General gain management, 2 general gain management – Sonnox Oxford Limiter User Manual
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7.2 General Gain Management
7 PROGRAMME LIMITING PROCEDURES
Signal after limiting
To achieve this, it is customary to select relatively fast attack and release times whilst
judiciously increasing the input levels so that only the offending programme peaks are
subject to reduction by the Limiter, and the average modulation level is increased.
The Sonnox Oxford Limiter can produce significantly superior results in loudness
maximisation because it can fully limit the signal even when using slower attack times.
This leads to much lower distortion and less removal of dynamic programme information.
The timing controls on the Pre-Process section of the Limiter can be used freely to make
subtle modification to this process, in order to achieve the best possible results.
7.2 General Gain Management
The aim of this procedure is usually to preserve the short-term dynamics of the
programme as far as possible, whilst ensuring that no levels surpass maximum peak
modulation. This most often entails responding to the peak level of the programme as
quickly as possible, and re- scaling the gain in the longer term, such that musical
dynamics are only minimally affected in the short term. The Limiter can excel in general
gain management because of its wide range of control in the Pre-Process section, and
the ability of the Enhance stage to control the level of short term peaks, which means that
musically kinder attack and release times can be used without risk of transient overloads.
Moderate attack times and slower release times usually perform best for this
function.
The
AUTO GAIN function is particularly useful in this case, as it provides a method to
achieve long-term gain control whilst allowing a degree of fast gain riding over a reduced
range. Moderately fast recovery times can be arranged to control short-term events with
the auto gain function managing long-term level changes. Higher
SOFT KNEE settings
can also considerably improve perceived quality, as this acts in the same way as a variable
ratio compressor that starts at lower levels. This allows the Limiter to preview signals at
moderate levels, and reduce the rate of change of gain in the loudest peak regions.