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Hey gang,

I've read a lot that many engineers love the Waves
L1 and L2 maximizers.

Well . . . I don't have the L2 yet, but I have
been using the L1, both on individual tracks to
boost them and help them "sit in the mix" better,
and I have been putting the L1 Ultramaximizer on
my Pro Tools master fader to pump up a hotter
signal and use the 16 bit Type 1 dithering.

So . . . my question to everyone is, how hard do
you all hit the L1? How high do you crank the
threshold? I quickly find that I get a fluttering / distorting sound if I hit it very hard.

Do you tend to go very lightly on the L1? Do you
use it as a subtle tool? OR do you "go to town"
with it?

Opinions?

Thanks in advance . . .

Comments

Guest Thu, 04/11/2002 - 15:55

I use the L1+ only as a "safety" limiter. I set the ceiling at -0.2 and rarely pump up the volume using the threshold at all. This method will catch any "overs" without degenerating the sound. Part of the reason I don't worry about pumping up the volume is because 95% of all my projects are then sent to a mastering studio - where they can pump it up if necessary. I like to leave them as much flexibility as possible. (Brad would like me, at least!)

damster Thu, 04/11/2002 - 21:30

I use the L1 when giving the band rough mixes to listen to in the car so that commercial cd's don't totally blow ours away in terms of volume.Sparingly is the keyword here and if my mixes are well balanced I still only use about 6db of limiting on the highest peaks.The signal breaks up too much for me after that.Dying to compare this with the L2(hardware and software).