more L1 than an L1

[xy]

the L1 has been out for a long time now. is there another company
that has a plugin like it but maybe better in some ways? the L1 can
work great, but it can also make the overall sound annoying in a
hurry. i think of it as a limiter with an agression and angst side to
its personality.

i guess the L2 is out also, but i'm not sure if that is way different
from the L1.

sometimes i need that hard wall element of the limiter, just wondering
if there is another sonic software wall to rebound off of. i'm
thinking of the stereo mix specifically. to "take it up a notch" as
emiril lagasse says.

[Edvard Puskaric]

When waves brought out the L1, I spoke with a waves rep and he told me
that the L1 made everything louder and that it made what ever you put
through it "sound like an album". I believe this pitch has caused much
misuse of the L1 technology. Ive heard so much overuse of the L1.
Overusing it causes a harshness which is similar, IMO, to someone
scraping their nails down a chalk board. However, when used
properly(as a peak limiter, ditherer, bit rate reducer) it is a very
powerful and excellent tool.

I personally like the waves multiband comps(like the c4) to louder and
fatten up things. It will wack out the EQ a bit(like all mb
compression). After I touch up the EQ and am satisfied with the
density of the material, I apply L1 or L2 to bring up the overall
level and reduce as little headroom as possible while maintaining a
specific headroom window.

Ed

On 7 Oct 2003 21:46:04 -0700, (xy)
wrote:

>the L1 has been out for a long time now. is there another company
>that has a plugin like it but maybe better in some ways? the L1 can
>work great, but it can also make the overall sound annoying in a
>hurry. i think of it as a limiter with an agression and angst side to
>its personality.
>
>i guess the L2 is out also, but i'm not sure if that is way different
>from the L1.
>
>sometimes i need that hard wall element of the limiter, just wondering
>if there is another sonic software wall to rebound off of. i'm
>thinking of the stereo mix specifically. to "take it up a notch" as
>emiril lagasse says.

[Edvard Puskaric]

When waves brought out the L1, I spoke with a waves rep and he told me
that the L1 made everything louder and that it made what ever you put
through it "sound like an album". I believe this pitch has caused much
misuse of the L1 technology. Ive heard so much overuse of the L1.
Overusing it causes a harshness which is similar, IMO, to someone
scraping their nails down a chalk board. However, when used
properly(as a peak limiter, ditherer, bit rate reducer) it is a very
powerful and excellent tool.

I personally like the waves multiband comps(like the c4) to louder and
fatten up things. It will wack out the EQ a bit(like all mb
compression). After I touch up the EQ and am satisfied with the
density of the material, I apply L1 or L2 to bring up the overall
level and reduce as little headroom as possible while maintaining a
specific headroom window.

Ed

On 7 Oct 2003 21:46:04 -0700, (xy)
wrote:

>the L1 has been out for a long time now. is there another company
>that has a plugin like it but maybe better in some ways? the L1 can
>work great, but it can also make the overall sound annoying in a
>hurry. i think of it as a limiter with an agression and angst side to
>its personality.
>
>i guess the L2 is out also, but i'm not sure if that is way different
>from the L1.
>
>sometimes i need that hard wall element of the limiter, just wondering
>if there is another sonic software wall to rebound off of. i'm
>thinking of the stereo mix specifically. to "take it up a notch" as
>emiril lagasse says.

[Mark Plancke]

On 7 Oct 2003 21:46:04 -0700, (xy)
wrote:

>i guess the L2 is out also, but i'm not sure if that is way different
>from the L1.
>
>sometimes i need that hard wall element of the limiter, just wondering
>if there is another sonic software wall to rebound off of. i'm
>thinking of the stereo mix specifically. to "take it up a notch" as
>emiril lagasse says.

IME the L2 is much nicer sounding than the L1. It can get grainy and
****y if you really push it but it's much more transparent sounding
than the L1. I think they have limited time demos available from the
Waves web site, probably worth a try.

Mark

[Mark Plancke]

On 7 Oct 2003 21:46:04 -0700, (xy)
wrote:

>i guess the L2 is out also, but i'm not sure if that is way different
>from the L1.
>
>sometimes i need that hard wall element of the limiter, just wondering
>if there is another sonic software wall to rebound off of. i'm
>thinking of the stereo mix specifically. to "take it up a notch" as
>emiril lagasse says.

IME the L2 is much nicer sounding than the L1. It can get grainy and
****y if you really push it but it's much more transparent sounding
than the L1. I think they have limited time demos available from the
Waves web site, probably worth a try.

Mark

[Monte P McGuire]

In article >,
xy > wrote:
>the L1 has been out for a long time now. is there another company
>that has a plugin like it but maybe better in some ways? the L1 can
>work great, but it can also make the overall sound annoying in a
>hurry. i think of it as a limiter with an agression and angst side to
>its personality.
>
>i guess the L2 is out also, but i'm not sure if that is way different
>from the L1.

It is. It sounds a lot cleaner and you can go further into limiting
before things get too ugly. Try L2 out. It's a lot cheaper now than
it used to be, and I think it's worth every penny.

>sometimes i need that hard wall element of the limiter, just wondering
>if there is another sonic software wall to rebound off of. i'm
>thinking of the stereo mix specifically. to "take it up a notch" as
>emiril lagasse says.

Try putting another dynamics processor in front of L1. You can avoid
a lot of its nastyness if you simply prevent it from doing too much
gain reduction. A slightly fast, high ratio compressor can tame some
of the louder parts and leave the last 2-3dB for L1. If you use L2 in
this situation, you can probably get about 6dB of very close to
perfectly clean gain reduction out of it, and you won't have to do so
much processing ahead of L2. Multiband can also be used before L1 or
L2, but I think it's a bit more invasive than a wideband compressor.


Regards,

Monte McGuire

[Monte P McGuire]

In article >,
xy > wrote:
>the L1 has been out for a long time now. is there another company
>that has a plugin like it but maybe better in some ways? the L1 can
>work great, but it can also make the overall sound annoying in a
>hurry. i think of it as a limiter with an agression and angst side to
>its personality.
>
>i guess the L2 is out also, but i'm not sure if that is way different
>from the L1.

It is. It sounds a lot cleaner and you can go further into limiting
before things get too ugly. Try L2 out. It's a lot cheaper now than
it used to be, and I think it's worth every penny.

>sometimes i need that hard wall element of the limiter, just wondering
>if there is another sonic software wall to rebound off of. i'm
>thinking of the stereo mix specifically. to "take it up a notch" as
>emiril lagasse says.

Try putting another dynamics processor in front of L1. You can avoid
a lot of its nastyness if you simply prevent it from doing too much
gain reduction. A slightly fast, high ratio compressor can tame some
of the louder parts and leave the last 2-3dB for L1. If you use L2 in
this situation, you can probably get about 6dB of very close to
perfectly clean gain reduction out of it, and you won't have to do so
much processing ahead of L2. Multiband can also be used before L1 or
L2, but I think it's a bit more invasive than a wideband compressor.


Regards,

Monte McGuire

[BlacklineMusic]

The Waves L1/L2 are some of the worst sounding peak limiters available. Given
the popularity of the L2 in major mastering facilities, its no wonder that so
many of todays commercial releases sound like ass. The Sonic Timeworks
Mastering Compressor sounds much more transparent and will retain punch far
better. If they made a hardware unit of that plugin, I imagine it would
quickly be the standard peak limiting processor in the marketplace.
Steve

[BlacklineMusic]

The Waves L1/L2 are some of the worst sounding peak limiters available. Given
the popularity of the L2 in major mastering facilities, its no wonder that so
many of todays commercial releases sound like ass. The Sonic Timeworks
Mastering Compressor sounds much more transparent and will retain punch far
better. If they made a hardware unit of that plugin, I imagine it would
quickly be the standard peak limiting processor in the marketplace.
Steve

[Blind Joni]

>The Waves L1/L2 are some of the worst sounding peak limiters available.
>Given
>the popularity of the L2 in major mastering facilities, its no wonder that so
>many of todays commercial releases sound like ass.

I popped one on a spoken word recording today and didn't like it at all. I have
better luch with a RenVox followed by another limiter.
John A. Chiara
SOS Recording Studio
Live Sound Inc.
Albany, NY
www.sosrecording.net
518-449-1637

[Blind Joni]

>The Waves L1/L2 are some of the worst sounding peak limiters available.
>Given
>the popularity of the L2 in major mastering facilities, its no wonder that so
>many of todays commercial releases sound like ass.

I popped one on a spoken word recording today and didn't like it at all. I have
better luch with a RenVox followed by another limiter.
John A. Chiara
SOS Recording Studio
Live Sound Inc.
Albany, NY
www.sosrecording.net
518-449-1637

[Les Cargill]

xy wrote:
>
> the L1 has been out for a long time now. is there another company
> that has a plugin like it but maybe better in some ways? the L1 can
> work great, but it can also make the overall sound annoying in a
> hurry. i think of it as a limiter with an agression and angst side to
> its personality.
>
> i guess the L2 is out also, but i'm not sure if that is way different
> from the L1.
>
> sometimes i need that hard wall element of the limiter, just wondering
> if there is another sonic software wall to rebound off of. i'm
> thinking of the stereo mix specifically. to "take it up a notch" as
> emiril lagasse says.

One of the most transparent limiting plugins I've heard is the Digital
Fish Phones Blockfish. It also offers compression.

--
Les Cargill

[Les Cargill]

xy wrote:
>
> the L1 has been out for a long time now. is there another company
> that has a plugin like it but maybe better in some ways? the L1 can
> work great, but it can also make the overall sound annoying in a
> hurry. i think of it as a limiter with an agression and angst side to
> its personality.
>
> i guess the L2 is out also, but i'm not sure if that is way different
> from the L1.
>
> sometimes i need that hard wall element of the limiter, just wondering
> if there is another sonic software wall to rebound off of. i'm
> thinking of the stereo mix specifically. to "take it up a notch" as
> emiril lagasse says.

One of the most transparent limiting plugins I've heard is the Digital
Fish Phones Blockfish. It also offers compression.

--
Les Cargill

[Blind Joni]

>One of the most transparent limiting plugins I've heard is the Digital
>Fish Phones Blockfish. It also offers compression.
>

These plugs are going to become standard with Samplitude..as the designer now
works for the company.


John A. Chiara
SOS Recording Studio
Live Sound Inc.
Albany, NY
www.sosrecording.net
518-449-1637

[Blind Joni]

>One of the most transparent limiting plugins I've heard is the Digital
>Fish Phones Blockfish. It also offers compression.
>

These plugs are going to become standard with Samplitude..as the designer now
works for the company.


John A. Chiara
SOS Recording Studio
Live Sound Inc.
Albany, NY
www.sosrecording.net
518-449-1637

[Les Cargill]

Blind Joni wrote:
>
> >One of the most transparent limiting plugins I've heard is the Digital
> >Fish Phones Blockfish. It also offers compression.
> >
>
> These plugs are going to become standard with Samplitude..as the designer now
> works for the company.
>

Good news! They're good stuff.

> John A. Chiara
> SOS Recording Studio
> Live Sound Inc.
> Albany, NY
> www.sosrecording.net
> 518-449-1637


--
Les Cargill

[Les Cargill]

Blind Joni wrote:
>
> >One of the most transparent limiting plugins I've heard is the Digital
> >Fish Phones Blockfish. It also offers compression.
> >
>
> These plugs are going to become standard with Samplitude..as the designer now
> works for the company.
>

Good news! They're good stuff.

> John A. Chiara
> SOS Recording Studio
> Live Sound Inc.
> Albany, NY
> www.sosrecording.net
> 518-449-1637


--
Les Cargill

[ScotFraser]

<< The Waves L1/L2 are some of the worst sounding peak limiters available.
Given
the popularity of the L2 in major mastering facilities, its no wonder that so
many of todays commercial releases sound like ass. >>

If you can hear it, it wasn't being properly used. I find about 2 to 3 db of
brickwall limiting is all I can stand before it starts getting ugly. If you
look at a file's waveform & see a uniform mesa, it's been through a limiter
improperly applied.


Scott Fraser

[ScotFraser]

<< The Waves L1/L2 are some of the worst sounding peak limiters available.
Given
the popularity of the L2 in major mastering facilities, its no wonder that so
many of todays commercial releases sound like ass. >>

If you can hear it, it wasn't being properly used. I find about 2 to 3 db of
brickwall limiting is all I can stand before it starts getting ugly. If you
look at a file's waveform & see a uniform mesa, it's been through a limiter
improperly applied.


Scott Fraser

[david]

In article >,
BlacklineMusic > wrote:

> The Waves L1/L2 are some of the worst sounding peak limiters available. Given
> the popularity of the L2 in major mastering facilities, its no wonder that so
> many of todays commercial releases sound like ass. The Sonic Timeworks
> Mastering Compressor sounds much more transparent and will retain punch far
> better. If they made a hardware unit of that plugin, I imagine it would
> quickly be the standard peak limiting processor in the marketplace.
> Steve



I wonder how much time you've spent with an L2. To call it one of the
"worst sounding peak limiters available" is imo opinion laughable.

It's kinda like reverb. You can enhance a mix with it, or you make it
sound like ass.

I'd point the finger at the operator.




David Correia
Celebration Sound
Warren, Rhode Island


www.CelebrationSound.com

[david]

In article >,
BlacklineMusic > wrote:

> The Waves L1/L2 are some of the worst sounding peak limiters available. Given
> the popularity of the L2 in major mastering facilities, its no wonder that so
> many of todays commercial releases sound like ass. The Sonic Timeworks
> Mastering Compressor sounds much more transparent and will retain punch far
> better. If they made a hardware unit of that plugin, I imagine it would
> quickly be the standard peak limiting processor in the marketplace.
> Steve



I wonder how much time you've spent with an L2. To call it one of the
"worst sounding peak limiters available" is imo opinion laughable.

It's kinda like reverb. You can enhance a mix with it, or you make it
sound like ass.

I'd point the finger at the operator.




David Correia
Celebration Sound
Warren, Rhode Island


www.CelebrationSound.com