Stop Limiting Your Masters

[Rekoyl]

I feel like all edm producers can ignore this video

[theepicredstoner]

I always keep a limiter on the master purely because the sounds I make can sometimes spike up to 300db and I don't want my ears to explode

[juanchotpee]

If you're doing parallel comp, saturation and maximising then you can put a limiter on after all that stuff and it'll barely have to do anything but still come in useful every now and then.

[marcusbishop]

Interesting concept. I’d really appreciate a video of you running through a limiterless mastering chain 🙏

[adelsweezy]

PSP is a gem when it comes to mastering

[djrandalldean]

continuously blown away by your content, partially b/c i'm at a stage of learning where it hits just right, mostly because you explain it better than just about anyone I've found on the same subjects while doing so at a pace that doesn't lose me. Impressive. Thank you.

[studiodsr]

Use other tools to achieve the bulk of your loudness / bigness / evenness, but still use a limiter at the end to catch overs and gain a touch more level (-3db reduction max)

[EricOehler]

The tricky bit here is that since stuff like Inflator, Saturn, and Vwarmer are effectively wave shapers with transfer curves designed to add lots of harmonics, you do have to be extremely careful not to oversaturate the mix and change the sound of the original recording. And since inflator (and possibly PSP, maybe they’ve updated since I last used it) don’t oversample, there’s also a risk of adding aliasing noise if you’re working at lower sample rates.

Parallel (and upwards) compression are usually more transparent but if hit too hard can rebalance the mix more than you (or your client) may want.

Now, sure, limiting and clipping and even compression are also wave shaping that add harmonics too, but since there are use cases for those specifically requiring minimal coloration, they tend to be designed with transfer functions that keep it to a minimum.

My favorite solution is to use a few different stages with minimal impact so as to apply the least unnecessary coloration. A limiter is usually involved at the end but only doing a few db of work.

[GustavoM.D.]

These days, I'm studying and practicing a lot of mastering with upward compressors. I'm now using limiters only for outlier peaks. This approach has worked best for me in genres of music that require a higher level of transparency and dynamics in the mastering: classical music, jazz, and progressive/symphonic rock.

[davidpachecoegido]

I don't agree, you don't have to choose between one option or the other, you should use all of them if necessary. Parallel compression, saturation + limiting will make the limiter practically not need to work.

[dirface]

Excluding limiting means you have less control of where your desired cutoff point ends up, this might lead to overshoots when platforms make transcodes of your material. That's why you don't leave out limiting, but rather use it wisely.

[Pistolbomb]

I like how you are able to describe other ways of mastering besides just brickwall limiting. Parallel compression sounds like a great idea, and maximization is definitely a great innovation!

[DjTonioRoffo]

Philips and Sony give us 16 bits of dynamic range, only for us to master tracks with dynamic ranges which would sound okay in 8 bits with a bit of noise shaping. *shakes head* - Thank you, car audio & iphone "speaker" listeners.

[MaximusWhyman]

I think the best way to use a limiter is for the sound and movement it makes, not for loudness.

[djGreenALERT]

I would be interested to hear the results if instead of -14 LUFS, you tried this at around -8 LUFS

[filippo]

You've started with an explanation of how does the limiter operates - this is immediate like and respect from me.

[sword-and-shield]

8:16 8:23 8:31 8:39 Not much transient difference, which was the main thrust of the purpose, but clearly different options arriving at end result.

[krisztianfugedi]

No, don't actually stop limiting your masters. Sometimes in bass heavy, heavy genre mixes like modern metal or dubstep, clipping will just further saturate the subs, while the transient smearing from the limiting can actually be quite desireable. Remember, limiting is just a tool for the right use at the right time, just like all the others.

[codycanyonmusic]

In my opinion, limiting should not be doing any of the heavy lifting in a master. Compression, saturation, clipping, maximizing should all come first. (Not necessarily in that order) By the end of the signal chain the limiter should only do a very very small amount of limiting, like 1 to 2 db if you really need it. And you can do two limiters if you really need to get your track that much louder. I stack the ozone vintage limiter with the ozone maximizer. The vintage limiter usually does 1 db of limiting and the maximizer does maybe .4 or .5 db of limiting.

[HLRxxKarl]

The limiter still sounds fine to me. But I'll remember that parallel compression trick as an option for the future.