Best limiter

[noahrbc]

DMG Limitless is also fantastic

[jamcat]

PS. Honorable mention goes to IK Stealth Limiter! It gets you loudness, quickly. I'm guessing it has some kind of Inflator-like waveshaping prior to the limiting process to make that possible - not sure, but if you happen to have this in a T-Racks bundle, give it a shot. It's surprisingly good.

I use Stealth Limiter set to 0dB as a safeguard after my buss processing. You can’t hear it at all when you use it this way, but the momentary overs disappear completely from your master level meters. It just zaps the ISPs and leaves the rest alone.

[nilhartman]

The AL-1?

Nope. I tried AL-1 public beta and preferred the yet to be released limiter. Well, actually I felt like I didn't need AL-1 and moved on.
As I said in another topic, back when I mentioned that mystery limiter, it was meant to be released promptly. Development meanwhile got extended and a fabulous processor is getting even better, and eventually you'll all see it's really worth the wait.
The teasing was candid and genuine.

[SamDi]

The AL-1?

Nope. I tried AL-1 public beta and preferred the yet to be released limiter. Well, actually I felt like I didn't need AL-1 and moved on.
As I said in another topic, back when I mentioned that mystery limiter, it was meant to be released promptly. Development meanwhile got extended and a fabulous processor is getting even better, and eventually you'll all see it's really worth the wait.
The teasing was candid and genuine.

So when is the release date of this mystery processor now intended? Don't forget to ressolve your announcement in this thread!

[hantodoma]

Hi all,

This is my first post here – please be kind

As a full-time mastering engineer I work with limiters every single day, so I thought I’d share my approach to this topic.
My go-to limiters are Ozone, FabFilter, DMG and Weiss, all fantastic tools.
However, for me limiting is almost never a one-step process in mastering (mixing can be different).
The most effective method I’ve found is a multi-stage approach:
- I usually start with an analog limiter at the end of the chain (for example Neve MBP or API 529)
- Sometimes I add light D/A converter clipping (that is also 'limiting' in a sence)
- Then I use a digital clipper or first limiter
- And finally a second, cleaner limiter at the very end of the chain

In my experience, multiple stages of limiting give better, more musical and transparent results 10 times out of 10 compared to using even the best single limiter. If you've never tried it before, I can honestly recommend this approach!

Cheers,
Doma Hantó

[pekbro]

Supposed to be working on some feature improvements for HiFal. I liked and picked up the AL-1 recently, since I was able to save a bit on the cost of it luckily.

[ohwellplay]

is a limiter a must have for mastering?

[bmanic]

is a limiter a must have for mastering?

Depends on what genre of music you are mastering and what kind of levels you need to go for.. but in general the answer would be "yes". If you want to do it at all seriously then it's not unusual to have several options available.

You could probably get quite loud levels if you have a good AD converter + some nice mojo outboard gear that can be driven but even with this you'll struggle to achieve some of those crazy levels certain genres go for. Ironically, if you need to go super duper loud, then it's much easier to do in the box than out of the box in my experience. This didn't use to be the case back in the day but things have changed and people who go for stupid loudness levels go for that as the nr 1 priority and sacrifice everything else.. including arrangement and song composition.

[paramita123]

I do envy those who can justify spending $200 on a limiter ! You must have great studios

For me as a dedicated amateur, a mix of paid and free plugins, and for limiters there are plenty of decent free options for those who control their spending.
I tend to just throw the Apogee Soft Limit plus the JS Inflator on the mix bus right from the start of any project, sometimes keeping it for the final export, sometimes switching to Ozone or T-Racks.

[pekbro]

It’s only $200 for those who weren’t paying attention. Personally, I have never paid $200 for a limiter myself. Ever.

[conduitdsp]

Limitless!!! Doesn't have too much character but it's very precise

[Tracewidth]

I'm quite enjoying the (to my ears) precise and transparent [bx_limiter true peak] . Gives all the transients a nice haircut.

[melodeath]

AL-1 is sounding pretty nice to me, but isn't really blowing Limitless out of the water. Just very slightly different. I'm just waiting for this mystery limiter...

[t.o.t.s.]

I do envy those who can justify spending $200 on a limiter ! You must have great studios

You buy the tools that pay the bills.

For me as a dedicated amateur, a mix of paid and free plugins, and for limiters there are plenty of decent free options for those who control their spending.
I tend to just throw the Apogee Soft Limit plus the JS Inflator on the mix bus right from the start of any project,

Neither of those are limiters though. The Apogee, despite the name, is a soft clipper, not a limiter and the Inflator is a waveshaper.

[paramita123]

I do envy those who can justify spending $200 on a limiter ! You must have great studios

You buy the tools that pay the bills.

For me as a dedicated amateur, a mix of paid and free plugins, and for limiters there are plenty of decent free options for those who control their spending.
I tend to just throw the Apogee Soft Limit plus the JS Inflator on the mix bus right from the start of any project,

Neither of those are limiters though. The Apogee, despite the name, is a soft clipper, not a limiter and the Inflator is a waveshaper.

Thank you for the correction, I fully admit I still confuse those tools after so many years. I tend to place them all under a final loudness control category in my head.
For now I manage to produce satisfying sounding, loud mixes with those listed, and I sometimes use the T-Racks tools and limiter, or Ozone, for final exports.

So I hope I am not wrong thinking that limiter or clipper or waveshaper, can somehow do a similar job for at least an amateur to semi-pro level? And that the differences and combination of these tools are what may get the extra juice and volume for pro level productions, would that be a somewhat correct assessment in your opinion? Cheers