KVR Audio

Debutante · Post by **Debutante** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:19 pm

...is it in any way ok to use a limiter as a distortion effect, or is this going to have strange consequences come mixdown?

Doug1 · Post by **Doug1** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:36 pm

hi buddy.
Its ok to do anything to the audio if you like the sound of it.
Limiters are used everyday in sound and if you need to push one to the limit to get the sound you are chasing then by all means go for it.
Dont be scared to do what ever you want when you want to the audio it wont blow up.

all the best.

Manc Chris · Post by **Manc Chris** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:36 pm

Debutante wrote:...is it in any way ok to use a limiter as a distortion effect, or is this going to have strange consequences come mixdown?

No.
Yes.

jupiter8 · Post by **jupiter8** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:38 pm

If it sounds good it is good.

jupiter8 · Post by **jupiter8** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:39 pm

Or would that be "If it sounds right then it is right"
(to lazy to edit)

The Chase · Post by **The Chase** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:41 pm

I often use a limiter before my main distortion to smash the dynamics into a friendlier place for the distortion plugs. I really havent tried to use a limiter itself as distortion. There wouldnt be anyhting wrong with it if you did.

Reverse Engineer · Post by **Reverse Engineer** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:49 pm

If music was about sewing your ass up and restricting yourself as much as possible i'd say it was a bad idea. But it's not about that, is it?

The Chase · Post by **The Chase** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:50 pm

^^exactly.

fritzman · Post by **fritzman** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 8:33 pm

Debutante wrote:...is it in any way ok to use a limiter as a distortion effect, or is this going to have strange consequences come mixdown?

The Beatles did it officially first. So the trick is quite old and is therefore obviously widely accepted. Man, if the Beatles did it, then ...

Have fun, FRitz

Debutante · Post by **Debutante** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 10:02 pm

Thanks for the replies!

I was just wondering if there were any pitfalls in doing that if you had to try and move something around in a mix when it had uber-limiting that effectually became an instrument in it's own right.Apparently not!

greendoor · Post by **greendoor** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:35 pm

The Beatles used a nice Fairchild tube limiter. It's fairly easy to get nice distortion by abusing a tube stage. A digital limiter is more likely to sound nasty if abused. Some have saturation effects built in - which is basically digital distortion. Personally, I like to choose my distortion carefully, and I tend to view limiting and distortion as completely different effects that can be used where required. This gets a bit blurred when developers try to include both effects into one plugin.

Just use your ears - if you like what you hear, that's all that matters. Personally, I haven't found a digital limiter that I would choose to abuse.

RapRogue · Post by **RapRogue** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:02 am

Try chaining more than one limiter, and different ones
at that. One word of warning though. It has a major
impact on the sound.

Using Limiters