[LAU] Top DSP plugins?

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Thu, 2011-10-20 at 01:40 +0000,
linux-audio-user-request at lists.linuxaudio.org wrote:
> Message: 22
> Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:42:12 +0000
> From: Fons Adriaensen <fons at linuxaudio.org>
> Subject: Re: [LAU] Top DSP plugins?
> To: linux-audio-user at lists.linuxaudio.org
> Message-ID: <20111019224212.GC10008 at linuxaudio.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 12:16:45AM +0200, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
>  
> > I experienced this 0.01% of the time margin is overstepped as not
> being
> > audible. YMMV Overstepping 0 dBFS not always cause audible results.
> 
> I recently made a live recording of Berio's 'A-Ronne', in this case
> performed by six singers. It has a *very* wide dynamic range (which 
> has to be reduced for e.g. broadcasting, as was the case) and takes
> about 26 minutes. 0.01% of 26 minutes is around 1.5 seconds, and I
> can assure you that a female voice at +9dB and being clipped for 
> 0.5 seconds three times is quite a nasty effect.

Yes, 9dB above 0 dBFS is audible :(. I didn'd use a limiter for this
amount, but I suspect the limiter will cause unwanted effects too. I
might be wrong. If such a +9dB issue should happen for popular music in
the studio, than we still record it again. Hm? Really an issue when
recording live played classic. So again, for your usage you are right
regarding to the usage of a limiter, but a limiter isn't a tool to
minimise dynamic. Even for loudness war mixes the EQ and compressor are
important, a limiter is the last tool that should be used to manipulate
the dynamic, in other words it isn't a tool to manipulate dynamic.

To reduce the dynamic for popular music, do a good EQed mix and than use
a multi-band-compressor with what ever high ratio you prefer, but avoid
the usage of a limiter. Here the limiter only sometimes is useful!