Why I Think I Will Buy A Brick Wall Limiter (Maybe Blue Tubes)

Its included with X3 Producer, go for it!
X3 Producer I mean...
 
T

What Craig said. When I mix, I use a two compressors on the MB. The first one is usually a LA-2A and I check it occasionally to make sure it's only taking 1/2 a db of gain reduction. The second one I set it according to the loudest part of the track so it barely moves. I remove them both at mix down. I usually aim the mix at about -8db though. I'm not bothered about it going over to much as it's not the aim to make levels perfect for the MB. My concern is the balance of everything in the track.
 
What I'll never understand is using limiters in a mix anywhere. My feeling is, if you have to use a limiter to tame the drums, for instance, then your drums are too loud. Of course, everything is subjective and nothing is set in stone.

Guitarpima
What I'll never understand is using limiters in a mix anywhere. My feeling is, if you have to use a limiter to tame the drums, for instance, then your drums are too loud. Of course, everything is subjective and nothing is set in stone.

Exactly. Actually, I use limiters on drums if I want to bring up the ambience. The peaks don't sound as squashed as they would if I used compression for the same result.

Colour me stupid. I just started using the Concrete Limiter on my drum buss and love it. So I should stop using it? When I do my tracks I aim for peaks around -6db and the limiter really adds body to the drum tracks. What other methods should I employ first?

ampfixer
Colour me stupid. I just started using the Concrete Limiter on my drum buss and love it. So I should stop using it? When I do my tracks I aim for peaks around -6db and the limiter really adds body to the drum tracks. What other methods should I employ first?

See post #6. If you're stupid, so am I. CL is my limiter of choice for that application.

hey Konrad, your Sonitus Compressor has a limiter in it as well, plus attack + release  buttons which you can tweek to keep your mix as fresh as possible....I would never buy a limiter without attack/release...crucial specially on mix or master bus (IMO)
It will add some latency to your mix though unfortunately....for that you can tweek the Free Voxengo Latency plugin.
 
Good luck

YES!  Agree.  I do not touch the Master bus at all (other than fade out on final sustained note sometimes).

I'd like to have a real hardware LA1A, but it is not worth $3,500 to me at this point. Same comment about a pair of 1176LNs, which would run about $4,000.

What about a limiter on bass tracks? Anyone do that?

Anderton

sharke
What about a limiter on bass tracks? Anyone do that?

All the time...but it depends totally on the material and what you want to accomplish. Lately my music has been getting sparser so the bass gets more space, which means I want it more defined and I prefer limiting for that. I use only the EB 5 Expansion Pack these days for bass (there are certain advantages to being able to create the bass sound you want!) except on rare occasions when I use the EB 5 itself, and if I crank up the high end, it's perfect...the levels are even because they were all balanced while making the instrument, and the highs give it definition. A touch of limiting, maybe 2-3dB max, gives it just a little more presence. 
 
When I want the bass to melt more into a track and support it, I tend to go more for compression. But ultimately, it depends on the player's touch, even if the sounds are sampled. The two main bassists I work with have very different touches, which has a huge influence on what type of dynamics control is optimum. I wrote an article that addresses this topic and I think you would find it helpful.

Interesting article. I use samples for bass, usually Trilian or Scarbee, and I admit I haven't much looked into the programming of them to see how to specify open strings over fretted etc. 

In person , i was dissapointed by the concrete (i had to buy the sonnox) , because it's not at all transparent as the sonnox , Pro L or FGX one fro exemple , sure it's very handy on individual sources ..but not on the master unless when i use it as a "portection".....
 
Konrad be sure to gain stage well before hitting the mixing stage , usually i end up max  -6db on the master and i if  go to high one the master (rarely) i just do not compensate with make up gain copresion on my MAIN buses (BEAT, FX, VOCALS, INS )
 
To answer you orginal question , yes a good limiter is always needed ..... i went sonnox cause i had a great EDU prices on the enhance bundle ...but at regular price , pro L is the best bang for the bck around , FGX is better and nowdays cheaper but heavier on cpu ...if you can wait FGX 2 is coming soon ...

of course john .... at the same GR as in sonnox or Pro L , i lose way more dynamic and transients ....

Download http://vladgsound.wordpress.com/plugins/limiter6/ It's one of the best I've tried. 64bit and free, what's not to like? Loudmax is very good too. (64bit and free) http://loudmax.blogspot.com/  I do use the CL for tracks and buses, and Pro-L when I want something pretty to look at.

I use sampled bass but sometimes limit it because it makes the sound more focused.

bentleyousley

AndertonP
I use the Waves multiband limiters.

Amen to that, As much as I hate their business practices, Waves makes great, transparent multi-band limiters,

 
I have loved the Waves plug-ins since the Q10, and still love them to this day. The L3-16 Multiband Limiter is pretty awesome. Waves implementation of the Priority thresholds in these limiters is second to none as far as the level of control you get with these limiters. So, I totally agree, Waves makes the best Multiband Limiters, IMO.
 
They also make some really awesome modeled plug-ins as well, which we know Cakewalk does, too!

I used to be very critical of the Waves business practices and such until they started offering better WUP deals and some real steals on their plug-ins, and I started using WUP. WUP, especially gives a bad taste to anyone who doesn't want to pay extra $ for the expensive plug-ins they bought every year or so. Where I have a problem is when a company like Avid changes their proprietary plug-in format from RTAS to AAX, costing Waves many $ and resource hours to make their plug-ins compatible, possibly eating up some of the dollars I spent in WUP. 
 
It makes sense that Waves should do this to make those sales and the PT users happy, but Avid likely never remotely considered or cared how this affected even potential PT customers. So, I have a bad taste in my mouth about that. Avid doesn't care and they have demonstrated that to me, personally.
 
I'm so thankful Cakewalk doesn't do this to their own customers. Thank you, Cakewalk for keeping the VST2/3 format a possibility. You understand this Flexibility.
 
Back to WUP, when I first realized I needed WUP to upgrade my plug-ins to newer versions, which isn't necessarily required so long as you download the offline installer and don't buy plug-ins newer than your versions, they do offer after-hours support (scheduled on-call), and have a seriously savvy staff to support, not only their plug-ins, but the DAW's use of those plug-ins. They know Sonar pretty well.