Clipper vs Limiter: Best Practices

#musicproducer #musicproduction #audioengineer

[Producelikeapro]

In what ways have you found a Clipper Or Limiter used best in your music productions?

[david-alexandrubitica]

As always, a lot of value, even in those yt shorts. Love your channel Warren! Cheers from Romania

[translila]

when mastering, i use a clipper usually just to chop off transients and add some excitement in the process to them, and then i use a clean true peak limiter (smart:limit by sonible) to get some of the final loudness out of the music

[TrueFallacy]

I love the shorts!!
Clipper on kick drum is NOICE!!

[AE-hxwy]

Always clipper first and limiter. Clipping the drumbus a bit and saturation vsts aswell

[buddhabinaural]

I felt like I really needed a clipper. I have two. Sir and IK clippers. It was a short romance. I find they sound extremely saturated to the extent of crunch. I think I often use things out of habit now and I use both clippers and limiters to squeeze about a half dB each and I can't even hear the difference. I was always taught if you can't hear it you shouldn't be doing it and yet I still do this with clippers and limiters.

Sometimes it can really bring things forward but to do it enough to achieve this pushing upfront, it causes a lot of artifacts.

Wouldn't be the end of the world to lose a clipper and limiter altogether. Not essential tools to me. I do loud EDM too. I just think this use of clippers and limiters is usually compensating for a balls up in the mix.

When I reach for the peak choppers, I always question why I have got to that point. As in 'I've made a hash of things somewhere'.

[JustinNogle]

Fantastic video! I was literally JUST pondering this topic. Thank you so much for breaking it down! 😎🎸🤘

[splashesin]

This really helps me understand what these words mean, in the context of labels to do with sound manipulation.

[sammadden]

Clippers are very in at the moment, for those mixes where 'loudness' is the goal they are great

[mrsnoo]

i use nail clipper to level and smooth out my finger nails.

[LYSHEmusic]

Most of the times I prefer AirWindows ClipOnly2 or ADclip7, which for me sounds better than Pro-L2. Actualy these clipers for me sounds cleaner in a musical way than this and other limiters. I mean, while it may adding some edge to the sound it manages dynamic more naturaly for my ears. But with these clipers you should be careful to not to push it too hard. If you need to squish dynamic hard, AirWindows NC-17 is better tool, but it sounds smoother.

[RolandDeschain]

Should you use a limiter on a mix bus, or leave that for the mastering process?

[simmermusic]

I am about to shop for a clipper actually, which is best in your view?