Master limiter or not?

[indmix]

I just finished producing a song and i'm wondering if i should put a limiter to 0dB on the master track or not..
Not that it really exceeds the green level but just sometimes it touches the red..
And if it already is limited to 0dB, should i still normalize it? There is no recording so i shouldn't worry about any noise.
Thanks

[Yoseph]

Normalizing brings the up the volume of the track up to where the highest peak is at 0dB. Rather than putting a limiter on your master chan, give yourself a little more head room by mixing at a lower volume - then normalizing.

[fisto]

but a Limiter (set to -0,1 db) is always the first thing i throw onto the masterchannel in every project in every program.
You know what happens when you exceed 0 db?

[simonlb]

but a Limiter (set to -0,1 db) is always the first thing i throw onto the masterchannel in every project in every program.
You know what happens when you exceed 0 db?

There's no need to go anywhere near 0dB when mixing.

[Tan]

but a Limiter (set to -0,1 db) is always the first thing i throw onto the masterchannel in every project in every program.
You know what happens when you exceed 0 db?

There's no need to go anywhere near 0dB when mixing.

Simon is correct with regards to levels. You don't NEED to use a limiter on the master channel. Just drop your levels in the mix and ensure you have lots of headroom. When mastering the track (which is different from mixing altogether), then you can apply EQ, Compression (often Opto) and then a brickwall limiter to ensure nothing gets past 0db.

Cheers,


Tan

[fisto]

I know that there is no need to go to 0dB when mixing, but sometimes you can have little peaks (also when mixing at around -6 db). It's just a measure of safety and costs nothing.

[Silence]

have your kick or other dominant sound be at...-10db or something and mix around that even lower if needed

[Tarekith]

Agreed.

[indmix]

Thanks for the help, but now my track has these little peaks once in a while, is it best if i lower the volume of all the sounds so they don't cross 0dB ?

[Yoseph]

Yes. That's what everyone is saying. Lowering ALL of your volumes gives you a lot more room to work with and a lot more control over your mix.

[salatspinatra]

I have all my faders at -12 db, and I use sub and master utilities to ride the levels. Things is, I use a limiter on my master chain too. If it's never tripped, there's no normalization in the mix, if I understand this correctly (you're welcome to chime in if I'm overlooking something).

And I use the new native limiter with ableton: my ears don't catch any coloration (or CPU load) in having it sit there. Until the sends in my template set are really put through the ringer and I feel assured that they won't go through a feedback loop (yes, I disengage all sends that problematic), and racks that I may hotswap have been reviewed and don't come in overwhelming, that limiter is there for me to practice scenarios for an audience and to mitigate the risks I'm taking with my signal processing. The same could be accomplished with an outboard limiter and the amp at the venue, no?

I leave the limiter in its default position at what is it, -3db? I'm not convinced any further preset is necessary.

[Rationalizer]

I have a limiter on the master channel although I always leave about 6db headroom before mastering. The reason is that some plugins (for instance omnisphere) and samples are very loud compared to others. When I audition them i sometimes forget to turn their channel volume down before, and so they clip the channel. And I hate the digital clipping noise.

So the limiter is there for only as a precaution.