Mastering Limiters?

Another limiter to check out is the Sony Oxford limiter.
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isn't the oxford stuff PT only?

and while on the topic of distorted masters...jesus christ, i was listening to the latest slayer album yesterday, and it distorts all over the damn place. i'd seen the square screenshots of the waveform before, but hadn't heard the nastiest because i'd only rocked it on the shitty speakers in my car....then i listened back on my monitors, and OMG. all i could do was one of these: :confused:
 
Ironklad Audio said:
isn't the oxford stuff PT only?
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Yep. Which is a damn shame, because I like that Oxford stuff too. But can't use it without going to a PT studio, or by going over to the other side myself. (Not about to change platforms just for a set of plugs.)

I also through a vote in on the Finis limiter from RND. The L2 is fine and all that, but some of us get tired of the same sound all the time on all of our mixes, and I like the way Elemental Aud...er...Nichols Digital twiddles the bits.

And I'm from the same school as Tom the 'House. Regardless of the limiter, more than 2dB or so of limiting - if that - at the end of the operation is rare.

G.
 
hey guys, I am kinda new around here, joined along time ago....this thread is real good stuff and limiters have been on my mind...I'm not real sophisticated on digital using cube3, aa2 for edit and ml9600 for mastering deck, it has a fair limiter built it....I'm kinda old and digital is hard to get into as far as the plugs and all...and the red tics can drive ya crazy. I dont get it, they can turn the volume up, why do we have to squash the sht outta it and then tryin control the squash? Okay enough stupid, back to the pros.
 
Golden said:
WTF! I'm covered in red chicklets! Someone must really hate me. :(
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I noticed that!
You are green now.
I saw a few members of this forum in the red that I didn't expect should be.
I think it was an error in the forum. Seems to be fine now.

Eck
 
ecktronic said:
I noticed that!
You are green now.
I saw a few members of this forum in the red that I didn't expect should be.
I think it was an error in the forum. Seems to be fine now.

Eck
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and even so, a few members popped me some positive rep.... Just goes to show that the guys around here have good hearts in general. which is very cool!
 
I use L3 a lot and hate it!!! Even with only a few dB of GR it seems to pile all sorts of crap into the sound. I've used the Sonnox Dynamics in Pro Tools and it's pretty transparent but without being totally unforgiving ... but I'm not in a position to spend more money on software for the forseeable future. If I was I'd get the Sonnox EQ too, both in VST.

I have used the Sonalksis compressor across a main bus before but I can't remember what I thought of it ... !!

The Yamaha plugins that came with my i88x are pretty good actually, I'm trying to get into them more as I write off more and more Waves plugins as being too crap even for me.
 
SonicAlbert said:
I think the PSP MasterComp is amazing, and I do think it is better than the L2. Finis is a bit of a different animal, I'm not sure I'd say it is better, just that it is as good but seems to respond a bit differently. I'm glad I have it.

I used to own a Waves L2 hardware unit, so I am familiar with the sound. I'd take either of these two over it, but the MasterComp is the real winner in my opinion.
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I freaking love PSP plugs. Vintage warmer is the single most useful plug I own.
 
Lectric_Lab said:
I dont get it, they can turn the volume up, why do we have to squash the sht outta it and then tryin control the squash? Okay enough stupid, back to the pros.
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You're absolutely right, Lectric.

The problem is that for the past 10-15 years it has gotten to be kind of a "fashon craze" amongst uneducated and untrained producers and even more uneducated and untrained performers/clients. They've gotten this wild hair up their butts that tells them that "louder is better" and "you gotta be loud to compete" because they haven't the slightest clue as to what they're talking about, and simplistic rubbish like that is easy to wrap their heads around.

The good news is, that tide is slowly starting to change. As some of the rookie producers and artists of the 90s are maturing - and realizing that they can't listen to their old stuff for very long before their ears start bleeding - they are re-discovering the beauty of dynamics. The bad news is that it's something that still has to be contended with on a daily basis in user forums like this with users that only grew up on the 90's stuff and think that is how the world is supposed to be.

G.
 
a lot of rock mastering engineers don't use any limiting at all, but rather overdrive the input of their A/D converters. You can simulate this by using the GClip plugin, get it fore FREE here:

http://www.gvst.co.uk/gclip.htm

here is how to use it:

push in the 2x oversampling button, and then raise the gain. After the GClip plugin, put an L2 or some kind of limiter but DO NOT PUSH DOWN THE THRESHOLD but rather just put a ceiling of -.03.

What you'll find is a much better sounding master that is plenty loud and actually has drum punch.
 
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I can't imagine digital distortion (clipping) or any audible distortion sounding good on recordings. Although maybe it sounds better for stuff like rock music like you said. Or grunge/punk shit.
 
YellowMatter said:
a lot of rock engineers don't use any limiting at all, but rather overdrive the input of their A/D converters.
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as i under stand it they only do this to the tune of about 1 db, 2 if they are feeling super crazy,
and you need some rfabulous converters (or so i'm told, i've never owned any thing but the worst)
 
The problem is that for the past 10-15 years it has gotten to be kind of a "fashon craze" amongst uneducated and untrained producers and even more uneducated and untrained performers/clients.
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i have a feeling that the use of the L2/3 has a lot to do with the fact that it's simple as shit to use; pull down the threshold, pull down the ceiling, and that's fucking it

compare that to the feature set of the PSP vintage warmer, and which way do you think your average uneducated/untrained joe is going to go?

and on a quick side note...i tried throwing the vintage warmer on a bass track the other day in lieu of the compressors i've been using, and HOLY SHIITE, it sounded damned perfect.
 
I should have said "mastering engineers" rather then rock engineers...

Clipping is very common amongst them, I've worked with and watched some of the very best.

What these guys do is drive the mix into their A/Ds and most don't use any limiting at all, but do use a limiter for the ceiling.

Here is an example of two of my own masters that used no limiting, just clipping, the first is a Lavry Gold, the second is a Lynx Aurora clocked with a Big Ben:

www.yellowmatterrecords.com/slate/MiseryFinal.wav

www.yellowmatterrecords.com/slate/LoatheMasterMS.wav

Before makinga any assumptions, try GClip and see how well it preserves your drums compared to bashing your poor mix with an L2's nasty threshold.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
The problem is that for the past 10-15 years it has gotten to be kind of a "fashon craze" amongst uneducated and untrained producers and even more uneducated and untrained performers/clients. They've gotten this wild hair up their butts that tells them that "louder is better" and "you gotta be loud to compete" because they haven't the slightest clue as to what they're talking about, and simplistic rubbish like that is easy to wrap their heads around.
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I'm sure the whole "louder is better" idea is because of the radio. After all; before the internet (and to an extent music tv) radio was where the big musicians would showcase their new songs. If it sounded louder it'd get more easily noticed.

The mixing engineer would compress the track, then the ME would compress it, and limit it. Finally when it gets to the radio; it's limited again real hard. There are laws about the levels that are allowed to be broadcast (at least there are in the UK) and the beauty about limiting is that you can make it sound louder without increasing the dBU's. This is a fact which is exploited by both television and radio advertisers which is why the commercials are always louder than what you wanna watch!
 
pezking said:
This is a fact which is exploited by both television and radio advertisers which is why the commercials are always louder than what you wanna watch!
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Yeah I hate that.
Although alot of films on the telly are generally louder than adverts though, and for the reason to make the film seem better because the sound is louder.

Eck
 
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