Understanding Clipping vs Limiting

hey guys joey here and which of these sounds do you prefer track a was limited and track b was clipped do you know when to use a clipper versus a limiter if not make sure to pay attention to this video these tools are awesome for getting volume and impact from your tracks i'm going to show you a few ways to use them so let's dive right in [Music] a limiter is a dynamics processor that has a super high ratio the goal of a limiter is to reduce the volume of a source when it exceeds the threshold they usually come in two styles soft and hard a soft limiter has a ratio somewhere around 20 to one which is really high for a compressor but pretty tame for a limiter these limiters will also often have a softer knee so the reduction is applied gradually rather than all at once this has a more subtle sound with dynamic control that works like tape saturation these are awesome for shaving a few db off a hot signal but aren't as efficient at getting the loudest possible tracks hard limiters or brick wall limiters have an infinity to one ratio the goal with these types of limiters is to make sure that nothing makes it over the threshold more advanced brick wall limiters will have features like look ahead and over sampling to get an even cleaner reduction in a modern production these are usually what you'll find at the very end of a mastering chain since they provide absolute control over the output volume even though they're designed to get the cleanest possible loudness they can still distort pushing a limiter into distortion is almost always an unpleasant sound unless the goal is to have a very specific over compressed sound then the reduction really should not be heard check out this example i'm just gonna push this track into a limiter and show the breaking point most music won't benefit from being pushed like this a few exceptions might be certain types of electronic or club music over compression has an unnatural sound that some people may desire and club mixes occasionally trade fidelity for loudness just make sure that you know the goal of a production before setting your limiter while limiters reduce the peaks at threshold clippers will just chop them off this is surprisingly transparent in small amounts and can sound really aggressive when pushed in the analog days this was done just by overdriving a channel on the console the signal gets naturally clipped by the component's loudness limit software clippers run a pretty advanced algorithm that preserves the transient impact while still cutting the tops of these transients this is cool because it adds loudness and impact without softening the sound compressors are notorious for changing a tone because of the attack and release functions limiters also do this to a lesser degree since hard limiting has a super fast attack and release clippers affect the audio instantly they also stop clipping as soon as the signal goes back under the threshold this allows them to be really consistent and transparent clippers are going to distort a lot sooner than a limiter but it's much more pleasant saturation check it out [Music] limiters are great for getting transparent peak reduction but pushing them into distortion is usually an unpleasant sound clippers are used for peak elimination they can be transparent or used to get pleasant saturation since they work really fast and don't allow anything over the threshold i'm going to be comparing brick wall limiters and hard clippers if you want to understand soft versus hard clipping and limiting make sure you've watched our compressor series this video has a great explanation of adsr and knee which is the same concept clippers and limiters can be used everywhere from individual tracks to groups and even the master bus i'm going to go through each of these examples and both types decide for yourself which one you prefer let's start with a snare i'm going to set the same amount of reduction on both and gain match so that the difference is pretty clear i can hear the limiter making the transient a little softer the clipper feels like it has more attack even though the transient is being cut for additional drum tracks i think the clipper works better let's try the same thing with a vocal how did it get so messy messy how did it get so messy messy how did it get so messy messy how did it get so messy messy how did it get so messy messy the clipper definitely adds some vibe and has a little more attack but the limiter definitely sounds cleaner there's a little less of the body and transient that the clipper gives but it makes up for it with clarity let's try increasing the attack to let a little of the transient back through how did it get so how did it get so awesome now the pronunciation is cutting through without any distortion for clean singing like this the limiter worked better to my ears [Music] next up are the buses this is where the advantage of peak control on individual tracks can really start to shine [Music] the limiter is having trouble keeping up with the clipper at the same perceived loudness let's adjust the attack and release to get a little more transparency that's sounding a lot closer now since the attack is so long i've got to bring up the output a bit cool now the snare isn't being crushed and the body of the drums are brought up that sounds great for some light leveling now let's try the same thing with a really aggressive tone i'm going to flip on the 2x switch and clip and adjust the limiter threshold to match [Music] on aggressive settings like this the clipper wins by a mile using distortion and saturation to control the dynamics allowed these drums to feel way louder without changing the peak value if i just wanted a few extra db either approach would work if i want more vibe and an aggressive amount of loudness then the clipper is better suited to it with drums synths or master buss processing be careful with how much saturation is being added to the low end a multi-band clipper like df clip 2 allows you to choose how much of each band is being saturated for a song like this with a lot of fast kicks the low end can get out of control with too much saturation okay let's try the vocal bus and it all falls down before i rise and it all falls down before i arrive both plugins control the volume very well the clipper added a little harmonic excitement i like for this part the limiter preserved the eq but the clipper brought the vocal forward in the mix a little bit this works really well for this chorus but it might be overkill on the verses for a song that has a lot of contrast between sections i might switch my approach to better match the vibe this could be achieved by using separate verse and chorus vocal busses automating the input gain or even automating the master bus bypass on a clipper and limiter sending clippers into overdrive can sound cool on the right vocal check it out falls down before our eyes and it all falls down these processors also work really well on a guitar bus check it out [Music] the limiter preserved the peaks but pushed the guitar into the background a bit the clipper was a little less detailed on the transients but brought the guitar way out front i like the sharp tone of the clipper for this song the limiter is overreacting to the palm mutes putting a multi-band or clipper on a low amount before the limiter definitely cleans this up for guitars it really depends on what you want do you want a clean detailed guitar tone or a loud crunchy aggressive sound this song definitely benefits from a little bit of added bite regardless of which tool you use taking control of the dynamics on the individual tracks allows the gain reduction on the bus to be cleaner once the peaks have been tamed on the tracks the bus processor really doesn't have to work as hard this makes everything a little more transparent i like using multiple stages of dynamic control for this reason okay now let's combine all of these buses at the master stage compressors limiters and clippers can be stacked on a master bus to get a more specific result the idea is that each processor brings a little bit of character and doesn't do all the reduction on its own check out this master chain i'm going to clip the peaks before going into the limiter [Music] if you want to get a really loud master you can put a clipper after the limiter to cut any peaks that made it through [Music] that's a really extreme process but it goes to show that each of these processors have their own place getting transparent loudness is never usually a one-step process the tracks buses and master all have to be mixed with that in mind if peaks need to be preserved the limiters are a great choice for loudness if the track needs a little character and to be brought forward in the mix a clipper is really effective ultimately it's going to come down to your own personal preference try using both on a variety of sources to see what you prefer are you using clippers and limiters in your mixes let me know how and when you're using them in the comments below thanks for watching and if you like this video hit that subscribe button don't forget to check the links in the description below and tap that bell to get notified whenever we upload new videos until next time happy mixing

Channel: Joey Sturgis Tones

Views: 53,915

Keywords: home recording, audio production, mixing tutorials, Joey Sturgis, Joey Sturgis Tones, when to use compression in mixing, audio mixing walkthrough, audio plugins, compression, attack and release, vocals, mulitband compression, DF-CLIP 2, clipping plugin, when to use a limiter, when to use a clipper, guitar bus, bus processing

Id: xQPHHFTL9Kw

Length: 10min 44sec (644 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 05 2022