Mix Tip | Compressor Vs Limiter | When To Use A Limiter In Your Mix

In this mix tip video I talk about compressor vs limiter and explain why you would want to use a limiter over compression in a mix situation.

This question was asked to me by one of my viewers, and I honestly didn't have the answer.

I don't use brickwall limiters in my mixes, but once assisted Dove Award Winning engineer Jeremey Edwardson (Jesus Culture, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman) and watched him use limiters on his mixes.

So I reached out to him to find out his reasoning behind why he does this, and in this video you will find his answer.

I hope that this video helps you on your journey to writing and producing better songs.

And you can always reach out to me if you have any questions. If I don't have the answer I will find someone who does!

For more resources on mixing music please check out my other videos at ...

How To Use Compression On Acoustic Guitar:

Mixing In Mono | The Great Fallacy:

Audio Compression Explained:

The Music Equalizer Explained:

The Basics Explained:

How Little Moves Create Big Results:

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[ericpassmore]

Thanks for the vid man. Just to clarify when your producer buddy uses a limiter on bass (for example) I'm assuming he is using it IN PLACE of a compressor..?? Like really doing all the GR with just a limiter? I often use a compressor first and then follow with some gentle limiting but I've seen people just slam a bass with a question wth drums....use just a limiter on snare? I wonder what happens to the transients when just a limiter is used..??

[newguy]

Instead of parallel compression, I do what I guess you could call parallel limiting and it works very well for me. Call me crazy but the reason I started doing this is because I really didn't like the coloration that various compressors bring to the mix. Basically, I want an acoustic bass to sound like an acoustic bass and don't want its transient to sound stunted or colorized using a compressor. A good limiter is more transparent, bringing very little coloration to the sound. In fact, I often hear no coloration at all.
Please note: I think that where the confusion comes in the limiter verses compressor debate, is that when anyone talks about using a limiter on an instrument track, everyone tends to assume that person is trying to max out the loudness of the track. No, I don't mean that at all. I use it like a compressor in that I am just trying to trim some peaks (usually 3 to 5 to maybe 7 dBs) to get an even sound and then combine it with the original sound to let the transients come through (with parallel processing). Yes, I will go for some loudness and add some gain as well but nothing drastic and I never "smash" the sound. Not at all. Using a limiter in parallel processing works especially well with vocals. Try it. Experiment.