This channel is awesome. The only channel on youtube that is like a magnet. Man, David you rock! Your hard work, talent and efforts are a treasure to so many people in the audio field and more. Keep it up bro. You are THE BEST

IK Multimedia's T-RackS Stealth Limiter is my favorite. I use it all the time. To me it's very transparent.

My go-to is the Wiess but I'm really impressed with the TDR limiter

I was so impressed with the "Big Clipper". Absolutely transparent, but.... )))) Check your peaks after that plugin and you will be surprised:) Because of the floating-point bit resolution, there is no distortion) Btw, "Pull" is a threshold in that plugin.

Big Clippper: bit.ly/2EhSTRr Limiter N6: bit.ly/3jEFrai Sonnox Limiter: bit.ly/2D1GQqI Weiss MM1 Limiter: bit.ly/2D8FVEM Pro-L 2: bit.ly/3gbrpuZ Ozone Mazimizer: bit.ly/2ByfE2A IK Stealth: imp.i114863.net/r7Z3R Elephant: bit.ly/3jzdXTA

A.O.M Invisible Limiter G2 is my go to. I've tried most of what's been tested. The low end retains it's weight and the mids and highs remain unaltered and it's simple to use and matches the best for loudness. For electronic music Stealth Limiter can alter the sound in a pleasant way.

Definitely "Big Clipper" is a thing to note! Does the job better than I would have imagined. Great Video!!!

As always this is better than any other stuff I find on KZfaq. One key difference is that you are so bloody pro and your source materials sound amazing - I've heard so many mastering tutorials that are done on absolute Donald Duck songs that sound like anything to begin with. Amazing! Thanks David!!!

i love your no compromises to any plugin or brand, thanks for this video

Big clipper is a discovery! Thank you for the review. Wish you all the best!

Awesome. I'm impressed with Boz. One move I tend to like in Pro-L is fully unlinking stereo and cutting off the lookahead. Brings some of the different styles to good extremes.

TDR GE has a very balanced punch to it, I listened on phone speaker intentionally and it cut through very ‘evenly’. Limitless sounds the sexiest I think

big clipper sounds nice without having to fight with to many settings

I combine Limiter no.6 and Ozone Elements in my mastering chain. As long as it's strategic and not being overdone, they give me pretty good results. Good videos as always. 😊👍👍

The winner is...Big Clippper!I (I love to use the Weiss MM1 before of the limiter, just the Wide mode, not limiting at all). Thanks David for the info!!

This is the first video of yours I've watched. I love your channel and your studio!!! Keep rocking!!!

Please do one of these for every type of mixing plugin.

Couldn't agree more with your description between 1.07 and 3.57 especially considering the split between Pro-L and Ozone , how excellent work you can get with Sonnox and how important the balance between workflow and final result can be in cases like DMG at times when you have other quality - no compromising solutions in hand too. Great Video !

The big winner is the big clipper . Great comparison and the Weiss was amazing with its different styles. Thnx for your videos !

Great idea to compare the limiters! In isolation most of them might sound good... but compared WOW huge differences! Thanks for the effort to make this video! :-)

Very interesting comparison. BOZ is boss, for me, instant wow when you switched it on. It enhanced punch and energy in a nice way. Also liked Weiss alot. Some kind of clarity and detail, without harshness. Once again, very usefull content 👍🏻 😊

The Sonnox limiter seems the give the songs especially the 2nd one a more polished sound. Like a finished master. If you prefer a clear transparant limiter for let's say classical music or Jazz I would prefer the Weiss or the Big Clipper but If you like that transient sheen heard on many commercial songs you should go for the Sonnox Oxford

You have no idea how happy this made me...I've been a big Boz Digital fan for awhile now, and feel they are one of the most under-rated if not tragically overlooked developers out there...sure their stuff is quirky, and some of their product names sound a bit "juvenile", but when it's applied well it's truly magical...

No.6 is the one I used so far. I think the one from ozone is my second best.

I like the sonnox Oxford limiter a lot, it also shows you digital peaks! Plugin alliance Brainworks xl v2 is also super limiter. And the latest where I use the Limiter Softube Chanlder zender bender compressor limiter. The poetry is extremely beautiful! And sounds excellent! 🥰 Another good trick when mastering is not only to work with 1 limiter but to switch 2 in a row. You don't have to limit so much for a good reason! 😉 With a limiter you have most 7-10db gain and it does a strong reduction of the peaks. With 2 limiter in a row, the gain is still around 3-5 DB gain per limiter and the reduction is only half as high! So less strong peak limiting, the limiter pumps less! so the mastered sound becomes soft .. 😉 Try it out and make your own opinion! 😉 Have fun with the sound and have a nice day! Stay healthy! 😉

I have to go with the undefeated iZotope Ozone. I luv their Vintage Limiter! Inspired by the Fairchild 670 hardware limiter, famous for its silky smooth compression. Changes character of your final-stage Limiting with "that" nostalgic vibe of classic recordings. Am Really impressed by the sound of the big clipper

I just use the loudmax limiter plugin, set the ceiling and use the output gain of an eq plugin to boost the sound. Basically if I am doing too much work in mastering then I just consider that my mix is wrong and go back to my mix.

Best limiter tutorial on KZfaq period. Thank you for taking the time to do these videos. You keep it simple and to the point. Gonna keep watching your other videos. 👊🔥

I have most of BOZ Digital plugins. They are really great. Good customer service. That’s important. I’m surprised you had Big Clipper in a limiter shootout and not their actually limiter “The Wall”. I would have loved to see how that matches up to the others. Nice video.

You should definitely have a look at Toneboosters Barricade 4. Don't be fooled by the price.

WEISS MM-1 is the guy

Your posture when concentrating hurts MY neck.

Big Clipper sounds extremely good! The best are Big Clipper and Weiss! Please, make a video of "The Wall" by Boz Digital Labs. They have a lot of underrated plugins. Thanks for the video!

McDSP ML4000 is one of my favorites for final limiter

Big clipper Keeps the punching and louder sound. Listening on my iPad.

One the second example song, the DMG was really good, Sonnox even better.

I really like the "No Sunshine" track!

For the Big Clipper when you don't set the blend slider all the way to the right, it will go above 0. Probably that's why it sounds a bit louder than the others.

I've been feeling the same about the L2 and Fabfilter L2. Definitely going to give the MM-1 a spin. Great info!

I really like the free Yohng W1 Limiter. Hit the adaptive response button and it just brings out the sound.

Ozone packs a punch!

The Pro-L 2 and Weiss are my go to limiters. I prefer the DS1-mk3 over the MM1 for ability to fine tune it. Auditioned the Invisible Limited 2 against the Pro-L and found Invisible more transparent but not enough for me to ditch the Pro-L.

im crazy for listening to this on my iphone for comparisons but i loved the wiess and oxford pushed. ozone on the first half sounded nice too!

I also like Big Clipper. Lately I have been using Velo 2, and was hoping for a greater review of this limiter. You did a very quick once-over, then stopped further review. Velo 2 works great for what I need it to do.

Hi there! Thanks for a great video. I agree that the Big Clipper was the best one. It really didn't have any compromises. Everything just sounded the way it should. Again thanks!

Super helpful vid, and wearing ur headphones like that is badass lol

I wonder if one of the reasons you liked Big Clipper so much was because your settings weren't actually brick-walling the signal to -0.2 dBFS?

Love watching audio videos to hear how they engineer their KZfaq videos

Hmmm, this whole comparison was more like walking through some presets instead of actually tuning them to the material. I have a couple of these and it's pretty amazing how much you can get out of each and every one if you know what you're doing. But the really funny thing is that limiting lost a little bit of its importance nowadays. :D

Love it, Don't forget to try TBProAudio 2 LIMITERS pretty great and as mentioned in comments the invisible limiter 2 which I see a few mastering engineers use over the fabfilter, , and the weiss DS1 MK3 which I think you may own, love your work,

Not sure Big Clipper was being compared apples-to-apples against the other limiters. The settings you were using don't brickwall the signal at all. To use Big Clipper as a brickwall limiter, you have to use the third algorithm (L*C), and then drag the Blend knob all the way to the right. Which effectively cuts out the limiter portion entirely and only uses the clipper stage. No other combo will actually brickwall at the ceiling set by your Pull value. Also, I've extensively compared the sound of Big Clipper in this true hard clipping mode against other hard clippers, and honestly, other hard clippers sound better on something like a beefy kick drum. When you push something like GClip or KClip (NOT oversampled) up just past the breaking point where a beefy kick is starting to sound "rubbery", and then set Big Clipper to the same exact amount of drive (and sample peak reduction), you'll hear that GClip/KClip sounds less rubbery and closer to the original kick than Big Clipper does.

There is a level issue with Big Clipper. I mean what they've done weird is that both sections (L and C) set the threshold for the original incoming signal, even in Series Mode. I tried it myself and the Pull setting at -0.2 does not do what it does in other plugins (only when used with the blend full to Clipper). Then I looked for the levels in your video and the Big Clipper is louder (L->C). That is because of the blend between limiter and clipper and the push knob set to limit at -0.2 (so it does not do anything yet, because it set the threshold at -0.2 on the original incoming signal, not on the signal coming from the Limiter section). So only with the blend set full to limiter it does not exceed the intended level. When blending the Clipper in (with -0.2 it does not clip yet) you are blending in DRY material, I believe that is the reason it sounds so good. It is louder on the meter.

Thanks for making these videos... keep rockin!!!🤙🏽🤘🏽👊🏽

Excellent review/comparison! Leaning towards the Big Clipper and Oxford out of those compared.

My fav is the AOM one. Thanks for another great video David.

I personally like Ozone Maximizer and Sonnox Limiter. However I noticed very well that you have the output ceiling set at -0.2 Thank you for a clarification I never asked but had my doubts about it.

In my ear vocal sound of the second song is clean with Boz Big clipper and overall sound is spatial with Limitless.

Just a quick tip, you can actually define the range of the release time on the Bute Limiter when the auto release is enabled. Try shortening the release time and you'll notice some brilliant results.

I am using FabFilter's Pro-L2 for a year now. Great limiter. However, I've also purchased the Flatline clipper to go before it.

Great vid! I enjoyed the comparisons. Some of my personal favorites there too (Fab, Oxford, Weiss, Stealth). Also, just recently used the Kazrog 3 again. It's been a minute, but damn it saved my ass on a master in multiband mode. No other plugin (saturator or clipper) was able to give me what I needed. To be able to zone in on one particular area and treat it properly like that, is great. And the sound quality was excellent. Time to put that one back into my VIP list. Great tool to have in your pocket when needed!

Holy Crap! No Eventide "Elevate"?

Amazing comparison, Big clipper retains more transients i can hear the differences. its consistent. In a future limiter comparison you can add Eventide - Newfangled Audio.

A.O.M Invisible Limiter

I use the Ozone maximizer and from the off I feel I subtle preference for Fabfilter Pro L2, but excited to see what's to come. I just feel like there's a little more consistency in the L2, the ozone feels a tiny bit hollow to me - like the L2 could possibly go a tiny bit further than 9db (in this example) but the ozone for me, no. Just a thought! Thanks for the videos, David.

Can't get those songs out of my head now!

Always great content & KNOWLEDGE on this channel

Weiss MM1...simply incredible!

Excited to watch this. I did this text for a couple weeks and out of the 10 I tested Fabfilter Pro L always did the best for my needs. It also lets you push louder than the others

LOve this f'n track! awesome music my brother!

IK's Stealth Limiter is killer

Once again, great content !!! I have 4 on the list and another very good one the bx_XLV2, maybe you can include it in the next battle.

Wow what a great video! Thank you for this. Would you be able to do one with mixbuss compressors?

I'd be interested in a analyzer comparison, that is if you you analyzers. It is said that bandpass based analyzers give a more accurate display particularly in the bass. Most analyzers work with FFT. Bandpass is rare. The RME is one but requires and RME interface. The SIR Audio can be switched between BP and FFT. I think there is at least one more software analyzer that works based on bandpass filters but I can't remember which. If you don't use or care about analyzer plugins, feel free to ignore this. ;)

LOL! The L2 is totally a classic. It makes that very distinct flat wall of sound when pushed that's reminiscent of that 2000's pop/rock sound. I used to mix into it on the master bus for EVERYTHING but it robs the low end bump to create more headroom for the rest of the mix when pushed. I've automated it just to keep the crescendo of a song from just totally robbing everything but the middle. The L2 needs a damn side chain! If I could sculp the low end and then push the mix into it, and limit the mix after like 150 hz and up...would be epic. But I guess the Fabfilter MB can do all of that and more...so...? I started using the abbey road TG mastering chain for a bit, Fabfiler MB and I have the sonnox inflator too so that's kinda fun. I still haven't found anything that blows my skirt up..but I just bought all of the UAD Chandler Limited and Tube Tech stuff so...we'll see how that goes. Anyway...dig your vids.

Sonnox and M1 are my go to, will get an eye on this Big Clipper, heard a lot about Invisible Limiter, it should have make the list

I like the sound of some of Ozone more aggresive coloured sounds for a certain tone, I generally use algorithm 2 the most because I don't heavily limit and it has less affect on the frequency then the multiband/spectral algos. I still like l2 for just the tops but heavily limited it falls apart. As far as coloured limiters I always liked elephant, always added this kind of fatness and warmth I liked. The clipping sound in big clipper seems to work for certain material, way less pumping because it doesn't compress much at all, never tried it (I have little clipper though) but the frequency sensitivity seems like it can be used to avoid usual issues with clipper like distorted sine bass and 808s quite obviously.

I'm gonna have that beat in the head the whole night. Pom Pom Pom tada Pom. Pom Pom Pom tada Pom.

Awesome stuff man!

I been using air maximizer since I got my MPC but I'm about to go back to limiter no. 6. That thing was a beast!

Nice comparison, thank you for that. But i miss the Slate Digital FG-X. I really like this thing, keeps the transients alive, even on heavy limiting. Keep up the good work. I like your channel. Thumbs up. Greetings form Germany.

You chose some great limiters. AOM Invisible Limiter is another pretty good one.

I use the Elephant on just about everything. It does take a fair amount of tweaking parameters. Click the gear icon and it opens up a world of extra manipulation.

I saved up so much time ... thanks brother 👌🔥🔥

Thank you so much for a great vid : ) I would love to know your thoughts on Xenon, especially with regard to transparency and acoustic recordings!

IDK I really liked the Stealth and Limitless! I've got the Velo2 that I picked up on a sale, actually to get something else that was free(it was a 150$plugin for $8 by buying the Velo 2)and it actually worked well on single tracks in a mix or acoustic singer songwriter tracks, not complicated tracks, it craps out on those! Surprised not to see the AOM Limitless on here, used to love that one back in 2008 or 10ish era! But the Wiess was the superior limiter on everything really, then I liked the Stealth and Limitless, got the Oxford of course and Ozone and Fab(which I don't like cause it thins out the bass too much for me, only like it on no bass stuff). The Tracks Stealth was a surprise for me tbh! Gonna have to check that out! And of course if they every have a decent sale on the Weiss I'll get it, but I ain't paying those prices for that! It's not that good unless your making your bank on mastering, which David is. But for the rest of us, unless a plugin is under $50 I ain't gonna buy it no more! I can get similar results with using 2 or 3 other plugins and usually get better results, so it's just not worth it! Softube sales are for the fucking rich! Their not sales at all, and with the economy talking like where gonna hit a Depression....good fucking luck! I can see Waves making it outta this....Softube....No Fucking Way! GFY Softubes!

9:15 I want to point out that you are using almost 1300-ish MS attack delay on L2. This is why it sounds so "odd", opposed to the 2ms attack delay on big clipper.

Very interesting. With the modern plug-ins, would you say that investing in a good hardware limiter makes a big difrence? I would love to see more on how you work on mastering electronic music.

The Weiss one really impressed me but my wallet can't handle another limiter 😅 Cool video though! It's so interesting to see that even on fairly similar settings there can be quite a difference between 2 different limiters..

Odd to me that Fabfilter is one of my least favorites. There’s nothing wrong with it, it just somehow seems softer and a little pumpier to me. I can feel it limiting if that makes sense, and unlike a bus comp I don’t want to “feel” a limiter. The Boz one was a surprise! I’ve been using Ozone and really not thinking about it much, but I’m not pushing limiters either.

I usually use FabFilter L2, but now I have some thoughts.. :) Big Clipper sounds very good, Oxford Limiter is better, and Weiss is another planet

What's your thought about parallel clipping? this is something I tried out today and it kinda blows my mind how good you can increase the crest factor/PLR. I put on both mixes a limiter and both are limiting 3db max, but the one with parallel clipping got a higher PLR value. much more important, it sounded HUGE. I think this is a dirty little secret trick in mastering which I revealed by accident ^^

Btw. 'Weiss' is pronounced like 'Vice'.

You should have mentioned fuckarounditis when you were talking about DMG limitless David for people who don’t know about it.

Nice comparison! Sonnox and Weiss are amazing... there's some newer stuff like the Newfangled Audio Elevate, which is a multiband limiter, so comparable to the Limitless. I was never a big fan of the Russian Elephant.... too complicated, rather average and I don't like the GUI.

My neck just started hurting watching this, not sure why 🤔

There's this mastering limiter that exposes everything behind what brick wall mastering limiter do,and this is 👉newfangled audio elavate ,it has a cliper at the end which you can completely control.

Big clipper brought that snare to life.

great challenge, just missing also 2 great tools: Brainworx Masterdesk (with their clean DS ) and Limiter; and the invisible Limiter 2 (great for electronic music) The weiss is the best one as the limitless, and the boz and kazrog are great Clippers (always in my mastering chain depends on the music). Oxford continues surprising the personal!!!

Hello man! Thank you for the video. Liked. Good luck.

Good video, thanks! Do you have any thoughts about Nugen Audio ISL?