Garpocalypse Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Kind of a noobish question here. I have always thrown a compressor on the master whenever I start a new project. Alot of what I use tends to fly deep into the red when i am just playing around and i always thought that would be damaging to my speakers and soundcard. Does putting a compressor on the master so that nothing goes above 0.0 do what I think it's doing by helping me extend the life of my gear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquid wind Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 using a limiter on the master is a good idea to save not only your speakers but also potentially your ears. I have TLS pocket limiter(excellent freebie) at the end of my master chain on my default template. it's there as a last line of defense though, when mixing you don't want too much compression on the master unless you're intentionally going for that "protools shat out a brick" sound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixto Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 I always throw a limiter on the master track just to protect my monitors. In fact I'm pretty sure most people do it. I wont add the compressor or mess with the limiter functions until the very final stage of mixing, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelCityOutlaw Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 I always throw a limiter on the master track just to protect my monitors. In fact I'm pretty sure most people do it. I wont add the compressor or mess with the limiter functions until the very final stage of mixing, though. This. Actually, whenever I fire FL Studio up, it has a limiter on the master by default I think. So that's a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicThHedgog Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 Is it me or does the fl limiter add db gain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 This. Actually, whenever I fire FL Studio up, it has a limiter on the master by default I think. So that's a thing. TLs-Pocket Limiter > FL Limiter Also, the gain is up too high on the Limiter template. I only use FL Limiter for its great side chaining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelCityOutlaw Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 TLs-Pocket Limiter > FL LimiterAlso, the gain is up too high on the Limiter template. I only use FL Limiter for its great side chaining. Nothing says you have to use the template lol. I'll check out TLs-Pocket Limiter though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoozer Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 Alot of what I use tends to fly deep into the red Turn. Down. The. Volume. Does putting a compressor on the master so that nothing goes above 0.0 do what I think it's doing by helping me extend the life of my gear? Use a limiter - it's a compressor that chops off everything to infinitey, and use one that doesn't color (the opposite of "coloring" is "transparent" - and in case of the compressor it means that it only changes the volume). It's like designing a house with doors that are only 4 feet high and then, instead of increasing the height, you simply decapitate all visitors who are too tall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 Yeah, there's no reason to feed crazy amounts of sound into the master and forcing it down with a limiter or compressor when turning down the volume does most of the same anyway. I'm wondering how much it matter tho. Digital clipping would be as bad for speakers as a square wave with the volume turned up so the output is the same. Does the soundcard receive floating point numbers? Blah blah blah, I keep a limiter on my master anyway, since I'll eventually have to add one there anyway to prevent clipping when I output. And I turn the levels down so the limiter isn't limiting all the time. also: Yoozer, nice analogy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 Nothing says you have to use the template lol. I'll check out TLs-Pocket Limiter though. If there is a limiter on the master, you are using the template. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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