[Ardour-Users] Peak levels on master bus vs single track

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Thu, 2 Mar 2017 23:22:50 +0100, Robin Gareus wrote:
>On 03/02/2017 09:47 PM, Will Godfrey wrote:
>> On Thu, 2 Mar 2017 21:39:12 +0100
>> Robin Gareus <robin at gareus.org> wrote:
>> 
>> <snip>
>>   
>>> You really want a limiter on the master-bus (not on individual
>>> tracks) As far as free software goes, I'd use swh's
>>> fast-lookahead-limiter.  
>> 
>> Hmm. Not always. I was once sent a track by a friend that had
>> horrendous ducking of the vocal due to the percussion track
>> triggering the limiter. 
>
>good point. It's not a general recommendation, but probably the correct
>one in the case that Alf mentioned.
>
>Yet if a percussion track can duck vocals due to a limiter on the
>master-bus, that percussions must have been well above the set limit
>(and actually pump the whole mix, not only vocals).

Actually the whole mix could be just percussion + vocals ;).

However, if the limiter limits peaks of the percussion, it doesn't
affect vocals that don't cause peaks, too, since it doesn't compress
the signal. A limiter should never cause pumping. A limiter might cause
distortion, if it has to cut too much of the level.

A pumping alike impression could happen, if the limiter is used, were a
compressor should be used instead or in combination with a limiter,
assuming a parametric EQ is already used to get rid of a possible
frequency that is involved causing the peak, so it's better done by the
track and not by the main signal.

Regards,
Ralf