I am looking for a good Compressor/Limiter plug In for mastering.
One kind of like Sony's Wavehammer with these options.
Options:
Has an Input Gain fader(Wavehammer does not)
Allows Peak and RMS Compression
Ratios up to 50:1 or higher if possible.
Offers a Limiter to limit the Output
WaveHammer does not have an input gain, so I usually use my Waves L2/L3 Ultramaximizer before the Wavehammer to bring up the gain, with maybe a 1dB reduction off the peaks, or less.
My mastering chain usually consists of:
After EQ and Compression and maybe some Hardlimiting of high peaks I may have gotten from using an Exciter, or BBE's Sonic Maximizer:
Waves L2 or L3-for input gain, dithering off.
Wave Hammer-Set for RMS Mode-Compressor Ratio of 10:1-Limiter also active.
Wave Hammer-Set for Peak Mode-Compressor Ratio of 45:1 or 50:1-Limiter also active
Then maybe an L3 at the end to provide maybe with an additional 1.5 dB gain, if any, and dither.
Or I may use Izotope Ozone for dithering. It has DC offset filtering as well as some other cool options.
I am stuck in the Plug In realm for now as far as mastering. These settings are not typical. I am going to school for mixing/mastering
Thanks
Comments
Michael Fossenkemper wrote: well you have a couple of good limit
Michael Fossenkemper wrote: well you have a couple of good limiters now. as far as something with input gain, you could just use a fader and push more signal into the compressor or limiter and then your options would open up.
Duh, why didnt I think of that.
Now I was going for a signal chain like this
RMS limiter
Peak Limiter
Dithering(Ozone)maybe with a tiny tiny bit of limiting reduction.
However I am hearing that those ratios are pretty high. And doing some math it seems that way too.
Would you say it would be better practice to use lower ratios?
Like maybe
RMS limiter ratio: 4:1 with a threshold that give me 2dB reduction
Peak Limiter Ratio: 10:1 that gives me maybe 1-2dB reduction
then the Brickwall
Im basically shaving the peaks but gently.
Just an example
well depending on what you are mastering, and a few other variab
well depending on what you are mastering, and a few other variables, I would try a lower ratio on the compressor and then compensate a little on the threshhold so you are still getting a controlable amount of compression. Maybe ditch the limiter, and just tickle the brickwall.
Looking for a mastering tool Sounds to me like your looking for
Looking for a mastering tool
Sounds to me like your looking for something like T-Racks
well you have a couple of good limiters now. as far as something
well you have a couple of good limiters now. as far as something with input gain, you could just use a fader and push more signal into the compressor or limiter and then your options would open up.