Best limiter plug-in?

[Ben F]

I'm doing my own demos and my friend told me that paying for mastering is a waste of money because you can now do it at home with a plug-in. I haven't got the motivation or judgment to hear which one is best, or even do a search on the most flogged to death topic on this forum, so I'm going to annoy the F*** out of you more experienced mastering engineers to find out which free download I can use to master my tracks.

Then I'm going to be surprised to hear arrogant and dismissive answers.

[jdjustice]

no, so far you are just going to get one guy's opinion who is not an ME.

Sony Oxford limiter.
then Massey L2007 second place.

that's just for me of course and YMMV, but i've used them all.



cheers.
~j.d.

[jdg]

just use this one.
http://borntorock.com/rockster.htm

[MattGray]

Originally Posted by Ben F

I'm doing my own demos and my friend told me that paying for mastering is a waste of money because you can now do it at home with a plug-in. I haven't got the motivation or judgment to hear which one is best, or even do a search on the most flogged to death topic on this forum, so I'm going to annoy the F*** out of you more experienced mastering engineers to find out which free download I can use to master my tracks.

Then I'm going to be surprised to hear arrogant and dismissive answers.

With friends like that who needs enemy's... Are you sure he isn't just saying that so that his mixes sound better then yours? He probably does get them mastered professionally but wanted to steal all your clients..

[Kiwiburger]

What platform and host?????? That's the annoying part of your question tutt

For PC VST, you have to check out Voxengo Elephant. It's frequently first choice for anyone who can host it. Elephant can even do clipping, should that be required.

I also have a lot of time for the top end Kjaerhus one - but it's not as fast as Elephant when you need fast.

[Coyoteous]

Originally Posted by jdg

just use this one.
http://borntorock.com/rockster.htm

Is this for real?

I like and use WaveArts FinalPlug, but it's not free.

The Massey, in not too crippled demo form, is free.

There is a free reverse engineered L1 vst clone, if you've "got the motivation" to go find it.

- maybe some others, check http://www.dontcrack.com under freeware...

[andivax]

imho Voxengo Elephant 2 is the best on PC. Then izotope ozone's limiter (by alexey lukin). i don't like L1/L2/L3 - too colorfull.

[Whitecat]

Last night I was doing a very un-scientific comparison of a few different SW limiters that I've had around [but not used very much] on some film score pieces I did last year. It was really just to get a feel for what they could and couldn't do, and of course, to see how hard I could slam them before they crackled. Traditionally in the past I've used PSP's MasterComp to bring up my overall levels, but it's not UB yet, so I was trying out the W1 (which is the L1 'clone,' allegedly, that's been mentioned above), Elemental Audio's Finis, and Wave Arts' Final Plug. The clear winner was the Wave Arts' plug, it was very good, I would say as good as MasterComp (albeit without some of that extra vintage 'flavour' that the PSP can impart, but I don't always want that). The Finis, in mode II was only OK. Mode III sounded terrible, and mode I was just, well, boring. The W1 sounded awful, and was completely unusable. I'm no fan of the Waves L-series stuff anyway.

I'm a big fan of the Wave Arts' stuff, but I've never used FinalPlug before at all really even though I've owned it for a year. Might give it a go on some future self-mastered projects. As you've been told, nothing is a replacement for a good ME though. It's the extra set of experienced ears if nothing else that will help you the most, no matter what kit they use!

I also love the Massey limiter, but I prefer to "master" with Peak Pro, so it just doesn't tend to work that well with my workflow, but that's just me. As has been stated, YMMV.

[illynoise]

AdLimiter in Logic is my favorite. I don't know why it's not in Waveburner Pro though.

[the_Alien]

Originally Posted by Coyoteous

Is this for real?

I like and use WaveArts FinalPlug, but it's not free.

The Massey, in not too crippled demo form, is free.

There is a free reverse engineered L1 vst clone, if you've "got the motivation" to go find it.

- maybe some others, check http://www.dontcrack.com under freeware...

Did you mean this one: http://www.yohng.com/w1limit.html
I think he did a great job on that. I like it very much and use it quite often (besides others, depends on situation but mostly on submixes).

[Antonis2007]

Originally Posted by andivax

imho Voxengo Elephant 2 is the best on PC. Then izotope ozone's limiter (by alexey lukin). i don't like L1/L2/L3 - too colorfull.

Hello!

This is one of the main reasons that i run the mastering plugin evaluation project!

;-)
Regards
Antonis

*Limiters Exposed

[AnAverageJoe]

I learn from the Pros... The Best Limiter Plug-in is no Limiter Plug-in!!!!!


The question you should be asking is What are our opinions as too which limiter plug-in is the best...


What Works for me might not work for you so do a search rather than posting these questions and Then go buy some different limiter plug-ins or you can demo them at the websites and from there you decide whats best for you!!!!!


I don't do mastering yet so I couldn't really help you with this question because I'm still in the mixing phase and I will be for a long time.

[davebl@dircon.c]

Sony Oxford Limiter

[DivineMusic]

(I'm not an ME)
When using a limiter, i'll use Voxengo Elephant or the uad limiter...
i use things like L2 on elec guitars or something i wanna crush but thats about it lol

[Lagerfeldt]

Originally Posted by the_Alien

Did you mean this one: http://www.yohng.com/w1limit.html
I think he did a great job on that. I like it very much and use it quite often (besides others, depends on situation but mostly on submixes).

I'm not a huge fan of the L1 (which isn't very suitable for mastering anyway), but the W1 doesn't come close. Check out the distortion on the W1, not very nice, even at low amounts of GR. Unless there's a new version - I tested it about a year ago.

Of course distortion can be a cool thing once in a while but I'd like to chose when and where and how.

The L3 has some major problems with the crossovers (and distortion too), but the L2 is far better IMO. While I don't think clipping is always suitable, it can yield far better results in some cases. Try out different types of clipping, ITB on the fader, at the A/D stage, clipping plugs (hard/soft/straight) - it all sounds different. Some types of soft clipping adds low volume distortion which can bring out details, but it might not fit all songs..

In some cases you can combine limiting and clipping with nice results.

[Ben F]

Ah you guys are all too nice. Now I feel terrible for such a vindictive post. I'm sorry to have wasted anyones time, really, I'm just sick to death of this question.

[ISedlacek]

Originally Posted by jdjustice

Sony Oxford limiter.
then Massey L2007 second place.

Sony Oxford is still not released as VST (I wonder when they will finally do it after that long time announcements - and they do not not have any direct contact information, so one cannot even ask). Massey is only for ProTools (what a discrimination ....to limit a plugin just for one application - and even for a very mediocre one )

[Thor]

I've been using the L2 for quite some time, and agree with Holger in that it does a decent job compared to much else.

Recently I downloaded Izotope Ozone 3 and Sony Oxford to try out. I bought the Sony, and while the Ozone was nice, I preferred the L2 for most stuff. As I don't use a whole lot of limiting in general, YMMV.

Cheers,
Thor

[Bob Yordan]

Hiya

I have the UAD Prec Limiter, as I understand the Oxford Lim is a big
challenger to it. Is the diffenece between these two major/minor?

TIA

[aussie_techie]

Originally Posted by Ben F

I'm doing my own demos and my friend told me that paying for mastering is a waste of money because you can now do it at home with a plug-in.

tell your friend to lean what he is doing before making such claims. proper mastering is an entire process its not just running a mix through a limiter. a limiter is the very last thing and should only be catching a few peeks not slamming the entire mix.

that said out of everything i have heard the oxford is the best with the massey very close behind and in some cases will give a preferred flavour. everyone i know who has done the comparisons will never go back to using an L2 especially when they can use the massey demo for as long as they want before they buy it.

[MattGray]

Originally Posted by Ben F

Ah you guys are all too nice. Now I feel terrible for such a vindictive post. I'm sorry to have wasted anyones time, really, I'm just sick to death of this question.

I knew I smelt a rat, you were setting us up for someone to bite... but I was onto you & played along This topic and the 'L' word is talked about on this forum 95% of the time, it's depressing I tells ya!

[Ben F]

Originally Posted by MattGray

I knew I smelt a rat, you were setting us up for someone to bite... but I was onto you & played along This topic and the 'L' word is talked about on this forum 95% of the time, it's depressing I tells ya!

Must be the Aussie connection. I'm enjoying this forum less and less due to brand X plug-in vs brand Y limiter, what's the best settings etc.

I'll give an example- I use the Weiss DS-1 for limiting. But if it was unavailable for a session I could use the L2 or TC electronics without any problem, because I know the sound of them and would use EQ to tame the limiting to how I wanted it to sound and drive it properly with correct gain structure. Perhaps it's because we come from a mixing background and are used to working within the limitations of the gear available. That's what I call engineering.

1. Technique first
2. Gear second

Most of the posts lately have been the other way round.

[Charlie-O]

Originally Posted by Ben F

Must be the Aussie connection. I'm enjoying this forum less and less due to brand X plug-in vs brand Y limiter, what's the best settings etc.

I'll give an example- I use the Weiss DS-1 for limiting. But if it was unavailable for a session I could use the L2 or TC electronics without any problem, because I know the sound of them and would use EQ to tame the limiting to how I wanted it to sound and drive it properly with correct gain structure. Perhaps it's because we come from a mixing background and are used to working within the limitations of the gear available. That's what I call engineering.

1. Technique first
2. Gear second

Most of the posts lately have been the other way round.

Its Gearslutz.

[diogo_c]

Loved your avatar Charlie-O!
haha

[thermos]

Originally Posted by jdg

just use this one.
R O C K S T E R

That thing looks sick! I like that there are over a quadrillion different possibilities, I really like plugs that keep it focused.


I've tried L1, L2, L3, Sony limiter, Uad precision, PSP Xenon, TC masterx 3 (eeech!), Ozone. My favorite limiter out of all of those is the one in Ozone. It seems the least tone altering out of all of them.

[AMIEL]

Originally Posted by Ben F

I'm doing my own demos and my friend told me that paying for mastering is a waste of money because you can now do it at home with a plug-in. I haven't got the motivation or judgment to hear which one is best, or even do a search on the most flogged to death topic on this forum, so I'm going to annoy the F*** out of you more experienced mastering engineers to find out which free download I can use to master my tracks.

Then I'm going to be surprised to hear arrogant and dismissive answers.

Ben , your friend is just a joker!

Yes you can do something tweaking knobs...and improve some how ypur mixes

But if you want a real improvement and pro sound a real mastering engineer can really do much more than tweaking knobs! Mastering is a real art! a kind of voodo,,,,,

[Adam Dempsey]

Originally Posted by MattGray

I knew I smelt a rat, you were setting us up for someone to bite... but I was onto you & played along This topic and the 'L' word is talked about on this forum 95% of the time, it's depressing I tells ya!

And I knew that you knew.
And now Ben knows that we know that we know what he knows.
And if only everyone knew, nobody would need to ask.

[Peakly]

Originally Posted by andivax

imho Voxengo Elephant 2 is the best on PC. Then izotope ozone's limiter. i don't like L1/L2/L3 - too colorfull.

Every limiter changes the tone. I think it sounds best with none. Just get it up as hot as possible without limiting, and then we'll use the volume knobs on our stereos and mp3 players to get it where we want it.

[tomasrangel]

Sonnox Oxford Limiter for mastering. Very flexible and keep the dynamics alive.

[davidwilson]

I can't understand all the people who like the Massey Limiter. To me it sounds more like a compressor and narrows the signal . The L2 destroys it IMO.

I have used the Ozone and am considering purchacing but am wondering if the Sonnex or MD3 would be better.