those limiters! Limiters don't "balance out frequencies", they simply prevent the volume to go above a certain ceiling. That creates distortion - and you can hear it in your mix.

 

Limiting Limiter use is not limitating, but liberating.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kQZxysNQd6c/S1DPvNzePQI/AAAAAAAAAaA/rb1vT_bCHpM/s400/3275894875_b1c953c9d2_o.jpg

 

Limiters essentially do (ouch!) this:

[shivermetimbers]

Limiters essentially do (ouch!) this:

 

... but the possibilities are limit-less.

[Beer Moth]

The ultimate limiter is the mute button.

[Andyreww]

The ultimate limiter is the mute button.

 

 

Excellent!