Preferring Limiter over Compressor for single tracks

  • Thread starter Thread starter RawDepth
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RawDepth

RawDepth

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Lately, I've been experimenting with using the limiter for dynamics control on individual instrument or vocal tracks. I chop the peaks down to where I want them and then push up the fader if needed (or normalize to raise level.) I don't notice nearly as much artifacts as I do with the compressor.

Anyone else doing this?
 
Yup!

And I'm aggressive about it... and I think it works good. I don't look at peaks or gain settings, I just dial away until I hear what I like. (actually, now it's saved as a preset in the template for my voice, so I just make minor tweaks)

I get unwanted sibilance when I do it, but not so bad. I found I can control my sibilance by minimizing reverb on the vocal track. Mind you, I only record myself. Never really had to deal with other people's vocals except for the occassional Mix This tune.
 
I'm 100% agreeing with you on this concept Rawdepth.
But for that matter, I would prefer to use a "tape" plugin....Slate or Universal audio to chop off the peaks a bit. This is why I put it first, allowing me to use less compression after. On high transients tracks I may also address this issue directly in the waveform at the 5 to 10 places where it peaks most.
But better, It's something I care a lot at the micing stage. Knowing that digital converters will not treat the peaks as the tape will do, when I mic an instrument with strong transients (i.e snare, plucked single-notes on electric guitar...) I make sure, with my mic position, that I get the right balance between the transient and envelope parts of the sound. Ribbon mics are super good at that!
As always, mixing start at the recording.
 
IDK - for me ... I always incorporate an outboard analog compression while recording vocals - but you have to know what your doing to achieve a good result.
 
I have an AD&R F601-RS that I use to use on a lot of my vocal tracks, during tracking....just enough to catch the spikes. It sounded nice teamed up with the rest of my signal chain. I kinda got away from using it on some recent stuff, and was keeping the vocal chain just mic & pre, but was thinking about it recently, and will probably use it again, as I always liked those vocal tracks.
It wasn't just the limiting...but also having that in the signal chain that added a nice flavor to the signal.
 
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