EDIT :  freeware W1 Limiter is one of the better freeware limiter that is somewhat neutral.

To buy:  Fabfilter Pro-L is the " almost neutral " sounding limiter out there... !

And this measurement tool / loudness meter : 
http://www.klangfreund.com/lufsmeter/ 

Rock / Pop etc ...
If i keep the short term RMS level above -9.5db as max, and long therm RMS at -11.5db as max,
( personally i wont push it more than that ) , then there should be no issues for bad sound.

Classic / Acoustics etc
For Acoustic / Singer / songwriter / ballads etc, i would also ease off 2db more to catch the subtle
nuance's of the music, going at  short therm RMS -11.5db , and long therm RMS -13.5db
to really catch the " movement of the spirit " 

Metal Music etc
Just push it no one cares  , hey what did you say .... hey !!  you....  "&//&% !

To many push music to hard so they loose transients, clarity and definition in today's music and its too bad

Ease down, breathe, Relax, sit back and feel the energy and life itself
don't forget to join the :  transient & dynamic movement ( TDM ) 

Jan S

Thanks for your 2¢ 
Hadn't seen the Lufsmeter before.
 
...Steven

Thanks for the tip, I was just about to research freeware limiters, I guess now I can save the time!

I had posted Lufsmeter in Mod Bods Metering Plugins thread...just an FYI...

Limiter #6 is quite good for free also...

http://vladgsound.wordpress.com/plugins/limiter6/

What is more neutral than Fabfilter Pro-L
maybe another like the waves L3 ?

I own Pro-L. I still like the sound of the Free "Limiter No.6" better, but I use the Pro-L metering. Loudmax (free) and Toneboosters Barricade hangs in pretty good with these as well. There are a bunch of really good limiters out there. IK's Brickwall and Cakewalk's Concrete Limiter come to mind.

The issue is that more or less " all Limiters "  have some EQ " coloring " to the sound
it add some quite often from 400-1.2khz, not much, but i can hear it.
(guess that go for all kinda plugins anyway ....) , but the goal is to get a " neutral "
sounding Limiter, without altering frequency / stereo image or presence of the instruments in the mid's.

Some limiters also tend to take " away " some from the mid's
and others add/boost a little. Every Limiter is different.........

Loudmax, is one of the limiters that take away some from the mid's
and also bring some frequencies down also in the 500-1k range.

So a good test between limiters is, between loudmax and W1 Limiter
those are quite different, and easy to tell the difference.

the best way to compare, is to use music that's not to busy
with the arrangement, but open and detailed with nice tone
where you can hear / feel the vibe.... !

The W1 Limiter, is more mid ranged than Loudmax.

So they'r having their different classes, i would do Loudmax at, Dance / pop music
and W1 Limiter for classical / instrumental type of sound, if i should choose.


when i testing by ear i do it like this :

first i boost my stereo amp about + 6db and listen to the sound....., then turn down the amp again
and activate the limiter... comparing the stereo width / tone (harmonics) and the change
in the frequency range, compared to the boosted volume of my stereo amp.

If i boost with my stereo amp, it will be a way nicer boost, than with a limiter
a limiter tend to add more " harsness " to the sound.

Maybe that is why Mastering engineer's do use expensive outboard gear to avoid those problems
and get the best sound.

Cause there's no doubt that hardware is better than software....

I use Pro-L because it's not neutral. At least, the Dynamic mode isn't, and that's the mode I use most. When I'm after transparency, it'll usually be Ozone with the Character slider on "transparent" .
 
But then I master so lightly that it almost doesn't matter what limiter I use. I'm rarely getting more than 1-3 dB of gain reduction. I love my transients and discipline them with a gentle hand. On the rare occasions when I do venture into more contemporary styles that demand higher average RMS at the expense of dynamics, then the free LoudMax does that pretty well. 
 
The coloration you speak of is kinda intrinsic to the process of limiting. Low frequencies always have more energy, so that's what the limiter's responding to most of the time. The exception is limiters that explicitly sense transients and treat them differently, independent of their absolute levels. Pro-L does this.

Yes the best way is like you say, not to use more than  1-3 db gain
the more gain , the harsher the sound gets, can also hear that on a
Amplifier when it reaches above 50% of output power, the frequency range start to change
and it slowly distort more and more, as volume is cranked up.

But Hardware do sound better than software. It is more expensive and
require more work to use outboard gear, than plugins.

Best thing is probably at the final stage use some outboard to hit the 
music with a few DB more, with a hardware valve Limiter.

Mhh i also did a test just raising the Master fader + 6db in sonar
and by a strange reason it seems to affect the sound in a similar way
of adding harsness, while just boosting my stereo amp, do not.

It is more present when i boost inside my DAW
than outside, like my amp.

Maybe it has something to do with the circuit in the audio interface ?
Any suggestions what happens ?

it is the strange way of audio...........