Best Limiter Plugin
My 3-hour course on ‘’ has recently been released so I thought I would give you an insight into some of the third party plug-ins that I’ll be using. There are obviously some products here that share the same category, but I’ve tried to give you all the essentials and a few you may not have thought about.
The latest edition of Plugin Boutique’s Top 5 Friday sees a round-up of some of the best limiter effect plugins. Tim Cant’s list includes FabFilter’s excellent Pro-L 2, TDR Limiter 6 GE, Signum Audio’s Bute Limiter, Elephant by Voxengo and the Sonnox Inflator V3. Inflator V3 by Sonnox. Paid limiter plugins can cost upwards of a few hundred dollars each, like Waves' Limiter plugins. But you can get pretty good results from these free options as well. Best Free Limiter Plugins Limiter No6 Limiter #6 is a mastering plugin that includes five modules: RMS compressor, peak limiter, high-frequency limiter, clipper, true peak limiter.
Most of these plug-ins may appear to be quite expensive (and yes there is a lot of UAD-based stuff in here) but you have to remember you get what you pay for and all of these put together would still cost a fraction of a single piece of dedicated mastering hardware. In reality, even high-end mastering software is excellent value. 1: FabFilter Pro-L Limiter I’ve made no secret of the fact that I love FabFilter plug-ins. They are all priced so that most can afford them, they have extremely user-friendly interfaces and most importantly, they sound great.
So great in fact that their Pro-L Limiter has swiftly become a firm favorite amongst in the box engineers and producers worldwide. The Fabfilter Pro-L The Pro-L is capable of applying both subtle transparent limiting and full-on maximiser effects. Whatever level of volume you like to induce, the Pro-L can handle it, and it does an excellent job of preserving dynamics at the same time. If you are looking for a do-it-all limiter that won’t break the bank. End of story.
Find out more. 2: Sonnox Inflator On the subject of dynamics processing, let’s take a look at something slightly different. Sonnox (Sony/Oxford) are famous for creating awesome plug-ins that are more than capable of taking on mastering duties. Their limiter for example is widely accepted to be one of the best out there. UAD’s Version of the SSL Classic. Find out more about Waves SSL G Buss Compressor.
Find out more about UAD's SSL Classic. 4: Sonnox Codec Toolbox Having the right mastering software isn’t just all about having the best compressors and limiters, you also have to make sure that you'll get the best sound possible when you convert to MP3 (and other compressed formats). The Sonnox Codec Toolbox does exactly that. It consists of a stand-alone app and plug-in and allows you to listen, in real time, to the effects of the compression on your music. This is ideal to ensure that your delivery is great for every application. The Sonnox Codec Toolbox. The Toolbox is amazingly cheap at £35 but is limited to 48 kHz.
If you require higher resolutions then you’ll have to fork out for the Pro Codec which is considerably more expensive. Find out more. 5: UAD Manley Massive Passive EQ is an essential part of any mastering chain, whether you are adding slight enhancement, or you need to fix problems and remove rogue frequencies. Picking the right plug-in for the job is critical. In the hardware world, passive EQ is the way to go and therefore it makes sense to opt for a top-notch model of one of these high-end tools.
Best Free Limiter Plugin
One of the best out there is UAD’s model of the stunning Manley Massive Passive. UAD’s awesome model of the Manley Massive Passive. If you don’t have a UAD system, then you might want to take a look at NI’s website as they have produced a Manley clone with Softube. This version is also very accurate and comes in native flavors. Find out more. 6: Brainworx bxdigital V2 Utilizing M/S tech in your mastering chain might not have been something you have considered before, but the ability to control the mono and stereo information in your mix independently can truly give you the edge you need. The feature rich bxdigital V2 from Brainworx.
Brainworx have long been masters in this field and produce some of the best M/S based software processors out there. Their flagship is the bxdigital V2. This monster EQ allows you to enhance both stereo and mono data with ease. If you haven't seen this in action, it’s well worth checking out. Find out more. Invisible Limiter w As we’ve already discussed, brickwall limiting is key to getting your master to the right level and ensuring that you have no overs and ear bleeding perceived volume (only kidding).
Best Limiter Plugin 2019
Some developers are more well known than others, but a new company making waves is Japanese A.O.M. AOM’s Invisible Limiter may be a newcomer but it sounds great! A.O.M.’s new Invisible Limiter does exactly what it says on the tin and is able to produce loud upfront sounds with little overall effect to the feel of the original material. It’s very simple to operate and comes in 64-bit for most DAWs.
Find out more. 8: iZotope Ozone Advanced If all of this seems a bit complex or if building an extensive plug-in library simply for mastering is just too much work, you might want to look at the one-stop mastering shop that is Ozone. The all-in-one mastering suite that is Ozone. Ozone covers everything, including EQ, saturation, stereo enhancement, compression, limiting, dithering and even reverb! If you opt for the advanced version, you even get iZotope’s mastering grade metering suite called Insight. Find out more. 9: SPL Passeq Another monster passive EQ model is SPL’s Passeq.
This is modeled on SPL’s amazing (and expensive) hardware and produces a sublime tone. The perfect tool for sweetening up a mix that lacks a little sheen. This will be a huge jump from using your DAW’s stock EQ on your master output!