“What I usually end up doing is throwing an 元 Multi on, bringing the output ceiling down about 3-4 dB, doing some creative EQ after, and then putting an L2 at the very end. I was surfing the internet tubes the other day when I stumbled upon this very debate. As I always say, it doesn’t matter how you get the sound you want (even if it’s supposedly the “wrong way”) – if it sounds right to you, then it was the right way for you to do it. So… clearly the 元 is the superior tool, right? Well, maybe, but then again, it all depends. It’s not quite the same as having a really nice tube mic preamp, but it’s definitely a step in that direction, if you can set the EQ and limiting right. Not only can you set the release time for each band individually, but there’s also the option of setting the Master Release control to ARC (if you want the computer to do the work) or several other styles, including my favourite: “Warm.” That, indeed it is. The Waves 元 Multimaximizer essentially has three components: the look-ahead peak limiting juiciness of the L2, it gives you five individually manipulable bands of limiting with adjustable crossover points and a five-band graphic EQ – all in a really intuitive interface. Therefore, it stands to reason that we might want to apply different amounts of limiting or compression to different bands of frequencies.
But as we know from Equal-loudness contours, we perceive loudness differently depending on frequency. That’s fine for when you’re dealing with audio that’s already been properly mixed and just needs a boost in perceived volume. The biggest difference between the best on-air processors and the L2 is that the L2 treats the entire frequency spectrum equally. The great news for the bigger stations (with their bigger wallets) is that their high-end processors are specifically designed to handle highly-compressed audio (read: pop music), so this extra boost will automatically be accounted for. And since most smaller radio stations don’t have the budget for the really high-end stuff, I like to throw about 3 dB of L2 across the master bus of our radio shows each week to normalize everything and make the music and our host (AJ) really punch through. The L2 isn’t as full-featured or as flexible as, say, an $18,000 Omnia or a $12,000 Optimod (two hardware-based on-air processors widely used in big market radio), but it does a lot of the same work and does it well. The best-sounding radio stations, however, send all of their audio through several more stages of carefully set (and expensive) processing to get that big radio sound. Chances are, it may already have been mastered with some L2 (the plugin has been around for some time and is now an industry standard in recording studios). In theory, professionally-mastered music is good to go right out of the box – it’s already been given all the processing and fine-tuning it needs to sound great on almost any playback device. Waves calls this particular sound “hot and pumpy.” I call it “awesome.” I tend to prefer a longer release time (somewhere in the vicinity of 100 ms), as that smooths out the sound and accentuates bass hits and other rhythm components – crucial elements in pop music. By tweaking the release settings of the L2 manually, you can subtly change your overall sound, depending on the style of music. Couple that with the ARC (automatic release control – this determines the best time to “release” the limiter function after it has caught a peak) and you’ve got the L2 – essentially a smart limiter (ah, the wonders of digital technology).
Arc l2 ultramaximizer how to#
Look-ahead peak limiting is what it sounds like: an algorithm continuously searches ahead on the incoming signal to determine how to maximize the average sound level without creating noticeable distortion. What the L2 does that fixes this problem is what’s called “look-ahead.” If it a limiter is being overused, you’ll hear it pretty quickly and chances are, the result won’t sound great. They’re either “on” or “off.” Limiters are great for catching stray peaks, but should only be used sparingly. an instantaneous attack time) rather than reducing the amplitude of the signal that passes above the set threshold, they flatten everything above that threshold completely. Traditional limiters (also known as brickwalls) are basically compressors set to an infinite compression ratio and a hard knee (ie. But in reality, it’s much more than that.
The L2 is, in its simplest form, a limiter.
Arc l2 ultramaximizer full#
It’s full name is the Waves L2 Ultramaximizer, but since I’m pretty confident that that isn’t a real word, I’ll try to explain it a bit better. One of my favourite digital processors is the Waves L2.
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